Born Today! 12.02.2024

Josef Reicha (Rejcha) (12 February 1752 – 5 March 1795) was a Czech cellist, composer and conductor. He was the uncle of composer and music theorist Anton Reicha. Josef Reicha was born in Chudenice. In 1761 he moved to Prague, where he was taught cello by Franz Joseph Werner. In 1771 Reicha became first cellist in the Kapelle of Prince (Fürst) Kraft Ernst von Oettingen-Wallerstein. Together with the famous violinist Anton Janitsch, who also played in the Kapelle, Reicha toured several European cities during the late 1770s and visited Leopold Mozart in Salzburg in 1778. In his letters to Wolfgang Amadeus, Leopold praised Reicha's cello playing and compared the style of one of his cello concerts to those by Wolfgang Amadeus. Reicha adopted his nephew Anton in 1780 (Josef married in 1779, but the marriage produced no children) and subsequently taught him the violin and the piano. In 1785 Josef was made director of the orchestra in Bonn by Maximilian Francis of Austria, Elector of Cologne; the whole family moved to Bonn. Anton became a member of the Hofkapelle through his uncle. Other members included the young Beethoven, who played the viola and the organ, and Nikolaus Simrock, founder of the Simrock music publishing firm, who played the horn in the orchestra. Simrock would later publish Josef's works. In 1789 Josef became music director of the new theater, Bonner Nationaltheater. His musical career was cut short in 1791, when he contracted gout. He died four years later in Bonn.

Jan Ladislav Dussek (baptized Jan Václav Dusík, with surname also written as Duschek or Düssek; 12 February 1760 – 20 March 1812) was a Czech classical composer and virtuoso pianist. He was an important representative of Czech music abroad in the second half of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century. Some of his more forward-looking piano works have traits often associated with Romanticism.Dussek was one of the first piano virtuosos to travel widely throughout Europe. He performed at courts and concert venues from London to Saint Petersburg to Milan, and was celebrated for his technical prowess. During a nearly ten-year stay in London, he was instrumental in extending the size of the pianoforte, and was the recipient of one of John Broadwood's first 6-octave pianos, CC-c4. Harold Schonberg wrote that he was the first pianist to sit at the piano with his profile to the audience, earning him the appellation "le beau visage." All subsequent pianists have sat on stage in this manner. He was one of the best-regarded pianists in Europe before Beethoven's rise to prominence. His music is marked by lyricism interrupted by sudden dynamic contrasts. As well as his many compositions for the piano, he also composed for the harp: his music for that instrument contains a great variety of figuration within a largely diatonic harmony, avoids dangerous chromatic passages and is eminently playable. His concerto writing is exciting. His music is considered standard repertoire for all harpists, particularly his Six Sonatas/Sonatinas and especially the Sonata in C minor. Less well known to the general public than that of his more renowned Classical period contemporaries, his piano music is highly valued by many teachers and not infrequently programmed. Franz Liszt has been called an indirect successor of Dussek in the composition and performance of virtuoso piano music. His music remained popular to some degree in 19th-century Great Britain and the USA, some still in print, with more available in period editions online.

Gustave Satter (12 February 1832 – after 1882) was an Austrian composer and pianist.

Licinio Refice (Patrica, February 12, 1883 – Rio de Janeiro, September 11, 1954) was an Italian composer and priest. With Monsignor Lorenzo Perosi he represented the new direction taken by Italian church music in the twentieth century, and he left the popular song Ombra di nube (1935) as well as two completed operas.His first opera Cecilia, about the legend of Saint Cecilia, created a sensation with its premiere in 1934 in Rome at the Teatro Reale dell'Opera, with Marcello Govoni as Opera Director; Claudia Muzio took the title role. His second opera, Margherita da Cortona, appeared in 1938. A third opera, Il Mago (1954), was left incomplete (within the first act). Refice died in 1954 during morning rehearsals of Cecilia in Rio de Janeiro; Renata Tebaldi was singing the title role.

Maurice Yvain (12 February 1891 – 27 July 1965) was a French composer noted for his operettas of the 1920s and 1930s. Some of which were written for Mistinguett, at one time the best-paid female entertainer in the world. In the 1930s and 1940s, he became a major success in the United States and several of his pieces appeared in the famous Ziegfeld Follies on Broadway. He also composed music for several films of notable directors such as Anatole Litvak, Julien Duvivier, and Henri-Georges Clouzot. Yvain's music blended with the then "spirit of Paris".

Maurice Yvain (12 February 1891 – 27 July 1965) was a French composer noted for his operettas of the 1920s and 1930s. Some of which were written for Mistinguett, at one time the best-paid female entertainer in the world. In the 1930s and 1940s, he became a major success in the United States and several of his pieces appeared in the famous Ziegfeld Follies on Broadway. He also composed music for several films of notable directors such as Anatole Litvak, Julien Duvivier, and Henri-Georges Clouzot. Yvain's music blended with the then "spirit of Paris".

