Born Today! 22.04.2024

Friedrich Christian Hermann Uber (22 April 1781 – 2 March 1822) was a German composer, who also served as the cantor of the Kreuzkirche in Dresden. Born in Breslau (modern Wrocław), he was the son of lawyer and music-lover Christian Benjamin (born Hermann) Uber; his brother Alexander was a noted cello virtuoso. He studied law in Halle (Saale), before receiving a musical education from Daniel Gottlob Türk. He then received placement as a chamber musician at the court of Prince Louis Ferdinand; beginning in 1807 he served as a first violinist in the orchestra in Braunschweig. In 1808, on the orders of Jérôme Bonaparte, he was appointed Kapellmeister of the opera in Kassel. In 1814 he was appointed by king Jérôme Bonaparte as Opernkapellmeister to Kassel. Beginning in the same year he also served as Kapellmeister of the Staatstheater Mainz, and in 1816 he became music director of a group of theaters in Dresden. From 1818 until his death he served as music director of the Kreuzkirche; at the same time he worked as its cantor. Uber composed French and German operas, intermezzi, cantatas, a Passion, and a violin concerto. Stylistically, he was a Romantic. He died in Dresden in 1822.

Richard Wüerst (22 February 1824 – 9 October 1881) was a German composer, music professor and pedagogue. Wüerst was born and died in Berlin. He was a pupil of Carl Friedrich Rungenhagen at the Prussian Academy of Arts and a pupil of Felix Mendelssohn's. He later taught in the conservatory of Theodor Kullak (what would soon become the Stern Conservatory) and edited the Neue Berliner Musikzeitung (from 1874 to 1875). One of his notable students was Heinrich Hofmann. See: List of music students by teacher: T to Z#Richard Wüerst.

Dame Ethel Mary Smyth (; 22 April 1858 – 8 May 1944) was an English composer and a member of the women's suffrage movement. Her compositions include songs, works for piano, chamber music, orchestral works, choral works and operas. Smyth tended to be marginalised as a "woman composer" as though her work could not be accepted as mainstream. Yet when she produced more delicate compositions, they were criticised for not measuring up to the standard of her male peers. She was the first female composer granted a damehood.

José Vianna da Motta (modern spelling as 'Viana da Mota') (22 April 1868 – 1 June 1948) was a Portuguese pianist, teacher, and composer. He was one of the last pupils of Franz Liszt. The José Vianna da Motta Music Competition was founded in 1957 in his honor.

Armas Launis (April 22, 1884 – August 7, 1959), was a Finnish composer as well as an ethnomusicologist, a professor, a writer and a journalist. He was born in Hämeenlinna.

Nikolai Borisovich Obukhov (Russian: Николай Борисович Обухов; Nicolai, Nicolas, Nikolay; Obukhow, Obouhow, Obouhov, Obouhoff) (22 April 1892 – 13 June 1954) was a modernist and mystic Russian composer, active mainly in France. An avant-garde figure who took as his point of departure the late music of Scriabin, he fled Russia along with his family after the Bolshevik Revolution, settling in Paris. His music is notable for its religious mysticism, its unusual notation, its use of an idiosyncratic 12-tone chromatic language, and its pioneering use of electronic musical instruments in the era of their earliest development.

Eric William Fenby OBE (22 April 1906 – 18 February 1997) was an English composer, conductor, pianist, organist and teacher who is best known for being Frederick Delius's amanuensis from 1928 to 1934. He helped Delius realise a number of works that would not otherwise have been forthcoming. Fenby was born in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, and as a youth took lessons in the piano, organ and cello. At the age of 12 he was appointed organist at Holy Trinity Church. As a composer he was largely self-taught. By 1925 he had conducted a work for string orchestra at the Spa Grand Hall in Scarborough and had written some minor pieces.

Ivan Ivanovich Dzerzhinsky (9 April 1909 – 18 January 1978) was a Soviet and Russian composer. The work for which he best known, his opera Quiet Flows the Don (Tikhiy Don), was more successful for its political potential than for any musical distinction.

Pascal Bentoiu (22 April 1927 – 21 February 2016) was a Romanian modernist composer.

Judith Dvorkin (22 April 1928 – 24 July 1995) was an American composer and librettist. She also used the pseudonym Judy Spencer. Dvorkin was born in New York. She received a bachelor's degree in music at Barnard College, where her teachers included Otto Luening. She received a master's degree from Columbia University, where her teachers included Luening, Douglas Moore, and Elliott Carter. She continued her studies in seminars with Roger Sessions at the University of California at Berkeley, and with jazz pianist Teddy Wilson. She wrote lyrics for 23 songs for the Captain Kangaroo television program, which Earl Rose set to music. Other collaborators included Norris Turney, Jimmy Rowles, Paul Rosner, and Dick Chodosh. Most of her manuscripts and papers are archived at the New York Public Library's American Music Center.

Isao Tomita (冨田 勲, Tomita Isao, 22 April 1932 – 5 May 2016), often known simply as Tomita, was a Japanese composer, regarded as one of the pioneers of electronic music and space music, and as one of the most famous producers of analog synthesizer arrangements. In addition to creating note-by-note realizations, Tomita made extensive use of the sound-design capabilities of his instrument, using synthesizers to create new sounds to accompany and enhance his electronic realizations of acoustic instruments. He also made effective use of analog music sequencers and the Mellotron, and featured futuristic science-fiction themes, while laying the foundations for synth-pop music and trance-like rhythms. Many of his albums are electronic versions and adaptations of familiar classical music pieces. He received four Grammy Award nominations for his 1974 album based on music by Claude Debussy, Snowflakes Are Dancing.

Michael Charles Colgrass (April 22, 1932 – July 2, 2019) was an American and Canadian musician, composer, and educator. He was an associate composer of the Canadian Music Centre.

Jaroslav Krček (born 22 April 1939) is a Czech radio producer, conductor, inventor of musical instruments and composer of classical and folk music.

Aivars Kalējs (April 22, 1951, Riga, Latvian SSR) is a Latvian composer, organist and pianist.

Alo Mattiisen (22 April 1961 – 30 May 1996) was an Estonian musician and composer. One of the most famous melodies that he composed was a patriotic song titled "No land is alone", with lyrics written by the Estonian poet Jüri Leesment. Several other of his patriotic compositions became staples for the Singing Revolution including the ‘Five Patriotic Songs’ series.