1844 in music
Encyclopedia
Events
- November 25 - The Bohemian GirlThe Bohemian GirlThe Bohemian Girl is an opera composed by Michael William Balfe with a libretto by Alfred Bunn. The plot is loosely based on a Cervantes tale, La Gitanilla.The opera was first produced in London at the Drury Lane Theatre on November 27, 1843...
music by Michael William BalfeMichael William BalfeMichael William Balfe was an Irish composer, best-remembered for his opera The Bohemian Girl.After a short career as a violinist, Balfe pursued an operatic singing career, while he began to compose. In a career spanning more than 40 years, he composed 38 operas, almost 250 songs and other works...
and libretto by Alfred BunnAlfred BunnAlfred Bunn was an English theatrical manager.He was appointed stage-manager of Drury Lane Theatre, London, in 1823. In 1826 he was managing the Theatre Royal in Birmingham, and in 1833 he undertook the joint management of Drury Lane and Covent Garden, London. In this undertaking he met with...
has its American premiere at the Park TheatrePark Theatre (Manhattan)The Park Theatre, originally known as the New Theatre, was a playhouse in New York City, located at 21, 23, and 25 Park Row, about east of Ann Street and backing Theatre Alley. The location, at the north end of the city, overlooked the park that would soon house City Hall...
, New YorkNew YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. - Thomas TellefsenThomas TellefsenThomas Dyke Acland Tellefsen was a Norwegian pianist and composer.Thomas Tellefsen was born in Trondheim, Norway, where he studied with his father, the organist Johan Christian Tellefsen, and with Ole Andreas Lindeman. Thomas gave his first public concert in his home town at age 18...
becomes a pupil of Frédéric ChopinFrédéric ChopinFrédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....
. - Jacques OffenbachJacques OffenbachJacques Offenbach was a Prussian-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s–1870s and his uncompleted opera The Tales of Hoffmann. He was a powerful influence on later composers of the operetta genre, particularly Johann Strauss, Jr....
converts to Catholicism and marries Herminie d'Alcain.
Popular music
- "The Blue JuniataThe Blue Juniata"The Blue Juniata" is a popular song written by Marion Dix Sullivan in 1841. It was one of the most popular parlor songs of the Nineteenth Century, and the first commercially successful song written by an American woman....
" Marion Dix SullivanMarion Dix SullivanMarion Dix Sullivan was an American composer. She was born in New Hampshire, sister of General John A. Dix, of New York, and of philanthropist Dorothy L. Dix...
(w. & m.) - "Open Thy Lattice, Love" w. George Pope MorrisGeorge Pope MorrisGeorge Pope Morris was an American editor, poet, and songwriter.-Life and work:With Nathaniel Parker Willis, he co-founded the daily New York Evening Mirror by merging his fledgling weekly New York Mirror with Willis's American Monthly in August 1831...
, m. Stephen Collins FosterStephen FosterStephen Collins Foster , known as the "father of American music", was the pre-eminent songwriter in the United States of the 19th century... - "Skip To My Lou" Trad. US
Classical music
- Henry Litolff - Concerto Symphonique No 2 in B minor, Op. 22
- Felix MendelssohnFelix MendelssohnJakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...
- Spring Song m.
- A Midsummer Night's DreamA Midsummer Night's DreamA Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
incidental music (including the Wedding March) - Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64Violin Concerto (Mendelssohn)Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64 is his last large orchestral work. It forms an important part of the violin repertoire and is one of the most popular and most frequently performed violin concertos of all time...
Opera
- Georges Bousquet - L'Hôtesse de Lyon
- Friedrich Flotow - Alessandro Stradella
- Giuseppe VerdiGiuseppe VerdiGiuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
- Hernani
Births
- January 14 - Clara Kathleen RogersClara Kathleen RogersClara Kathleen Rogers , was an American composer, singer, writer and music educator.-Biography:Clara Kathleen Barnett Rogers was born into a musical family...
, American singer and composer (d. 1931) - February 21 - Charles-Marie WidorCharles-Marie WidorCharles-Marie Jean Albert Widor was a French organist, composer and teacher.-Life:Widor was born in Lyon, to a family of organ builders, and initially studied music there with his father, François-Charles Widor, titular organist of Saint-François-de-Sales from 1838 to 1889...
