1738 Jan Antonín Kozeluch – Bohemian composer (d.1814); concertmaster in Prague’s St. Vitus Cathedral for thirty years.
1873 Joseph Jongen – Belgian composer, organist and music educator (d.1953); his Symphonie Concertante of 1926 is considered by many to be among the greatest works ever written for organ and orchestra; it was commissioned by Rodman Wanamaker for debut in the Grand Court of his palatial Philadelphia department store for the re-dedication of the world's largest pipe organ there, the Wanamaker Organ.
1918 premiere of Giacomo Puccini's Il trittico (The Triptych), three one-act operas, comprising Il tabarro (The Cloak), Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi, at the Metropolitan Opera in New York; since its first performance, the comedy Gianni Schicchi has been the most popular of the three.
1924 first performance of Ottorino Respighi's tone poem The Pines of Rome; the second work in his ‘Roman trilogy’, preceded by Fountains of Rome (1917) and followed by Roman Festivals (1926); employs an effect never done before: the sound of an actual nightingale recorded onto a phonograph record.
1929 Ron Nelson – American composer (died December 24, 2023); conductor Leonard Slatkin said of him: "Nelson is the quintessential American composer. He has the ability to move between conservative and newer styles with ease. The fact that he's a little hard to categorize is what makes him interesting."
1936 first performance of Samuel Barber’s String Quartet Op 11 with its famous Adagio at the Villa Aurelia in Rome, Italy by the Pro Arte Quartet.
1947 Christopher Parkening – American guitarist (77 years old); created the guitar department at the University of Southern California in 1969, when he was only 22; currently Distinguished Professor of Music and Chair in Classical Guitar at Pepperdine University; retired from public performance in 2013.
1971 Riccardo Frizza – Italian conductor (53 years old); married to the Spanish soprano Davinia Rodriguez whom he met while conducting L'elisir d'amore at the Festival de Opera de Las Palmas in 2005.
1977 Andrés Orozco-Estrada – Colombian-born conductor and violinist (47 years old); Music Director of the Houston Symphony since 2014; Principal Guest Conductor of the London Philharmonic since 2015.