FERDINAND HUMMEL (born this day 6 September 1855)

FERDINAND HUMMEL German harp player, pianist, Conductor and composer. Hummel started as a child prodigy, and his father, who was a flute player in the Royal Orchestra in Berlin, took care of his son's first musical training instructing him in both the piano and the harp from the age of four (some say seven) gaining...

Historical Event – 6 September 1492

Christopher Columbus sails from La Gomera in the Canary Islands, his final port of call before crossing the Atlantic Ocean for the first time.(525 years ago)

GIACOMO MEYERBEER (born this day 5 September 1791)

GIACOMO MEYERBEER Died 2 May 1864 was a German opera composer of Jewish birth who has been described as perhaps the most successful stage composer of the nineteenth century. With his 1831 opera Robert le diable and its successors, he gave the genre of grand opera 'decisive character'. Meyerbeer's grand opera style was achieved by his merging of German orchestra style with Italian vocal tradition. These...

Historical Events – 5 September 1666

Great Fire of London ends: Ten thousand buildings, including Old St Paul's Cathedral, are destroyed, but only six people are known to have died. (351 years ago) 

PIETRO LOCATELLI (born this day 3 September 1695)

PIETRO LOCATELLI, Italian viola player and composer (d. 1764) Little is known about Locatelli's childhood. In his early youth he was the third violinist and held the title of virtuoso in the cappella musicale (musical establishment) of the church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Bergamo. His first violin teachers were probably Ludovico Ferronati and Carlo Antonio Marino, both of whom were members of the cappella. The maestro...

Historical Event – 3 September 590 (1427 years ago)

   Pope Saint Gregory I (Latin: Gregorius I; c. 540 – 12 March 604), commonly known as Saint Gregory the Great, was Pope of the Catholic Church from 3 September 590 to his death in 604. Gregory is famous for instigating the first recorded large-scale mission from Rome, the Gregorian Mission, to convert a pagan people to Christianity. Gregory is also well known for his writings, which were...

WILLIAM FOX (born this day 2 September 1812)

WILLIAM FOX English-New Zealand lawyer and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1893) 

Historical Event – 2 September 1862 (155 years ago)

American Civil War: United States President Abraham Lincoln reluctantly restores Union General George B. McClellan to full command after General John Pope's disastrous defeat at the Second Battle of Bull Run.