Born Today! 27.12.2023

Sir John Goss (27 December 1800 – 10 May 1880) was an English organist, composer and teacher. Born to a musical family, Goss was a boy chorister of the Chapel Royal, London, and later a pupil of Thomas Attwood, organist of St Paul's Cathedral. After a brief period as a chorus member in an opera company he was appointed organist of a chapel in south London, later moving to more prestigious organ posts at St Luke's Church, Chelsea and finally St Paul's Cathedral, where he struggled to improve musical standards. As a composer, Goss wrote little for the orchestra, but was known for his vocal music, both religious and secular. Among his best-known compositions are his hymn tunes "Praise, my soul, the King of heaven" and "See, Amid the Winter's Snow". The music critic of The Times described him as the last of the line of English composers who confined themselves almost entirely to ecclesiastical music.From 1827 to 1874, Goss was a professor at the Royal Academy of Music, teaching harmony. He also taught at St Paul's. Among his pupils at the academy were Arthur Sullivan, Frederic Cowen and Frederick Bridge. His best-known pupil at St Paul's was John Stainer, who succeeded him as organist there.

Luigi Ricci-Stolz (1852 – 10 February 1906) was an Italian musician and composer. He was born as Giacomo Ricci in Trieste, Austrian Empire, to composer Luigi Ricci and opera singer Francesca Stolz (1826–1900?), the elder sister of the famous Verdian diva Teresa Stolz. At the time Luigi Ricci was married to Ludmila Stolz (1826–1910), the identical twin sister of Francesca. Ricci-Stolz's uncle, Federico Ricci, was also a composer. He inherited the estate of his aunt Teresa Stolz, and changed his name to Ricci-Stolz. Ricci-Stolz was a conductor and composer. In addition to church music, songs and a string quartet, he also published a number of operas. He died in Milan in 1906, aged 54.

Luigi Ricci-Stolz (1852 – 10 February 1906) was an Italian musician and composer. He was born as Giacomo Ricci in Trieste, Austrian Empire, to composer Luigi Ricci and opera singer Francesca Stolz (1826–1900?), the elder sister of the famous Verdian diva Teresa Stolz. At the time Luigi Ricci was married to Ludmila Stolz (1826–1910), the identical twin sister of Francesca. Ricci-Stolz's uncle, Federico Ricci, was also a composer. He inherited the estate of his aunt Teresa Stolz, and changed his name to Ricci-Stolz. Ricci-Stolz was a conductor and composer. In addition to church music, songs and a string quartet, he also published a number of operas. He died in Milan in 1906, aged 54.

André Gedalge (27 December 1856 – 5 February 1926) was a French composer and teacher.

Hope Temple, born as Alice Maude Davis (27 December 1859 – 10 May 1938) was an Irish songwriter and composer. She was also known as Mrs André Messager.

Henri Marius Christiné (27 December 1867 – 25 November 1941) was a French composer of Swiss birth.The son of a French Savoyard watchmaker, Christiné was born in Geneva, Switzerland. He began by teaching at the lycée in Geneva, while pursuing his interest in music and playing organ in a local church. He married a cafe singer whose troupe was passing through Geneva, and went with her to Nice where they were married. He made his home in France, writing songs firstly for his wife and then for popular singers such as Mayol, Dranem, and Fragson. He also conducted for the music hall at the Place Clichy. Although Christiné wrote some operettas for the Scala theatre in Paris before the First World War, his career took off when he had his operetta Phi-Phi staged the day of the Armistice on 11 November 1918, with words by Albert Willemetz and Fabien Solar and which ran for three years at the Bouffes-Parisiens. This success was followed by Dédé in 1921, Madame (1923) and J'adore ça (1925). These works were in the forefront of a new fashion in music-theatre: sparkling, witty, jazzy musical plays. Christiné's tunes often build on repeated refrains of six or seven notes (a 'hook') which made them catchy and popular for contemporary audiences.In the 1930s Christiné contributed to the renewed fashion for more large-scale spectacular musicals, with pieces for the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, Au temps des Merveilleuses and Yana; for these he wrote the more vibrant numbers, while Richepin did the romantic songs. "Le Bonheur, Mesdames" and "Le Flirt ambulant" were rearrangements of his songs from the 1900s. He died in Nice, France. Phi-Phi and Dédé are still occasionally revived in France.

