Musicians Who Died on November 12

  • 1606 Matthäus Ludecus, German composer, dies at 79
  • 1739 Ludwig Ernst, German composer, dies at 71
  • 1823 Emanuel Aloys Förster, Bohemian composer and music teacher, dies at 75
  • 1852 Georg Hellmesberger Jr., Austrian violinist and composer, dies at 22
  • 1896 Spyridon Xyndas, Greek composer, dies at 84
  • 1925 Roman Statkowski, Polish composer, dies at 65
  • 1940 Alejandro Garcia Caturla, Cuban composer, dies at 34
  • 1944 Edgar Stillman Kelley, American composer (Gulliver), dies at 87
  • 1944 Roy Agnew, Australian composer (Sonata Ballade), dies at 51
  • 1948 Umberto Giordano, Italian composer, chiefly of opera (was Andrea Chénier; Fedora; La cena delle beffe), dies at 81
  • 1962 Alexander Spitzmüller, Austrian composer, educator, radio broadcaster, and music critic, dies at 68
  • 1966 Quincy Porter, American composer, teacher, and Pulitzer Prize winner (1954), dies at 69
  • 1969 Louis van Tulder, Dutch tenor (Kantoorkruk to high C), dies at 77
  • 1970 Gene Gifford American jazz banjoist, guitarist, and arranger (Jean Goldkette; Casa Loma Orchestra), dies at 62
  • 1972 Rudolf Friml, Czech-American concert pianist and composer (Rose-Marie; The Vagabond King), dies at 92

Walter Piston (1894-1976)

Jr, American two-time Pulitzer Prize winning composer (Incredible Flutist), music theorist, and educator (Harvard, 1926-60), dies at 82

  • 1978 Howard Swanson, American composer known for his settings of poems of Langston Hughes, dies at 71
  • 1980 Alexander Voormolen, Dutch composer and music librarian, dies at 85
  • 1983 Preston Jackson [James Preston McDonald], American jazz trombonist (Preservation Hall Jazz Band), dies at 81
  • 1988 Tomasz Sikorski, Polish minimalist composer (Solitude of Sounds), dies at 49
  • 1989 Armando Gentilucci, Italian composer, dies at 50
  • 1990 Nico Haak, Dutch singer (Foxy Foxtrot), dies
  • 1992 Charles "Honi" Coles, American actor and tap dancer (Dirty Dancing), dies of cancer at 81
  • 1996 Gwen Catley, English soprano, dies at 90
  • 1997 Carlos Surinach, Spanish-American composer, dies at 82
  • 1998 Kenny Kirkland, American jazz pianist (Wynton Marsalis; Branford Marsalis) and funk keyboardist (Buckshot Lefonque), dies of congestive heart failure at 43
  • 2000 Franck Pourcel, French popular orchestra leader, dies of complications from Parkinson's disease at 87
  • 2001 Albert Hague [Marcuse], German-American actor, singer and composer (Fame, How the Grinch Stole Christmas), dies of cancer at 73
  • 2003 Tony Thompson, American session and touring drummer (Chic; LaBelle; The Power Station), dies of renal cancer at 48
  • 2008 (John) "Mitch" Mitchell, British drummer (Jimi Hendrix Experience), dies at 62
  • 2008 Serge Nigg, French composer (Timor; Jérôme Bosch Symphony), and administrator (French Ministry of Culture, 1967-82), dies at 84
  • 2010 Henryk Górecki, Polish composer (Symphony No. 3 - Symphony of Sorrowful Songs), dies from complications arising from a lung infection at 76
  • 2010 John MacIvor Perkins, American composer, dies at 75
  • 2013 Allan Blank, American composer, dies at 87
  • 2013 John Tavener, British composer (The Whale; The Protecting Veil), dies from complications of Marfan syndrome, a genetic connective tissue disorder, at 69
  • 2017 Eric Salzman, American composer (New Musical Theater), dies at 84
  • 2017 Michel Chapuis, French classical organist and pedagogue, dies at 87
  • 2018 Igor Mikhailovich Luchenok, Belarusian composer and teacher, dies at 80