Today in History and Celebrity Birthdays

Today in Music History for Feb. 3: In 1809, composer Felix Mendelssohn, a devout Lutheran, was born in Hamburg in present-day Germany. His Elijah oratorio is considered second only to Handel's Messiah by many critics.

Celebrity Birthdays for Feb. 5: Hockey commentator Don Cherry is 90. Tony-winning playwright John Guare is 86. Financial writer Jane Bryant Quinn is 85. Actor David Selby (``Dark Shadows,'' ''Falcon Crest``) is 83.

Celebrity Birthdays for Feb. 8: Composer-conductor John Williams is 92. News anchor Ted Koppel is 84. Actor Nick Nolte is 83. Folk singer and songwriter Tom Rush is 83. Comedian Robert Klein is 82.

Celebrity Birthdays for Feb. 10: Opera singer Leontyne Price is 97. Actor Robert Wagner is 94. Singer Roberta Flack is 87. Former governor general Adrienne Clarkson is 85. Singer Jimmy Merchant of Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers is 84.

Celebrity Birthdays for Feb. 4: Actor Jerry Adler ("The Good Wife," ''The Sopranos") is 95. Actor Gary Conway ("Burke's Law") is 88. Actor John Schuck is 84. Drummer John Steel of The Animals is 83. Singer Florence LaRue of the Fifth Dimension is 81.

Celebrity Birthdays for Feb. 9: Actress Janet Suzman is 85. Pop songwriter Barry Mann is 85. Nobel Prize-winning author J.M. Coetzee is 84. Drummer Brian Bennett (The Shadows) is 84.

Celebrity Birthdays for Feb. 7: Author Gay Talese is 92. Soprano Lois McDonall is 85. Classical pianist Arthur Ozolins is 78. Comedian Robert Smigel (SNL, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog) is 64. Actor James Spader is 64.

Celebrity Birthdays for Feb. 6: Actress Mamie Van Doren is 93. Actor Mike Farrell is 85. Former NBC news anchorman Tom Brokaw is 84. Singer Fabian is 81. Actor Michael Tucker (``L.A. Law'') is 79. Producer-director-writer Jim Sheridan is 75.

Today in Music History for Feb. 14: In 1879, ``La Marseillaise'' became the national anthem of France. In 1935, Canadian trombonist Rob McConnell was born in London, Ont.

Today in Music History for Feb. 11: In 1881, mezzo-soprano and actress Rosita del Vecchio, known as the Sarah Bernhardt of Canada, died of bronchial pneumonia at the age of 34.