, organist and composer - January 29 - Colonel Charles Gerard Conn, instrument manufacturer (d. 1931)
- March 10 - Pablo de SarasatePablo de SarasatePablo Martín Melitón de Sarasate y Navascués was a Navarrese Spanish violinist and composer of the Romantic period.-Career:Pablo Sarasate was born in Pamplona, Navarre, the son of an artillery bandmaster...
, violinist and composer (d. 1908) - March 18 - Nikolai Rimsky-KorsakovNikolai Rimsky-KorsakovNikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov was a Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five.The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful or The Mighty Coterie, refers to a circle of composers who met in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the years 1856–1870: Mily Balakirev , César...
, composer - April 9 - László Erkel, Hungarian composer, son of Ferenc Erkel
- May 8 - Hermann GraedenerHermann Graedener (composer)Hermann Graedener or Grädener was a German composer, conductor and teacher.-Biography:He was born in Kiel, Germany. He was educated by his father, composer Karl Graedener. He then studied at the Vienna Conservatory. From 1862 he was organist at the Lutheran City Church in Vienna, and from 1864...
, conductor and composer (d. 1929) - June 3 - Émile PaladilheEmile PaladilheÉmile Paladilhe was a French composer of the late romantic period.-Biography:Émile Paladilhe was born in Montpellier. He was a musical child prodigy, and moved from his home in the south of France to Paris to begin his studies at the Conservatoire de Paris at age 10...
, composer (d. 1926) - December 5 - Sir Frederick BridgeFrederick BridgeSir John Frederick Bridge was an English organist, composer, teacher and writer.From a musical family, Bridge became a church organist before he was 20, and he achieved his ambition to become a cathedral organist by the age of 24, at Manchester Cathedral...
, organist and composer (d. 1924) - Date unknown - Olga SandbergOlga SandbergOlga Sandberg was a Swedish ballerina.Sandberg was a student at the Royal Swedish Ballet in 1854 and second dancer in 1865-1870. She was a student of Gasperini. She performed at Victoria-Theater in Berlin, in Rostock and Lemberg...
, Swedish ballerina
Deaths
- January 30 - John Addison, double-bass player and composer (b. 1765)
- May 21 - Giuseppe BainiGiuseppe BainiGiuseppe Baini was an Italian priest, music critic, and composer of church music.He was born at Rome. He was instructed in composition by his uncle, Lorenzo Baini, and afterwards by G. Jannaconi...
, church composer and music critic (b. 1775) - July 13 - Johann Baptist GänsbacherJohann Baptist GänsbacherJohann Baptist Gänsbacher , Austrian musical composer, was born in 1778 in Sterzing in the County of Tyrol.His father, a schoolmaster and teacher of music, undertook his son's early education, which the boy continued under various masters until 1802, when he became the pupil of the celebrated Abbé...
, composer (b. 1778) - July 29 - Franz Xaver Wolfgang MozartFranz Xaver Wolfgang MozartFranz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart , also known as F. X. Mozart, W. A. Mozart Son, or Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Jr., was the youngest child of six born to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his wife Constanze. He was the younger of his parents' two surviving children...
, pianist and composer, son of Wolfgang Amadeus MozartWolfgang Amadeus MozartWolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music... - September 4 - Oliver HoldenOliver HoldenOliver Holden was an American composer and compiler of hymns.Born in Shirley, Massachusetts, he served a year as a marine, for which he received a small annual pension. He lived most of his life in Charles Town, Boston, Massachusetts, after he moved with his parents in 1786. He was known to be a...
, composer and hymn-writer (b. 1765) - November 9 - Uri Keeler HillUri Keeler HillUri Keeler Hill was a Vermont composer. In 1805, Uri Hill became the organist for the Brattle Street Church in Boston. He moved to New York to continue his music career in 1810 and premiered an "Ode" in 1814...
, composer (b. 1780) - December 9 - Franz Seraph von DestouchesFranz Seraph von DestouchesFranz Seraph von Destouches was a German composer. Taught by Joseph Haydn, Destouches wrote incidental music to some plays by Friedrich Schiller. He also wrote a piano concerto, a clarinet concerto, operas, masses, marches, etc....
, composer - unknown date - Francis Johnson, black composer and band-leader