Music history, daily

On This Day in Music

Composers born, composers lost, and pieces that met the world for the first time — and every name here is playable in the library.

January 5

  • 1640Paolo Lorenzani was born — Italian composer. source 386 years ago
  • 1740Antonio Lotti died — Italian composer and educator. source 286 years ago
  • 1871Frederick Converse was born — American composer and academic. source 155 years ago
  • 1880Nikolai Medtner was born — Russian pianist and composer. source 146 years ago
  • 1888Henri Herz died. 138 years ago
  • 1970Roberto Gerhard died — Catalan composer and scholar. source 56 years ago
  • 1971Stian Carstensen was born — Norwegian multi-instrumentalist and composer. source 55 years ago
  • 1979Charles Mingus died — American bassist, composer, bandleader. source 47 years ago

Every entry is drawn from our source-cited composer biographies and piece notes — dates come from published references, not from memory. Browse any composer to read the full biography, or the library to play their music.

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