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.

April 22

  • 1658Giuseppe Torelli was born — Italian violinist and composer. source 368 years ago
  • 1858Ethel Smyth was born — English composer. source 168 years ago
  • 1892Édouard Lalo died — French violinist and composer. source 134 years ago
  • 1906Eric Fenby was born — English composer and educator. source 120 years ago
  • 1922Charles Mingus was born — American bassist, composer, and bandleader. source 104 years ago
  • 1925André Caplet died — French composer and conductor. source 101 years ago
  • 1935Paul Chambers was born — African-American bassist and composer. source 91 years ago
  • 1951Aivars Kalējs was born — Latvian organist, composer, and pianist. source 75 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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