Georg Valdemar Høeberg ( 27 December 1872 in Copenhagen – 3 August 1950 in Vedbaek ) was a Danish violinist, conductor and composer. He was the brother of the opera singer Albert Høeberg and cellist Ernst Høeberg and grandson of Hans Christian Lumbye. In 1888 he became a student at the Music Academy with George Ditleff Bondesen, Gade and Valdemar Tofte as teachers. The violin was his main instrument and he also studied the piano and composition. After further violin studies in Berlin he got a job as a violinist in the Royal Chapel from 1897 - 1901. At the same time he began composing, and in 1899 he received the Anckerske Scholarship. From 1900 he was additionally violin teacher at the Conservatory until 1914 when he became conductor of the Royal chapel as a replacement for Choquan Deez. He held this post until 1930. In the years from 1910 to 1914 he was head of the concerts in the Danish Concert Association and there proved his abilities as a conductor. His musical output was small and fell either before or after his conductorship.

Bernard Hélène Joseph van Dieren (27 December 1887 – 24 April 1936) was a Dutch composer, critic, author, and writer on music, much of whose working life was spent in England.

Ferenc Szabó (27 December 1902, Budapest – 4 November 1969, Budapest) was a Hungarian composer. As a communist, Szabó was obliged to emigrate through Berlin (1931) to the USSR (1932). He became a respected figure in Soviet musical life, and found the opportunities to explore common ground between the concert hall and mass music-making on a far higher level. Besides composing a number of mass songs and film scores (notably for Erwin Piscator's Revolt of the Fishermen (1934), and Lúdas Matyi (1949)), he transcribed the Sinfonietta, originally for chamber orchestra, for an orchestra of domrï (plucked folk instruments). He wrote numerous orchestral works as well and one opera, Légy jó mindhalálig (1969). He was and remained a committed and staunch Stalinist till the end of his life, and composed many works lauding Soviet premier Joseph Stalin and his accomplishments. Eventually he fell out of favor with the Hungarian Communist Party after his accusations as an informer during the show trials in Moscow in the 1930s became better known. As a result of his accusations a number of fellow Communist Party members had been executed by Stalin's secret police. He was stripped unceremoniously of all his public posts and died in obscurity; no doubt a better fate than befell the earlier victims of the "Great Purge".

Oscar Levant (December 27, 1906 – August 14, 1972) was an American concert pianist, composer, conductor, author, radio game show panelist, television talk show host, comedian, and actor. He was known for his performances in the films Rhapsody in Blue (1945), The Barkleys of Broadway (1949), An American in Paris (1951), and The Band Wagon (1953). He was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960 for recordings featuring his piano performances. He was as equally famous for his mordant character and witticisms, on radio and later in movies and television, as for his music. He was portrayed by Sean Hayes in the Broadway play Good Night, Oscar, written by Doug Wright. Levant appeared as himself in the Gershwin biopic Rhapsody in Blue (1945).

Jan Willem van Otterloo (27 December 1907 – 27 July 1978) was a Dutch conductor, cellist and composer.

Louis-Noël Belaubre (27 December 1932 – 17 July 2017) was a French classical pianist and composer.

Clarence Albertson Barlow (also Klarenz; 27 December 1945 – 29 June 2023) was a British composer of classical and electroacoustic works. He was an academic teacher internationally, at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague from 1990 and at the University of California, Santa Barbara, from 2006, among others. He taught at the Darmstädter Ferienkurse from 1982 to 1994.