1752 Antonín Kraft – Czech cellist and composer (d.1820); considered one of the greatest cellists of his time; close friend of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven and Haydn's Cello Concerto No. 2 and the cello part in Beethoven's Triple Concerto were written for him.
1756 Pavel Vranický – Moravian composer (d.1808); his half-brother, Antonín, was also a composer.
1853 André Messager – French composer, organist, pianist, conductor and administrator (d.1929); stage compositions included ballets and 30 opéra comiques and operettas.
1877 first performance of Johannes Brahms's Symphony No. 2 by the Vienna Philharmonic under the direction of Hans Richter; the cheery mood of the symphony is unmistakable but the composer (perhaps tongue-in-cheek) wrote to his publisher a month before the premiere, that the symphony "is so melancholy that you will not be able to bear it. I have never written anything so sad, and the score must come out in mourning”.
1884 first performance of Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 7 in Leipzig with the Gewandhaus Orchestra led by Arthur Nikisch, bringing the composer the greatest success he had known in his life; symphony dedicated to Ludwig II of Bavaria, noted patron of Richard Wagner.
1904 Dmitri Kabalevsky – Russian composer (d.1987); helped set up the Union of Soviet Composers in Moscow; probably best known in the West for the Galop from The Comedians Suite Op 26.
1919 Sir David Willcocks – English composer, choral conductor, organist, and music administrator (d.2015); several of his descants and arrangements were published in the books Carols for Choirs which he edited along with Reginald Jacques and John Rutter; also director of the Royal College of Music in London.
1921 premiere of Sergei Prokofiev's satirical opera The Love for Three Oranges at the Auditorium Theater in Chicago; based on a play by Carlo Gozzi.
1952 June Anderson – American coloratura soprano (71 years old); the first non-Italian ever to win the prestigious Bellini d'Oro prize.
1959 Sir Antonio Pappano – Italian-born English conductor (64 years old); music director of the Royal Opera House since 2002; knighted in 2012.