Born Today! 22.05.2024

Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( VAHG-nər; German: [ˈʁɪçaʁt ˈvaːɡnɐ] ; 22 May 1813 – 13 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most opera composers, Wagner wrote both the libretto and the music for each of his stage works. Initially establishing his reputation as a composer of works in the romantic vein of Carl Maria von Weber and Giacomo Meyerbeer, Wagner revolutionised opera through his concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk ("total work of art"), by which he sought to synthesise the poetic, visual, musical and dramatic arts, with music subsidiary to drama. He described this vision in a series of essays published between 1849 and 1852. Wagner realised these ideas most fully in the first half of the four-opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung). His compositions, particularly those of his later period, are notable for their complex textures, rich harmonies and orchestration, and the elaborate use of leitmotifs—musical phrases associated with individual characters, places, ideas, or plot elements. His advances in musical language, such as extreme chromaticism and quickly shifting tonal centres, greatly influenced the development of classical music. His Tristan und Isolde is sometimes described as marking the start of modern music. Wagner had his own opera house built, the Bayreuth Festspielhaus, which embodied many novel design features. The Ring and Parsifal were premiered here and his most important stage works continue to be performed at the annual Bayreuth Festival, which was galvanized by the efforts of his wife Cosima Wagner and the family's descendants. His thoughts on the relative contributions of music and drama in opera were to change again, and he reintroduced some traditional forms into his last few stage works, including Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (The Mastersingers of Nuremberg). Until his final years, Wagner's life was characterised by political exile, turbulent love affairs, poverty and repeated flight from his creditors. His controversial writings on music, drama and politics have attracted extensive comment – particularly since the late 20th century, as they express antisemitic sentiments. The effect of his ideas can be traced in many of the arts throughout the 20th century; his influence spread beyond composition into conducting, philosophy, literature, the visual arts and theatre.

Alexander Ernst Fesca (22 May 1820 in Karlsruhe – 22 February 1849 in Braunschweig) was a German composer and pianist.

Émile Sauret (22 May 1852 – 12 February 1920) was a French violinist and composer. Sauret wrote over 100 violin pieces, including a famous cadenza for the first movement of Niccolò Paganini's First Violin Concerto, and the "Gradus ad Parnassum" (1894).

Humphrey John Stewart (22 May 1856 – 1932) was an American composer and organist, born in England. A native of London, he came to the United States in 1886, and served for many years as a church organist on the West Coast. In 1898, he was awarded a doctorate degree in music from the University of the Pacific. In 1901, he gave a recital in Buffalo, New York and accepted a position at Trinity Church in Boston, but after two years he returned to San Francisco. In 1915, Stewart took a position as organist at the Panama-California Exposition in San Diego, and stayed in that city for many years, playing open-air organ concerts at Balboa Park. Stewart was a founding member of the American Guild of Organists, and was an honorary lifetime member of the Bohemian Club. In the pages of The American Organist, Stewart wrote in March 1919 about what he called the "Messiah Fallacy", a critical analysis uncomplimentary to Handel's Messiah. Stewart described how the music of the Messiah was completely incompatible to the sacred nature of the text, except for the Hallelujah chorus, of which he was non-committal, preferring Beethoven's Hallelujah. A flurry of letters to the editor resulted, some critical of Stewart, some supportive of his stance.

Enric Morera i Viura (Catalan pronunciation: [ənˈriɡ muˈɾeɾə]; 22 May 1865 – 11 March 1942) was a Catalan musician and composer from Spain.