Miron Borisovich Polyakin (Russian: Мирон Борисович Полякин; (February 12, 1895 in Cherkasy - May 21, 1941 in Moscow) was a Russian Empire and Soviet violinist and pedagogue, one of the best known disciples of the famous Leopold Auer. Between 1917-1926 he toured many countries of the world, and in 1922 gave his New York debut. Upon his return to the Soviet Union, he undertook the professorship position at the Leningrad Conservatory (1928–1936) and then the Moscow Conservatory (1936–1941).

Břetislav Bakala (February 12, 1897 in Fryšták – April 1, 1958 in Brno) was a Czech conductor, pianist, and composer. His career was centred on Brno and he was particularly associated with the music of Leoš Janáček.

Albert Huybrechts (12 February 1899 in Dinant – 21 February 1938 in Brussels) was a Belgian composer.

Lev Nikolayevich Naumov (Russian: Лев Никола́евич Нау́мов; 12 February 1925, Rostov – 21 August 2005, Moscow) was a Russian classical pianist, composer and educator. Received a title of People's Artist of Russia and was nicknamed the "Godfather of the Russian piano school".Professor Naumov studied with the legendary Heinrich Neuhaus, becoming his assistant and eventually his successor. Naumov was a professor of piano at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory and a jury member in many international competitions. Professor Naumov's studio produced some of the better-known pianists to emerge from Russia in the past 40 years. Among his students at different times were such pianists as Sergey Arzibaschev, Ksenia Bashmet, Vladimir Viardo, Irina Vinogradova, Maria Voskresenskaya, Andrei Gavrilov, Dmitri Galynin, Pavel Gintov, Nairi Grigorian, Andrey Diev, Peter Dmitriev, Pavel Dombrovsky, Violetta Egorova, Victor Eresko, Andrej Hoteev, Ilya Itin, Alexander Kobrin, Daniil Kopylov, Alexey Kudryashov, Sviatoslav Lips, Dong-Hyek Lim, Vassily Lobanov, Alexei Lubimov, Anna Malikova, Alexander Melnikov, Alexei Nasedkin, Natalia Naumowa, Kadzuki Nisimon, Dmitry Onishenko, Valery Petach, Boris Petrushansky, Juri Rosum, Konstantin Scherbakov, Ivan Sokolov, Vladimir Soultanov, Alexei Sultanov, Sergey Tarasov, Alexander Toradze, Alexander Tschaikowski, Alexander Tselyakov, Rem Urasin, Andrei Yeh, Artemis H.R. Yen and many others.

Wacław "Wacek" Kisielewski (12 February 1943 – 12 July 1986) was a Polish pianist. He was the son of Polish politician Stefan Kisielewski, and one half of the pianist duo Marek i Wacek (Marek and Wacek) with Marek Tomaszewski. He made arrangements of classical and modern music, and played concerts in many countries worldwide.Waclaw died in a car accident in Wyszków and was buried in the Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw on 17 July 1986. The funeral mass in the Church of Saint Cross Piaseczno was attended by a huge crowd. The representatives of EMI and Yamaha were present, among others.

Wacław "Wacek" Kisielewski (12 February 1943 – 12 July 1986) was a Polish pianist. He was the son of Polish politician Stefan Kisielewski, and one half of the pianist duo Marek i Wacek (Marek and Wacek) with Marek Tomaszewski. He made arrangements of classical and modern music, and played concerts in many countries worldwide.Waclaw died in a car accident in Wyszków and was buried in the Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw on 17 July 1986. The funeral mass in the Church of Saint Cross Piaseczno was attended by a huge crowd. The representatives of EMI and Yamaha were present, among others.

Hijiri Kuwano (桑野聖, Kuwano Hijiri, born February 12) is a Japanese violinist, composer and arranger. Hijiri began taking violin lessons at age 6 and studied under Yonosuke Ishii, Shizuko Ishii and Chikashi Tanaka. While attending Tokyo University of the Arts, he performed as a guest concert master at Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra and Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra.Before graduating from the university, he became interested in playing non-classical music and started performing with Toshihito Nakanishi, who inspired him in many ways. Hijiri also started his career as a composer when he produced an album published together with a photobook by Kenji Ishikawa, Moonlight Blue. Hijiri handled string arrangements for albums and movies for Kome Kome Club and started his career as an arranger as well.Hijiri worked on recordings, concerts with various artists, movies and video games as a soloist and with "Hijiri Kuwano strings group". He is credited in Whisper of the Heart, Shall We Dance, Nobody Knows, Kind of Love, Melody of Oblivion, Good Luck Girl!, Final Fantasy XIII and numerous other productions as a performer, composer and arranger.He is also known as an original violin player for the battle theme "Blinded by Light" in Square Enix's Final Fantasy XIII (composed by Masashi Hamauzu). He works closely with Hamauzu and Imeruat (Masashi Hamauzu and Mina) as a supporting artist. He toured with Imeruat to Europe and Hong Kong and performed several pieces on "α" Clock: World Time, Sony Global website (composed by Masashi Hamauzu).