Born Today! 08.11.2024

Joseph Aloys Schmittbaur (also Schmittbauer; 8 November 1718 - 24 October 1809) was a German composer, Kapellmeister, instrument maker and music teacher.

Karel Komzák II (8 November 1850 – 23 April 1905) was a Bohemian-born Viennese composer famous for his dances and marches. He composed the Erzherzog-Albrecht-Marsch. Komzák was born in Prague in 1850. After training under his father, Karel Komzák I, he studied violin, musical theory, and conducting at the Prague Conservatory between 1861 and 1867. In March 1869 he joined his father's 11th Regiment band at Linz, playing violin and baritone. When the position of bandmaster to the 7th Infantry Regiment became vacant in 1871, Komzák applied and was successful, taking up his new post at Innsbruck at the age of 21. During this period the so-called Bohemian musician became familiar with the folk music of Tyrol, and this showed its influence in the choruses he wrote for the Innsbruck Liedertafel Choir, of which he was also choirmaster. Komzák's long-standing desire to come to Vienna was eventually fulfilled in 1882, when he was called to the capital to take over the duties of bandmaster to the 84th Infantry Regiment. It was while he was with this regiment that his fame gradually spread throughout the Austrian Empire. His congenial appearance, friendly nature and energetic conducting soon made him a favourite of the Viennese public, who regarded him as one of the leading military composers. An important contribution of Komzák to the development of Austrian military music was his use of stringed instruments. His band contained no less than fourteen first violins and could therefore be compared favourably with the usual concert orchestra of the period. The frequent and widespread tours undertaken by Komzák with his regimental orchestra were everywhere received with popular acclaim. In 1892 Komzák was given leave of absence from his regiment on health grounds and the family moved to the spa town of Baden-bei-Wien, fourteen miles (23 km) southwest of Vienna, where the following year he took over direction of the Spa Orchestra. In the meantime, on 20 September 1892, he gave a farewell concert in Vienna with the band which was being moved to the regiment's new garrison at Mostar, Herzegovina. Komzák retained the position of bandmaster until his eventual retirement in 1896, spending the winter months with the regiment in Mostar and returning to Baden in the spring to direct the season's spa concerts. Probably the climax of his career was the series of concerts he gave with the Wiener Farben Orchestra at the World Exhibition in St. Louis, Missouri in 1904. Only six months later Komzák died on Easter Sunday, 23 April 1905, aged only 54. In attempting to jump onto a departing train at Baden bei Wien railway station he slipped and fell under the wheels. He was buried at Baden, but in the following November his remains were exhumed and transferred to the Vienna Central Cemetery, where he was given an honorable grave by the city authorities. A monument, showing the composer with baton in hand, was erected on his grave in 1907. His son Karel Komzák III (1878 – 1924) was also a composer.

Georg Lennart Schnéevoigt (8 November 1872 – 28 November 1947) was a Finnish conductor and cellist, born in Vyborg, Grand Duchy of Finland, which is now in Russia, to Ernst Schnéevoigt and Rosa Willandt.

Lazare Saminsky (born Lazar Semyonovich Saminsky (Russian: Лазарь (Элиэзер) Семенович Саминский; 27 October 1882 O.S. / 8 November N.S. – 30 June 1959) was a performer, conductor and composer, especially of Jewish music.

Sir Arnold Edward Trevor Bax (8 November 1883 – 3 October 1953) was an English composer, poet, and author. His prolific output includes songs, choral music, chamber pieces, and solo piano works, but he is best known for his orchestral music. In addition to a series of symphonic poems, he wrote seven symphonies and was for a time widely regarded as the leading British symphonist. Bax was born in the London suburb of Streatham to a prosperous family. He was encouraged by his parents to pursue a career in music, and his private income enabled him to follow his own path as a composer without regard for fashion or orthodoxy. Consequently, he came to be regarded in musical circles as an important but isolated figure. While still a student at the Royal Academy of Music Bax became fascinated with Ireland and Celtic culture, which became a strong influence on his early development. In the years before the First World War he lived in Ireland and became a member of Dublin literary circles, writing fiction and verse under the pseudonym Dermot O'Byrne. Later, he developed an affinity with Nordic culture, which for a time superseded his Celtic influences in the years after the First World War. Between 1910 and 1920 Bax wrote a large amount of music, including the symphonic poem Tintagel, his best-known work. During this period he formed a lifelong association with the pianist Harriet Cohen – at first an affair, then a friendship, and always a close professional relationship. In the 1920s he began the series of seven symphonies which form the heart of his orchestral output. In 1942 Bax was appointed Master of the King's Music, but composed little in that capacity. In his last years he found his music regarded as old-fashioned, and after his death it was generally neglected. From the 1960s onwards, mainly through a growing number of commercial recordings, his music was gradually rediscovered, although little of it is regularly heard in the concert hall.

Yuri Alexandrovich Shaporin (Russian: Юрий (Георгий) Александрович Шапорин) (8 November [O.S. 27 October] 1887 – 9 December 1966), PAU, was a Soviet composer.

Mikhail Emmanuilovich Goldstein (Russian: Михаил Эммануилович Гольдштейн, also transcribed as Michael Emmanuilowitsch Goldstein, Hebrew: מיכאל גולדשטיין; pen name: Mykhailo Mykhailovsky; 8 November [O.S. 26 October] 1917 – 7 September 1989), was a German composer, violinist and violin teacher of German-Jewish origin, brother of prominent violinist Boris Goldstein. His great uncle was the physicist Eugen Goldstein.

