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august 16

1795 Heinrich Marschner – German composer (d.1861); the most important composer of German opera between Weber and Wagner; his operas Hans Heiling (1833), Der Vampyr (1828), and Der Templer und die Jüdin (1829) were very popular in his lifetime.

1863 Gabriel Pierné – French composer, conductor, and organist (d.1937); succeeded César Franck as organist at Saint Clotilde Basilica in Paris from 1890 to 1898; in 1910, conducted the world premiere of Igor Stravinsky's ballet The Firebird, at the Ballets Russes in Paris.

1876 premiere of Richard Wagner's Siegfried (Part 3 of The Ring of the Nibelung) at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus as part of the first complete performance of The Ring.

1929 Bill Evans – American pianist and composer (d.1980); one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time.

1925 Kirke Mechem – American composer (99 years old); often called the dean of American choral composers.

1932 first performance of George Gershwin's Cuban Overture (under the title Rumba) with the New York Philharmonic conducted by Albert Coates; a result of a two-week holiday Gershwin took in Havana in February 1932.

1950 Yoel Levi – Romanian-born Israeli/American conductor (74 years old); first Israeli to serve as Principal Guest Conductor of the Israel Philharmonic; Music Director and Principal Conductor of the KBS Symphony Orchestra in Seoul.

1960 Franz Welser-Möst – Austrian conductor (64 years old); Music Director of The Cleveland Orchestra since the 2002/03 season. He will retire in June, 2027.

1961 first performance of Zoltán Kodály's Symphony in C, dedicated to the memory of Arturo Toscanini, at the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland.

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