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.

December 20

  • 1539Johannes Lupi died — Flemish composer. source 487 years ago
  • 1783Antonio Soler died — Spanish priest and composer. source 243 years ago
  • 1786Pietro Raimondi was born — Italian composer. source 240 years ago
  • 1871Henry Kimball Hadley was born — American composer and conductor. source 155 years ago
  • 1915Upendrakishore Ray died — Indian painter and composer. source 111 years ago
  • 1942Roger Woodward was born — Australian classical pianist, composer, conductor, teacher and human rights activist.. source 84 years ago
  • 1950Arturo Márquez was born — Mexican-American composer. source 76 years ago
  • 1959Juhan Simm died — Estonian composer and conductor. source 67 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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