Some wag once described Hans Pfitzner’s opera “Palestrina” as “’Parsifal’ without the jokes.”

That may be so, but I’m not kidding when I say that yesterday marked the 150th anniversary of the Pfitzner’s birth. Allegedly he was so unpleasant a person to be around that he alienated even Hitler, but he wrote some lovely stuff, and I’m hoping to play a sampling of it this afternoon.

It’s also the birthday today of conductor Jascha Horenstein. Horenstein emerged from a rabbinical family in what is now Ukraine to study at the Vienna Academy of Music with Joseph Marx and Franz Shrecker. From there, he moved to Berlin, where he became an assistant to Wilhelm Furtwängler. While Pfitzner was hoping his career would benefit from the rise of the Nazis (it didn’t), Horenstein fled for his life to the United States. His only post as music director would be a brief stint at the Düsseldorf Opera.

Like Furtwängler, he developed a passionate cult following, revered for his interpretations of Mahler and Bruckner. He also championed Carl Nielsen and Andrzej Panufnik before it became cool to do so. Late in life, he led an acclaimed series of performances of “Parsifal” at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Sorry about that, Pfitzner. Horenstein, it seems, enjoyed the last laugh.

I hope you’ll join me for Pfitzner, Horenstein, and a little bouquet for spring to start, from 4 to 7 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

PHOTOS: Horenstein conducts; Pfitzner has another bad day