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 20

  • 1586Johann Hermann Schein was born. 440 years ago
  • 1703Joseph-Hector Fiocco was born — Flemish violinist and composer. source 323 years ago
  • 1762Jérôme-Joseph de Momigny was born — Belgian-French composer and theorist. source 264 years ago
  • 1783Friedrich Dotzauer was born — German cellist and composer. source 243 years ago
  • 1855Ernest Chausson was born — French composer. source 171 years ago
  • 1859Bettina von Arnim died — German author, illustrator, and composer. source 167 years ago
  • 1870Guillaume Lekeu was born — Belgian pianist and composer. source 156 years ago
  • 1876Josef Hofmann was born — Polish-American pianist and composer. source 150 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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