Born Today! 03.11.2024

Giuseppe Gherardeschi (3 November 1759 - 6 August 1815) was an Italian organist and composer. He was born and died in Pistoia. He began to study music with his father Domenico, who was the maestro di cappella at Pistoia Cathedral, and his uncle Filippo Maria Gherardeschi. He continued his studies with Nicola Sala in Naples at the Conservatorio della Pietà dei Turchini. On returning to his home city he was appointed organist at the Church of Santa Maria dell'Umiltà and later succeeded his father as director of music at Pistoia Cathedral. As a composer he wrote vocal music (sacred and secular) as well as instrumental music (solo, chamber and orchestral).

Victor Charles Paul Dourlen (3 November 1780 – 8 January 1864) was a French composer and music teacher at the Conservatoire de Paris during the first half of the nineteenth century. He is primarily known as a theorist on account of his treatises on harmony, based on the methods of Charles Simon Catel, which were widely used as reference works, especially his Traité d'harmonie (c. 1838), the Traité d'accompagnement pratique (c. 1840), and his Méthode élémentaire pour le pianoforte (c. 1820).

Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini (Italian: [vinˈtʃɛntso salvaˈtoːre karˈmɛːlo franˈtʃesko belˈliːni] ; 3 November 1801 – 23 September 1835) was an Italian opera composer famed for his long, graceful melodies and evocative musical settings. A central figure of the bel canto era, he was admired not only by the public, but also by many composers who were influenced by his work. His songs balanced florid embellishment with a deceptively simple approach to lyric setting. Born to a musical family in Sicily, he distinguished himself early and earned a scholarship to study under several noted musicians at Naples' Real Collegio di Musica. There he absorbed elements of the Neapolitan School's style and was inspired by performances of Donizetti's and Rossini's operas, among others, in more modern idioms. He wrote his first opera, Adelson e Salvini (1825), for the conservatory, and his next, Bianca e Fernando (1826), on a Teatro di San Carlo-affiliated commission for promising students. He also became close friends with his peer and first biographer, Francesco Florimo. Bellini then went to Milan to compose for La Scala, where the success of Il pirata (1827) established his short but significant career. He wrote many celebrated operas, ascending to triumphal heights with I Capuleti e i Montecchi (1830, La Fenice), La sonnambula (1831, Teatro Carcano), and Norma (1831, La Scala), though not until later performances in the case of the latter. He traveled abroad and wrote I puritani after a visit to London. Its successful premiere (1835, Théâtre-Italien) capped an illustrious international career. Bellini died at the age of 33 in Puteaux, France. Verdi praised Bellini's expansive melodies as unequaled, while Wagner, who was rarely complimentary, was captivated by Bellini's expressive integration of music and text. Liszt and Chopin were also admirers, though Berlioz was less enthusiastic. Most musicologists now assess Bellini positively, though some question the quality of his work. Many of his operas, including Pirata, Capuleti, Sonnambula, Norma, and Puritani are regularly performed at major opera houses throughout the world.

Pasquale Bona (Cerignola, November 3, 1808 – Milan, December 2, 1878) was an Italian composer. He studied music at the Palermo Conservatory. He composed a number of operas, including one based on the Schiller play that would later inspire Giuseppe Verdi's Don Carlos. Bona later taught at the Conservatory in Milan, where he counted among his pupils Amilcare Ponchielli, Arrigo Boito, Franco Faccio and Alfredo Catalani; he was also friends with Alessandro Manzoni.

