Today's Notable Birthdays

Nothing is more patriotic in the States than the music of John Phillip Sousa. He was born today, November 6th, 1854 and died on March 6th, 1932.

Today is also a significant one for concert bands, jazz enthusiasts and classical lovers alike. Adolphe Sax, the inventor of (who wants to guess???) the saxophone was born today in 1814, and died on Feb 7th, 1894. Many composers wrote music for the saxophone, most notably Claude Debussy, Paul Hindemith, Alexander Glazunov, Alan Hovhaness, Vincent D'Indy, Villa-Lobos, Florent Schmitt, Darius Milhaud, Jacques Ibert, Charles Koechlin, Frank Martin, and well, many others. I'm rather bummed out that I cannot locate a single album at the moment of saxophone-specific music, as it would make for a fun post. Perhaps a Debussy disc with his "Rapsodie" is in order....

Then there's the Polish pianist/composer Ignacy Jan Paderewski, who was born today in 1860, and lived until June 29th, 1941. Best remembered for a "certain" piano piece, I think he should also be remembered for having an exciting head of hair. 

                     

Moving on to something obscure, here is a work for string quartet by Bulgarian composer Tsvetan Tsvetanov, who was born today, November 6th in 1931. I believe he passed away in 1980 but I am not certain of any dates.