Born Today! 04.12.2024

André Campra (French: [kɑ̃pʁa]; baptized 4 December 1660 – 29 June 1744) was a French composer and conductor of the Baroque era. The leading French opera composer in the period between Jean-Baptiste Lully and Jean-Philippe Rameau, Campra wrote several tragédies en musique and opéra-ballets that were extremely well received. He also wrote three books of cantatas as well as religious music, including a requiem.

Michel Pignolet de Montéclair (4 December 1667 – 22 September 1737) was a French composer of the baroque period. He was born Michel Pignolet in Andelot, Haute-Marne, France, and only later added "Montéclair" (the name of a fortress in his home town) to his name. Little is known of his life, and there are no known official portraits. He was the son of a weaver; his entrance into the choir school at the age of nine may have been the only chance of escaping the poverty of a weaver's life. In 1687, he went to Paris and joined the orchestra of the Opera, where he played the basse de violon. In Paris he studied with Jean-Baptiste Moreau. At some point between 1687 and the early years of the new century, he seems to have been maître de musique to the Prince de Vaudémont and to have followed him to Italy. It was probably from there that he brought the idea to add the double bass to the opera orchestra. All the time Montéclair must have worked as a music teacher of high regard: among his pupils were the daughters of his colleague François Couperin. Montéclair's approach to teaching was fresh and almost modern. He published books on teaching music (e.g., in 1709), and around 1730 he published Recueil de brunettes, which contains vocal music adapted for flute. The collection was expressly intended as a pedagogical tool to teach French style, and for this reason the music is underlaid with the text. He opened a music shop in 1721, retired from teaching in 1735, and gave up his position in the opera orchestra shortly before his death. He died in Domont in 1737. Montéclair was not greatly productive as a composer, but was an innovator in orchestration who had a significant influence on the development of the art form. His work was later taken up by Jean-Philippe Rameau. His specialty was using certain instruments to enhance the stage scene, e.g., letting horns play softly behind the stage to simulate a faraway hunt. Among his stage works are Festes de l'été and Jephté, which was considered difficult by contemporaries.

Johann Joseph Friebert (4 December 1724 – 6 August 1799), also known as Giuseppe Fribert, was an Austrian opera singer and composer. Amongst his compositions were four singspiels, six operas, and several pieces of church music. As a singer, he was known for his lyrical tenor voice and sensitive interpretations. He created the roles of Silango in Gluck's Le cinesi and Tirso in Gluck's La danza. Friebert was born in Gnadendorf in Lower Austria. He received his initial musical training from his father who was an organist in the local church and then at Melk Abbey where he was a chorister. From 1748 he studied in Vienna with Giuseppe Bonno and was subsequently engaged as a singer at the Hoftheater in Vienna. On his retirement from the stage, he served as the Kapellmeister at St. Stephen's Cathedral, Passau. Friebert died in Passau at the age of 74. His younger brother Karl (with whom he is often confused) was also a tenor singer, composer, and librettist.

Le Sénéchal de Kerkado (c. 1786 – c. 1805) was a French composer. She had her first opera performed at the age of nineteen; La méprise volontaire ou La double leçon (1805), with libretto by Alexandre Duval, was produced at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on June 5, 1805.

Johann Friedrich Franz Burgmüller, generally known as Friedrich Burgmuller (4 December 1806 – 13 February 1874) was a German pianist and composer during the Romantic period. He is perhaps best known for his three collections of children's etudes (or "teaching pieces") for the piano, particularly his Op. 100 "25 Études faciles et progressives" (25 Easy and Progressive Studies) for early intermediate students. The other two collections, for more advanced students, were Op. 105 and 109.

Melesio Morales (sometimes spelled Melisio Morales) (December 4, 1838 – May 12, 1908) was a Mexican composer. Morales was born and died in Mexico City, where he studied music; two of his operas, written in Italian, were performed there. He lived in Europe from 1865 to 1868, and his success in Florence with the opera Ildegonda in 1866 made him a star in his native country. He composed, conducted, and taught in Mexico City until his death. His works include ten operas, two cantatas, and orchestral and choral works.

Julien Koszul (4 December 1844 – 15 January 1927) was a French composer and pipe organist from Alsace.

Ernesto Köhler (4 December 1849 – 17 March 1907) was an Italian flautist and composer. He was considered one of the best flautists of his era. Born in Modena, Köhler was taught the flute by his father, Venceslau Joseph Köhler, who was the first flute of the Duke of Modena's orchestra. He moved to Vienna in 1869 as a flautist, and then became a member of the orchestra of the Imperial Opera in Saint Petersburg beginning in 1871. Noted as a composer for flute, Köhler wrote over 100 works for the instrument: études, duets, and solos. He also produced an opera and several ballets. He is well known among flute players for "Flöten-Schule" (c. 1880), his popular method for learning the flute, and for Progress in Flute Playing (his Opus 33, published in the 1880s), a series of three progressive instructional books for the flute player. Köhler also had ties to the mandolin community; he is credited with writing an early mandolin method, Mandolinen Schule, self instructor for the mandolin, first published in 1887. His mandolin method is thought to be the first mandolin method published in Russian. His publisher was Julius Heinrich Zimmermann. Ernesto Köhler died in Saint Petersburg on 17 March 1907.

Giulia Recli (1890 – 19 December 1970) was an Italian composer and essayist. Born in Milan, Recli was a student under Ildebrando Pizzetti and Victor de Sabata, learning piano, composition and singing. She was awarded first and second prizes at New York musical competitions. Recli's works were introduced to American audiences by Tullio Serafin. In 1926, at a Metropolitan Opera concert headlining Belgian violinist, César Thomson, Recli's Chimes at Sunrise was performed. In 1931, Recli's Nicolette s'Endorte, described by The New York Times as a "graceful lullaby", was performed at the Metropolitan Opera by Mario Vitetta (solo violin) in a concert devoted to the French Tenor Georges Thill. In 1965 a concert of her work and three other female composers was performed in Rome at an RAI symphony concert.

Rodolfo Miguel Montironi (born December 4, 1931, in Rosario, Argentina) is an Argentine bandoneonist, conductor, composer and arranger who has been involved in many tango orchestras in addition to his own.

Rauf Dhomi (Albanian: Rauf Domi) (born 4 December 1945) is a Kosovan classical music composer and conductor and a teacher at the University of Pristina. Dhomi is the author of many operas, requiems, masses, cantatas, symphonic music, film scores and theater music.

Richard Michael Farber (born December 4, 1945) is an American-born Israeli composer and librettist whose career spans over more than four decades. Farber began his work as a theater and ballet composer from which he moved to large scale stage works and, recently, orchestral and vocal music; to date, Farber has penned eight operas, three of which had been premiered on stage and four on the radio in Germany (see below). Farber is the 2005 recipient of the Composers’ Prime Minister Award.