1698 François Francoeur – French violinist and composer (d.1787); one of the ‘24 violons du roi’ and collaborated with François Rebel in the production of several works for the Paris Opéra.
1737 Francis Hopkinson – American composer, statesman, essayist, and harpsichordist (d.1791); was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence; best known for the song My Days Have Been So Wondrous Free (1759), considered to be the earliest surviving American secular composition.
1874 Gustav Holst – English composer, arranger and teacher (d.1934); born Gustavus Theodore von Holst, and his early works were published under the name ‘Gustav von Holst’ but removed the Germanic ‘von’ after World War I broke out in 1914; except for The Planets and a handful of other works, his music was generally neglected until the 1980’s, when recordings of much of his output became available.
1955 Andrei Gavrilov – Russian pianist (69 years old); a planned two-year sabbatical begun in 1993 grew to eight years, during which time he studied the intentions of the composers in their works, religious and philosophical questions, lived half a year in Fiji, and fundamentally reworked his piano technique; in 2001 he moved to Lucerne, Switzerland and resumed concertizing.
2002 first performance of Philip Glass’s Concerto for Harpsichord and Chamber Orchestra at Benaroya Hall in Seattle, commissioned by the Northwest Chamber Orchestra.