1474 death of Guillaume Dufay (age c.74) – Franco-Flemish composer of the early Renaissance; he was the central figure in the Burgundian School and the most famous and influential composer in Europe in the mid-15th century.
1750 Anton Stamitz – Bohemian composer (d.1809); Anton and his brother Carl were the sons of Johan Stamitz, one of the important figures in the Mannheim school.
1759 Franz Krommer – Moravian composer (d.1831); became composer for the Imperial Court and Vienna; left more than 300 published compositions in 110 opus numbers.
1860 Viktor Ewald – Russian composer (d.1935); spent most of his career as a Professor of Civil Engineering, but is beloved of brass players for his series of quintets, staples of the brass repertoire.
1867 Charles Koechlin – French composer (d.1950); prolific composer with diverse interests: inspired by Rudyard Kipling he wrote The Jungle Book, and his Seven Stars Symphony has movements named for Hollywood luminaries Douglas Fairbanks, Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich and Charlie Chaplin.
1896 first performance of Richard Strauss's tone-poem Also sprach Zarathustra (Thus spake Zoroaster) in Frankfurt, with the composer conducting.
1928 premiere of Igor Stravinsky's ballet The Fairy's Kiss (Le baiser de la fée) at the Paris Opéra by the Ida Rubinstein Company with the composer conducting.
1931 first performance of Maurice Ravel's Piano Concerto for the Left Hand in Paris; commissioned by the Austrian pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who lost his right arm during World War I.
1959 Viktoria Mullova – Russian violinist (64 years old); best known for her performances and recordings of compositions by J.S. Bach and innovative interpretations of popular and jazz compositions by Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, and the Beatles among others.
1972 first successful concert performance of Erich Wolfgang Korngold's Symphony in Munich (posthumously), with Rudolf Kempe conducting; Harold Byrns had conducted the Vienna Symphony in a poorly rehearsed and performed Austrian radio premiere of this work on October 17, 1954.
1979 Hilary Hahn – American violinist (44 years old); with strong reputation for championing contemporary music, several works have been composed specially for her, including concerti by Edgar Meyer and Jennifer Higdon.