Jerome A. Hines (November 8, 1921 – February 4, 2003) was an American operatic bass who performed at the Metropolitan Opera from 1946 to 1987. Standing 6'6", his stage presence and stentorian voice made him ideal for such roles as Sarastro in The Magic Flute, Mephistopheles in Faust, Ramfis in Aida, the Grand Inquisitor in Don Carlos, the title role of Boris Godunov and King Mark in Tristan und Isolde.

Douglas Townsend (New York, November 8, 1921 – New York, August 1, 2012) was an American composer and musicologist. Born in Manhattan, Townsend became interested in composition while a student at the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, in New York City. He taught himself composition, counterpoint and orchestration. In 1941, he began studying composition privately, with Tibor Serly, Stefan Wolpe, Aaron Copland, Otto Luening and Felix Greissle, among others. Townsend taught at Brooklyn College, CUNY (1958–69), Lehman College, CUNY (1970–71), the University of Bridgeport (Connecticut; 1973–5) and Purchase College (also known as SUNY Purchase) (1973–6). From 1977 to 1980, he was editor of Musical Heritage Review. Townsend’s research into 18th- and 19th-century music has resulted in editions, recordings and performances, most notably of a Carl Czerny overture and a mass by Sigismund Neukomm. He received research grants from the Martha Baird Rockefeller Fund (1965) and the New York State Council on the Arts (1975). Townsend’s compositions include several orchestral works, chamber music pieces, choral works, film and television scores, three operettas, and one opera. While still a high school student, he won a nationwide contest for student composers; Bernard Herrmann led the CBS Symphony Orchestra in a radio broadcast performance of the winning composition, Contra Dances. Seven years later, Townsend achieved public notice as a composer when pianist Ray Lev performed the premiere of his Sonatina No. 1 at Carnegie Hall. Townsend's own compositions generally used traditional forms and tonality. Townsend was married twice. His first marriage was to Anne-Marie Findley, and produced three children, Jonathan, Adam, and April. His second wife, Jean, survived him, as do his children from his first marriage.

Richard Stoker (8 November 1938 – 24 March 2021) was a British composer, writer, actor and artist. There was a strong musical tradition in Stoker's family, and he showed an early aptitude, intrigued by the piano keyboard as soon as he was tall enough to reach it. He started playing the piano at the age of six, started to compose at the age of seven, and went to an uncle for piano lessons. At 15 he went to Huddersfield Technical College, studying with Harold Truscott and Winifred Smith. After initial encouragement from Eric Fenby, Arthur Benjamin and Benjamin Britten, he entered the Royal Academy of Music in 1958 and studied under Lennox Berkeley. He won several prizes at the RAM, culminating in the Mendelssohn Scholarship in 1962, which took him to Paris to study with Nadia Boulanger. Returning to London in 1963 he was invited to teach at the RAM, and was a Professor of Composition there for over 20 years. He later became Hon Treasurer and a Founder member of the Royal Academy of Music Guild. He was a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music (FRAM), and also an Associate of the Royal College of Music (ARCM). An early success as a composer was with the orchestral overture Antic Hay (1961) which won the first Royal Amateur Orchestral Society Award. The Petite Suite of the same year won the first Eric Coates Memorial Prize. Other orchestral works include four numbered symphonies (spanning 1961-1991), a Little Symphony and a piano concerto (op.54, 1978). There are two operas: Johnson Preserv'd (1967) and Thérèse Raquin (1975). His chamber and instrumental music includes three each of string quartets, piano trios and violin sonatas. Stoker also composed song cycles, choral works (such as the dramatic cantata Ecce homo, 1962) and music for the organ (Organ Symphony, op. 58, 1980). Stoker declared the piano to be his favourite instrument, with the guitar a close second: he produced a number of pieces for both instruments. His style was modern but accessible, full of his optimistic, joie de vivre personality. He edited Composer magazine between 1969 and 1980, and wrote entries on eight musicians for the Oxford DNB: Sir Thomas Armstrong, Arthur Benjamin, Alan Bush, Janet Craxton, Eric Fenby, Anthony Milner, Robert Simpson and Harold Truscott. Sometimes referred to as a Renaissance Man, he was also a writer: two novels, short stories and poetry (Words without Music, 1970, and Portrait of a Town, 1974), three plays (unpublished) and an autobiography, Open Window – Open Door, 1985. As an artist he exhibited some of his drawings and paintings. In later years he enjoyed acting in films and TV - he appeared in over 100 productions, including Pirates of the Caribbean, Dark Shadows, Maleficent, Hercules (as body double for John Hurt), Last Christmas and MotherFatherSon. Stoker's first marriage was to Jacqueline (née Trelfer) in 1962. They were divorced in 1985. He married his second wife, Gill (née Watson), in 1986. He was a member of the Garrick Club for several years.

Pedro Vilarroig (born November 8, 1954) is a professor of physics and cosmology at the Universidad Politécnica of Madrid and a former Spanish composer. He is a proponent of neotonalism, having founded and led the Asociación Española de Compositores Neotonales (Spanish Association of Neotonal Composers).

Diana Arismendi (born November 8, 1962) is a Venezuelan composer.