King Oliver

popular name: Leopold Auer

date_of_death: July 15, 1930

age: 85

cause_of_death: Pneumonia

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Leopold Auer was a renown Hungarian violinist, academic, conductor and composer, best known as an outstanding violin teacher. Many notable virtuoso violinists including Jascha Heifetz, Mischa Elman, and Efrem Zimbalist were among his students and "some of the greatest violinists" of the twentieth century. Admission to Auer's class was a privilege won by talent. Remaining there was a test of endurance and hard work. While Auer pushed his students to their limits, he also remained devoted to them. He used his influence in high government offices to obtain residence permits for his Jewish students. Auer wrote a small number of works, including the Rhapsodie hongroise for violin and piano. He also wrote a number of cadenzas for other composers' violin concertos including those by Beethoven, Brahms, and Mozart's third.

popular name: Ludwig van Beethoven

date_of_death: March 26, 1827

age: 56

cause_of_death: Liver disease, viral hepatitis and alcohol consumption

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist who remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music. His works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire and span the transition from the Classical period to the Romantic era in classical music. His career has conventionally been divided into early, middle, and late periods. His early period, during which he forged his craft, is typically considered to have lasted until 1802. From 1802 to around 1812, his middle period showed an individual development from the styles of Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and is sometimes characterized as heroic. During this time, he began to grow increasingly deaf. In his late period, from 1812 to 1827, he extended his innovations in musical form and expression. Nearly 200 years since his passing Beethoven's works remain mainstays of the classical music repertoire.

popular name: Jerome Kern

date_of_death: November 11, 1945

age: 60

cause_of_death: Cerebral hemorrhage

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: If he had only written the score for Showboat, Jerome Kern's position as a musical genius would be secure. Instead he also wrote Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, The Way You Look Tonight and countless other songs for Broadway and the movies. Later in life he worked in Hollywood with Dorothy Fields and Johnny Mercer, creating Oscar-winning works with the films Swingtime and Lady Be Good. While in Hollywood Kern wrote hit songs for Dinah Shore, Glenn Miller, Peggy Lee and Bing Crosby. It all came to a sudden end when while walking to rehearsals for a revival of Showboat he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage while walking at the corner of Park Avenue and 57th Street. He never regained consciousness and his long-time friend Oscar Hammerstein II remained at his side until his death six days later, all the while humming one of Kern’s favorite songs they had written together, “I’ve Told Ev’ry Little Star”.