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June 18

1757 Ignaz Pleyel – Austrian-born French composer and piano builder (d.1831); studied with Joseph Haydn and was one of the older composer's favorite pupils.

1821 premiere of Carl Maria von Weber's opera Der Freischütz (The Marksman, or ‘Freeshooter’) in Berlin; its unearthly portrayal of the supernatural in the famous Wolf's Glen Scene has been described as "the most expressive rendering of the gruesome that is to be found in a musical score."

1837 Mendelssohn finished his String Quartet No. 4 in Freiburg, Germany, while on his honeymoon.

1904 Manuel Rosenthal – French composer and conductor (d.2003); best remembered for orchestrating the popular ballet Gaîté Parisienne from piano scores of Offenbach operettas.

1905 Eduard Tubin – Estonian composer and conductor (d.1982); Estonia claims him as one of its greatest composers, but during his lifetime most of his work was done in Sweden, where he was never given the attention he was due.

1942 Sir Paul McCartney – English singer, songwriter, composer, and former Beatle (82 years old); the Guinness Book of World Records described him as the "most successful composer and recording artist of all time"; has dabbled in classical music with works such as Liverpool Oratorio and Ecce Cor Meum.

1953 Peter Donohoe – English pianist, promoter, artistic director, and educator (71) years old).

1958 premiere of Benjamin Britten’s opera Noye's Fludde at that year’s Aldeburgh Festival, largely intended for amateur performers, particularly children; a performance of it is depicted in the film Moonrise Kingdom (2012) 

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