Paul Tietjens (; May 22, 1877 – November 25, 1943) was an American composer of the early twentieth century. He is best known for composing music for The Wizard of Oz, the 1902 stage adaptation of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, one of the great popular hits of its era. Tietjens was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. At age 15 he appeared as a piano soloist with the St. Louis Symphony. He later studied in Europe with Hugo Kaun, Harold Bauer, and Theodor Leschetizky. Early in his career, Tietjens's ambition was to establish himself as a successful composer of comic operas and operettas. He approached L. Frank Baum in March 1901, not long after the publication and success of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. According to Baum's later recollection, "The thought of making my fairy tale into a play had never even occurred to me when, one evening, my doorbell rang and I found a spectacled young man standing on the mat." By another report, though, they met through Ike Morgan, a Chicago artist who worked on Baum's American Fairy Tales (1901). Baum and Tietjens agreed to develop stage projects together. Curiously, their first attempts had nothing to do with Oz. They wrote a show titled The Octopus, or The Title Trust, which was rejected by producers in Chicago and New York. Their next venture was a musical called King Midas, which was never completed. It was illustrator W. W. Denslow who suggested a Wizard of Oz stage adaptation. Though Baum was at first cool to the idea, Tietjens was enthusiastic. Baum prepared a libretto, and the project went forward. Tietjens included two songs from The Octopus ("Love Is Love" and "The Traveler and the Pie"). The show went through many script revisions and changes; Tietjens's score was supplemented with music composed by A. Baldwin Sloane and others. Quarrels over the partitioning of the royalties (Denslow was co-copyright holder of the book, and designed the sets and costumes for the musical) led to a permanent rupture between Baum and Denslow. Yet the show premiered in Chicago on 16 June 1902, and moved to Broadway in January 1903. It was an enormous hit. It ran through 1907 and then toured widely. The income from the show made Tietjens financially independent at a relatively early age. Tietjens, however, never equaled that early popular success in subsequent shows. He wrote The Sacred Serpent (1904), a three-act musical comedy. He composed incidental music for J. M. Barrie's play A Kiss for Cinderella. He worked with Baum on another project, called The Pipes o' Pan (which might have been a revised version of King Midas); it was never produced, and survives only in a fragment. In 1904 he married the poet Eunice Strong Hammond, who became known under her married name, Eunice Tietjens. They had two daughters, Idea and Janet. The death of their elder daughter Idea at the age of four may have contributed to the break-up of the marriage; the couple separated in 1910 and divorced in 1914. In addition to his works for popular theater, Tietjens composed symphonies, a concerto, sonatas, and chamber works. His most significant serious work is arguably his opera The Tents of the Arabs. In 1916, he was about to produce an opera in Berlin, but World War I shut it down just before opening night. Tietjens' compositions were confiscated, and he was accused of being a spy. He was arrested in London and only released when Frederick W. Well, former Berlin correspondent for the New York Times and the Daily Mail, intervened. Although Tietjens returned to America, his musical scores and compositions were apparently never recovered. Tietjens spent much of his life in Europe. He married the artist Marjorie Richardson December 25, 1927 He and his wife Marjorie Tietjens lived in New York City through 1942. When his health failed in 1942, he and his wife returned to St. Louis to live with his sister, Olga Dammert, and he died there in 1943. His manuscripts are in the Gaylord Music Library at Washington University in St. Louis; the University's Tietjens Hall is named in his honor. His diaries are part of the collection of the Newberry Library in Chicago.

Jean Émile Paul Cras (French: [ʒɑ̃ kʁaz]; 22 May 1879 – 14 September 1932) was a 20th-century French composer and career naval officer. His musical compositions were inspired by his native Brittany, his travels to Africa, and most of all, by his sea voyages. As a naval commander he served with distinction in the Adriatic Campaign during World War I.

Rito Selvaggi (22 May 1898 – 19 May 1972) was an Italian composer, pianist, conductor, poet, and educator. He composed numerous works, including operas, oratorios and sacred music as well symphonic and chamber music. He also served as the Director of the music conservatories in Palermo, Parma, and Pesaro.

František Jílek (May 22, 1913 – September 16, 1993) was a Czech conductor, known especially for his interpretation of Leoš Janáček's works.

Nikita Vladimirovich Bogoslovsky (Russian: Ники́та Влади́мирович Богосло́вский; 22 May 1913, Saint Petersburg – 4 April 2004, Moscow) was a Soviet and Russian composer. Author of more than 300 songs, 8 symphonies (1940–1991), 17 operettas and musical comedies, 58 soundtracks, and 52 scores for theater productions. Many of his songs were made for film. Bogoslovsky was born into an aristocratic family in St. Petersburg, Russian Empire. At the age of 4 in 1917, the new communist government born from the Russian revolution confiscated his families lands and properties in the Russian provinces of Novgorod and Tambov. His earliest musical inspiration was his mothers playing of songs by Alexander Vertinskiy. He began receiving Piano lessons at 3, and studied composition with Alexander Glazunov in 1927–1928 and as an audit at Leningrad Conservatory in 1930–1934. His first musical was written at age 15, titled, "Noch pered Rozhdestvom" (Christmas Eve night). Bogoslovsky's songs represented the hopes and dreams of the Soviet/Russian people, and often were written about the history of Russia. He is best known for two Mark Bernes's trademark songs from the war film Two Soldiers (1943): "Tyomnaya noch" (Dark Is the Night) and "Shalandy polnye kefali" (Boats Full of Mullets). In the post-Stalin period, Bogoslovsky was particularly successful with music for comedies. His output ranged from pop to folklore and neoclassical symphonic tunes. Among his many honorary titles and state awards were People's Artist of the USSR (1983), Order of the Red Banner of Labour (1971), and Order of the Red Star (1946).

Claude Ballif (22 May 1924 – 24 July 2004) was a French composer, writer, and pedagogue. He worked at a number of institutions throughout more than 40 years of teaching, one of which he had attended as a student. Among his pupils were Raynald Arseneault, Nicolas Bacri, Gérard Buquet, Joseph-François Kremer, Philippe Manoury, Serge Provost, Mehmet Okonsar, Simon Bertrand, Alexandre Desplat, and Claude Abromont. He was described as a French modernist and as "the product of the exciting and turbulent post World War II years of the Western avant-garde" alongside composers Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen.

Roger Bellon is a French film, television, theatre and opera composer, conductor, orchestrator and producer.