March 10 Dateline

Birthdays

1749 - Lorenzo Da Ponte (original name Emmanuele Conegliano, Italian poet and librettist, later American opera librettist, poet and Roman Catholic priest. He is best known for his collaboration with Mozart.He wrote the libretti for 28 operas by 11 composers, including three of Mozart's most celebrated operas, Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro and Così fan tutte. (Lorenzo da Ponte. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Accessed March 10, 2019.)

1772 - Friedrich von Schlegel (born Karl Wilhelm Friedrich, after 1814: Friedrich von Schlegel), German poet, writer and philosopher. With his older brother, August Wilhelm Schlegel, he was one of the main figures of Jena Romanticism. He moved to Austria in 1809, where he became a diplomat and journalist in service of Klemens von Metternich, the Foreign Minister of the Austrian Empire.  Schlegel was a promoter of the Romantic movement and inspired Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Adam Mickiewicz and Kazimierz Brodziński.

1844 - Pablo de Sarasate, Spanish virtuoso violinist and composer, who began his volin studies at five y.o. and gave his first performance at the age of eight. He later studied at the Paris Conservatoire. In 1859 he began the concert tours that made him famous worldwide. His playing was particularly admired for sweetness and purity of tone, perfect intonation, and a flawless technique that appeared effortless. Many prominent composers, including Camille Saint-Saëns, Max Bruch, Édouard Lalo, and Antonín Dvořák, wrote pieces for him. Sarasate's most popular violin music is Zigeunerweisen (1878), a fantasy in gypsy style for violin and orchestra. (Here's young violinist Jennifer Jeon brilliantly performing Zigeunerweisen (Gypsy Airs) Opus 20, No.1 by P. Sarasate. Accessed March 10, 2012.)

1892 - Arthur Honegger (born Oscar-Arthur Honegger), French-born Swiss composer, member of the "Les Six" group of French composers. He lived a large part of his life in Paris. His most frequently performed work is probably the orchestral work Pacific 231, which was inspired by the sound of a steam locomotive. In the early 1920s, Honegger shot to fame with his "dramatic psalm" Le Roi David (King David), which is still in the choral repertoire. He composed the music for Abel Gance's epic 1927 film, Napoléon. Amongst other works, he composed nine ballets and three vocal stage works. One of those stage works, Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher, a "dramatic oratorio" (to words by Paul Claudel). In addition to his pieces written alone, he collaborated with Jacques Ibert on both an opera, L'Aiglon (1937), and an operetta. During this time period he also wrote Danse de la chèvre (1921), an essential piece of flute repertoire.   (Honegger - Pacific 231. Uploaded by logoxyz. Accessed March 10, 2020.) 

1903 - Bix Beiderbecke (Leon Bismark "Bix" Beiderbecke), American jazz cornetist, pianist, and composer. He was one of the most influential jazz soloists of the 1920s, a cornet player noted for an inventive lyrical approach and purity of tone. His solos on seminal recordings such as "Singin' the Blues" and "I'm Coming, Virginia" (both 1927) demonstrate a gift for extended improvisation that heralded the jazz ballad style, in which jazz solos are an integral part of the composition. "In a Mist" (1927) is the best known of Beiderbecke's published piano compositions, and the only one that he recorded. His piano style reflects both jazz and classical (mainly impressionist) influences. 

 
1940 - Chuck Norris (Carlos Ray "Chuck" Norris), American martial artist, actor, film producer, and screenwriter. After serving in the United States Air Force, Norris won many martial arts championships and later founded his own discipline Chun Kuk Do. Norris is a black belt in Tang Soo Do, Brazilian jiu jitsu and judo. In Hollywood, Norris trained celebrities in martial arts. Friend and fellow actor Bruce Lee invited him to play one of the main villains in Way of the Dragon. Friend and student Steve McQueen suggested to him that he take acting seriously. Norris took the starring role in the action film Breaker! Breaker! which turned a profit. His second lead Good Guys Wear Black became a hit, and Norris became a popular action film star. 

 
1958 - Sharon Vonne Stone, American actress, producer, and former fashion model. She is the recipient of a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award, as well as nominations for an Academy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Stone became a sex symbol and rose to international recognition when she starred as Catherine Tramell in another Verhoeven film, the erotic thriller Basic Instinct, for which she earned her first Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama. She received further critical acclaim with her performance in Martin Scorsese's epic crime drama Casino, garnering the Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. After modelling in television commercials and print advertisements, she made her film debut as an extra in Woody Allen's comedy-drama Stardust Memories. Her first speaking part was in Wes Craven's horror film Deadly Blessing. On television, Stone has had notable performances in the miniseries.   