Joseph Hellmesberger Sr. (3 November 1828 – 24 October 1893) was an Austrian violinist, conductor, and composer. Born in Vienna, he was the son of musician and pedagogue, Georg Hellmesberger Sr. (1800–1873), and was taught violin by his father at the Vienna Conservatory. Hellmesberger hails from a family of notable musicians including: brother, Georg Jr. (1830–1852); son, Joseph Jr. (1855–1907); and son Ferdinand (1863–1940). In 1851, Hellmesberger became violin professor at the Vienna Conservatory, artistic director and conductor of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde concerts as well as director of the Vienna Conservatory. After the division of the two roles in 1859, he remained director of the Conservatory, while Johann Herbeck became conductor of the concerts. He was professor until 1877, but continued on as director until his death in Vienna. In 1860 he became concertmaster of the Court Opera orchestra and took on various other positions in Vienna's music life. Hellmesberger founded the Hellmesberger Quartet in 1849. Later his son, Joseph Jr., joined playing second violin. He surrendered leadership and the first chair to Joseph Jr. in 1887.

Thomas O'Brien Butler (3 November 1861 – 7 May 1915; lost on the Lusitania), was an Irish composer who wrote the Irish-language opera Muirgheis (1903).

Emīls Dārziņš (November 3, 1875 – August 31, 1910) was a Latvian composer, conductor and music critic. Dārziņš' work bears a distinct romantic character, with a strong trend towards national themes. His main musical authorities and influences were Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Jean Sibelius. Dārziņš musical contribution is mainly to vocal music (choral and art songs), but he also composed orchestral music, though only one piece, "Melanholiskais valsis" (Melancholic waltz) has survived. His only opera, "Rožainās dienas" (Rosy days), remained unfinished after his early death at the age of 34.

Octávio Pinto (São Paulo, November 3, 1890 – São Paulo, October 31, 1950) was a Brazilian composer and architect. He was married to Guiomar Novaes, a major figure among twentieth-century Brazilian pianists. Pinto was not a professional musician, but rather an architect who carried out business across Brazil. In his youth, however, he took lessons with the famous Hungarian-French pianist Isidor Philipp, who taught Guiomar Novaes while she studied at the Paris Conservatoire, and wrote several pieces for solo piano until his death in 1950. His best-known and most-performed music comes from his Scenas Infantis (Childhood Scenes), a suite composed in 1932 for his wife, who performed the suite and brought attention to her husband's work. Pinto was well known in Latin American music circles even before marrying Novaes. He was also a close friend of Heitor Villa-Lobos, the best-known composer of Brazilian classical music of the twentieth century.

Henri Pensis (November 3, 1900 – June 1, 1958), was a Luxembourgish conductor, composer and violinist. Pensis was born on in the Pfaffenthal quarter of Luxembourg City. In 1933, he founded and became the first conductor of the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra. He moved to the United States in 1940, conducting the New Jersey Philharmonic Orchestra and the Sioux City Symphony Orchestra. He conducted at least three concerts in Carnegie Hall. During Pensis' tenure with the Luxembourg Orchestra the first violin chair was occupied by Ern(e)st Eichel, a Polish violinist who was born in Sambor (Galicia) and had studied in Vienna and Cologne. This violinist who also led occasionally the Luxembourg Orchestra tried after the war to make a career as a conductor. For that purpose Eichel chose the 'nom de plume' of Ernest Borsamsky. Under this pseudonym, created by inverting the syllables of his birth town and adding a Polish "sky" he made some highly collectable recordings for East German Radio in Berlin and Leipzig. He also conducted once the Berlin Philharmonic in 1949. In 1956 his name can be traced last when he conducted the Dresden Orchestra. Pensis played his last concert at Expo 58 in Brussels; he died 14 days later following a heart attack.

Jānis Kalniņš (3 November 1904 in Pärnu – 30 November 2000 in Fredericton) was a Latvian Canadian composer and conductor.

Emilio Colón (born 1967) is an American solo cellist, chamber musician, conductor, composer and pedagogue. He was born in Puerto Rico. He is an international artist, concertizing in Canada, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, France, Italy, Germany, Guatemala, Hungary, Japan, Korea, Malta, the Netherlands, Puerto Rico, Spain, Switzerland, and the United States.

Juliane Klein (born 3 November 1966) is a German composer and publishing director.