Gaetano Donizetti was born into abject poverty in the town of Bergamo on 29 November 1797. He was the fifth child of Andrea Donizetti, a custodian at a local pawnshop, and Domenica Nava-Donizetti. His older brother Giuseppe served as a

Beethoven’s Fifth Piano Concerto—nicknamed “Emperor” after Beethoven’s death and referring to the work’s majestic character rather than a specific political figure—was conceived during troubled times. Napoleon’s forces had invaded Vienna in 1809, and the subsequent French occupation brought physical and

“God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers?” This most widely quoted statement originating with Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche first appeared in the 1882 publication Die fröhliche Wisssenschaft

Manuel María de los Dolores Falla y Matheu was born on 23 November 1876 in Cádiz, a city and port in the autonomous community of Andalusia. His father José María Falla came from a family of merchants from Valencia, a

On Friday 23 November 1900, The Times published the following obituary. “The death of Sir Arthur Sullivan, which we announce this morning with great regret, not only deprives England of the man who for many years has been her most

On 19 November 1828, Franz Schubert died at the age of 31 in his brother’s flat in Vienna. He had been seriously ill for some time, with the primary symptoms of syphilis presenting themselves as early as December 1822. Premonitions

Harris Morris Kaplan grew up in Lithuania, and before immigrating to the United States he lived in Scotland for a couple of years. It was in Scotland that he changed his family name “Kaplan” to “Copland.” He had no particular

Gioachino Rossini (1792–1868) was celebrated throughout Europe, and his operas became fixtures on the most prestigious stages around the world. However, things weren’t all that cheerful in terms of his health. An infection with gonorrhea, the result of his early