1964 - Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh (Edward Antony Richard Louis), member of the British royal family. He is the youngest child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the youngest sibling of King Charles III. He was born 3rd in the line of succession to the British throne and is now 15th. He holds patronage with over 70 charities and organisations, including the National Youth Theatre, the Sport and Recreation Alliance and the British Paralympic Association. His charity work focuses on the arts, athletics, and the development of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award, which centres on fitness, wellbeing and community service.

 

Leftie:
Musician Bix Beiderbecke

 

More birthdays and historical events, March 10 - On This Day

 

Historical Events

49 B.C.E. - Julius Caesar and his army invade Italy by crossing the Rubicon.

1629 - Charles I of England dissolves Parliament. He does not recall it for 11 years.

1785 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is the soloist in the premiere of his C major Piano Concerto No. 21, in Vienna.  Listen to this famous Piano Concerto No. 21 in C, K.467, performed by Orchestra filarmonica della Scala, with Riccardo Muti, conductor, and Mauricio Pollini, Pianist.

March 9 Dateline

Birthdays

1454 - Amerigo Vespucci, Italian merchant navigator, explorer, and adventurer from the Republic of Florence, by which the name America is coined. He became a Castillian citizen in 1505.

1737 - Josef Mysliveczek, Opera composer and friend of Mozart, who contributed to the formation of late eighteenth-century classicism in music. (Josef Mysliveček Il Bellerofonte, Opera in 3 acts Complete. Uploaded by HarpsichordVal. Accessed March 9 2018.)

1892 - Vita Sackville-West (Victoria Mary Sackville-West, Lady Nicolson), English novelist, poet, critic, and garden designer. She was also a prolific letter writer and diarist. (Who was Vita Sackville-West by Allison Adler Kroll. Accessed March 9, 2019.)

1910 - Samuel Barber (born  Samuel Osmond Barber II),  American composer of orchestral, opera, choral, and piano music. He is one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century.  His Adagio for Strings (1936) has earned a permanent place in the concert repertory of orchestras. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music twice: for his opera Vanessa (1956–57) and for the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (1962). Also widely performed is his Knoxville: Summer of 1915 (1947), a setting for soprano and orchestra of a prose text by James Agee.  (Barber Adagio for Strings, performed by Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Accessed March 9, 2018.)

1934 - Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin, Soviet Union cosmonaut, Soviet Air Forces pilot and cosmonaut who became the first human to journey into outer space, achieving a major milestone in the Space Race; his capsule, Vostok 1, completed one orbit of Earth on 12 April 1961. Gagarin became an international celebrity and was awarded many medals and titles, including Hero of the Soviet Union, his nation's highest honour.

1943 - Bobby Fischer (born Robert James Fischer), American chess grandmaster and the eleventh World Chess Champion. Many consider him to be the greatest chess player of all time. He showed great skill in chess from an early age; at 13, he won a brilliancy known as "The Game of the Century". At age 14, he became the youngest ever U.S. Chess Champion, and at 15, he became both the youngest grandmaster (GM) up to that time and the youngest candidate for the World Championship. At age 20, Fischer won the 1963/64 US Championship with 11 wins in 11 games, the only perfect score in the history of the tournament. His book My 60 Memorable Games, published in 1969, is regarded as essential reading. He won the 1970 Interzonal Tournament by a record 3½-point margin, and won 20 consecutive games, including two unprecedented 6–0 sweeps, in the Candidates Matches. In July 1971, he became the first official FIDE number-one-rated player.

1964 - Juliette Binoche, French actress, artist and dancer. She has been the recipient of numerous international awards, and performed frequently on stage – both as an actress and dancer. After performing in several stage productions, she was cast in the films of such notable auteur directors as Jean-Luc Godard (Hail Mary, 1985), Jacques Doillon (Family Life, 1985), and André Téchiné; the latter would make her a star in France with the leading role in his 1985 drama Rendez-vous. Her sensual performance in her English-language debut The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988), directed by Philip Kaufman, launched her international career.

Lefties:
None known

More birthdays and historical events, March 9 - On This Day

 

Historical Events

1074 - Pope Gregory VII excommunicates married priests from the Catholic Church.

1785 - The Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K. 467, was completed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, four weeks after the completion of the previous No. 20 in D minor concerto, K. 466.

1796 - French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte marries Josephine de Beauharnais in a civil ceremony.

1842 - Giuseppe Verdi's opera Nabucco is first performed, in Milan's La Scala.