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.

October 16

  • 1605Charles Coypeau d'Assoucy was born — French writer and composer. source 421 years ago
  • 1621Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck died — Dutch organist and composer. source 405 years ago
  • 1679Jan Dismas Zelenka was born — Czech viol player and composer. source 347 years ago
  • 1729Pierre van Maldere was born — Belgian violinist and composer. source 297 years ago
  • 1750Sylvius Leopold Weiss died — German lute player and composer. source 276 years ago
  • 1923Bert Kaempfert was born — German conductor and composer. source 103 years ago
  • 1946Granville Bantock died. 80 years ago
  • 1950Károly Horváth was born — Romanian-Hungarian cellist, flute player, and composer. source 76 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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