Juan Crisóstomo Jacobo Antonio de Arriaga y Balzola (January 27, 1806 – January 17, 1826) was a Spanish composer. He was nicknamed the “Spanish Mozart” after he died, because, like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, he was also a child prodigy and an accomplished composer who died young. Whether by coincidence or design, they also shared the same first and second baptismal names; and they shared the same birthday.
January 27, 2012
Juan Crisostomo de Arriaga birthday
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart birthday
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791), was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, operatic, and choral music. He is among the most enduringly popular of classical composers.
Mozart showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood in Salzburg. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty. At 17, he was engaged as a court musician in Salzburg, but grew restless and travelled in search of a better position, always composing abundantly. While visiting Vienna in 1781, he was dismissed from his Salzburg position. He chose to stay in the capital, where he achieved fame but little financial security. During his final years in Vienna, he composed many of his best-known symphonies, concertos, and operas, and portions of the Requiem, which was largely unfinished at the time of Mozart’s death. The circumstances of his early death have been much mythologized. He was survived by his wife Constanze and two sons.
On This Day …
1756 – Composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born.
1806 – Composer Juan Crisostomo Jacobo Antonio de Arriaga was born.
1823 – Composer Edouard-Victoire-Antoine Lalo was born.
1956 – Elvis Presley released “Heartbreak Hotel.
1968 – Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” was released. The release came 6 weeks after he was killed in a plane crash.
1968 – The Bee Gees made their U.S. debut with a concert at the Anaheim Convention Center in California.
1991 – Whitney Houston sang the “Star Spangled Banner” at Super Bowl XXV.
1993 – Warner Brothers Records announced that it was releasing Ice-T from his contract due to “creative differences.”
