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.

May 1

  • 1582Marco da Gagliano was born — Italian composer. source 444 years ago
  • 1731Johann Ludwig Bach died — German violinist and composer. source 295 years ago
  • 1872Hugo Alfvén was born — Swedish composer, conductor, violinist, and painter. source 154 years ago
  • 1904Antonín Dvořák died. 122 years ago
  • 1919Manna Dey was born — Indian singer and composer. source 107 years ago
  • 1949Tim Hodgkinson was born — English saxophonist, clarinet player, and composer. source 77 years ago
  • 1955Martin O'Donnell was born — American composer. source 71 years ago
  • 1978Aram Khachaturian died — Armenian composer and conductor. source 48 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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