October 10 Dateline

Birthdays

1731 - Henry Cavendish, FRS, English scientist, philosopher, and an important experimental and theoretical chemist and physicist. Amongst other discoveries, he is noted for his discovery of chemical element hydrogen, which he termed "inflammable air". Using his exacting experimental skills, Cavendish was the first to distinguish this inflammable air from ordinary air and to investigate its specific properties. He presented a paper detailing his findings in 1766. He is also known for the Cavendish Experiment, the first experiment to measure the force of gravity between masses in the laboratory and the first to yield accurate values for the gravitational constant (G). (The Cavendish Experiment, uploaded by Sixty Symbols. Accessed October 10, 2013.)

1895 - Lin Yutang, Hokkien Chinese writer, scholar, translator, linguist, philosopher and inventor. His informal but polished style in both Chinese and English made him one of the most influential writers of his generation. His compilations and translations of classic Chinese texts into English were bestsellers in the West. ("Human Life as a Poem" - Souvenirs From Dreamland Ep2 ~Lin Yutang. Uploaded by souvenirs of dreamland. Accessed October 10, 2012.)  "Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials." ~ Lin Yutang

1813 - Giuseppe Verdi, (Oct 9 or 10?), Italian opera composer. He came to dominate the Italian opera scene after the era of Vincenzo Bellini, Gaetano Donizetti, and Gioachino Rossini, whose works significantly influenced him. In his early operas, Verdi demonstrated a sympathy with the Risorgimento movement which sought the unification of Italy. He also participated briefly as an elected politician. The famous chorus "Va, pensiero" from his early opera Nabucco (1842), and similar choruses in later operas, were much in the spirit of the unification movement, and the composer himself became esteemed as a representative of these ideals. An intensely private person, however, he did not seek to ingratiate himself with popular movements and as he became professionally successful was able to reduce his operatic workload and sought to establish himself as a landowner in his native region. He surprised the musical world by returning, after his success with the opera Aida (1871), with three late masterpieces: his Verdi Requiem (1874), and the operas Otello (1887) and Falstaff (1893). His operas remain extremely popular, especially Rigoletto, Il trovatore and La traviata.(Verdi:Aida - triumphal march "Gloria all´Egitto". Czech Philharmony choir Brno choirmaster - Petr Fiala Czech Radio symphony orchestra cond. Vladimir Valek. Uploaded by AchillesValda. Accessed October 10, 2011.)

1930 - Harold Pinter, British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramatists with a writing career that spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party, The Homecoming, and Betrayal, each of which he adapted for the screen. His screenplay adaptations of others' works include The Servant, The Go-Between, The French Lieutenant's Woman, The Trial, and Sleuth. He also directed or acted in radio, stage, television, and film productions of his own and others' works. Despite being diagnosed with oesophageal cancer in December 2001, Pinter continued to act on stage and screen, last performing the title role of Samuel Beckett's one-act monologue Krapp's Last Tape, for the 50th anniversary season of the Royal Court Theatre, in October 2006.

1971 - Evgeny Kissin, Russian concert pianist. He has been a British citizen since 2002 and an Israeli citizen since 2013. He first came to international fame as a child prodigy. He first came to international fame as a child prodigy. He has a wide repertoire and is especially known for his interpretations of the works of the Romantic era, particularly those of Franz Schubert, Frédéric Chopin, Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt, Johannes Brahms, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and Ludwig van Beethoven. He is commonly viewed as a great successor of the Russian piano school because of the depth, lyricism and poetic quality of his interpretations.

Leftie:
None known

 

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

 

Featured Video Watch:  Verdi Requiem. 

Proms 2016 - Verdi - Requiem [Marin Alsop, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment]. YouTube, uploaded by hollowchatter. Accessed October 10, 2020. 

Historical Events

1919- Richard Strauss's opera Die Frau ohne Schatten, is first performed, at the Vienna State Opera.

1931 - Sir William Walton's oratorio Belshazzar's Feast, is first performed, at the Leeds Festival, England. 

October 9 Dateline

Birthdays

1201 - Robert de Sorbon,  French theologian, the Chaplain of Louis IX of France, and founder of the Sorbonne college in Paris. He was noted for his piety and attracted the patronage of the Comte d'Artois and King Louis IX of France, later known as Saint Louis. Sorbon established the Maison de Sorbonne, a college in Paris originally intended to teach theology to twenty poor students. Sponsored by King Louis and received the endorsement of Pope Alexander IV in 1259, it grew into a major centre of learning and became the core of what would become the University of Paris. Sorbon served as chancellor of the university, taught and preached there from 1258 until his death. The library at the University of Reims, which opened in 2006, is named after him.

1832 - Elizabeth Akers Allen (pen name, Florence Percy), American poet and journalist, popular with "Rock Me to Sleep" especially during the U.S. Civil War. Many of them were first published in the Portland Transcript. She came to Portland, Maine in 1855, and a volume of her fugitive poems appeared in that city just before her marriage to Paul Akers, the sculptor, whom she accompanied to Italy, and buried there. For several years, she was on the editorial staff of the Portland Advertiser. She wrote for most of the leading magazines, and several editions of her collected poems were published. 

  

1835 - Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns, French composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic era. His best-known works include Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (1863), the Second Piano Concerto (1868), the First Cello Concerto (1872), Danse macabre (1874), the opera Samson and Delilah (1877), the Third Violin Concerto (1880), the Third ("Organ") Symphony (1886) and Carnival of the Animals - A Visualll Journey Through Nature's Orchestra. YouTube, uploaded by Classical Relaxation. Accessed October 9, 2026.

1852 - Hermann Emil Louis Fischer FRS FRSE FCS, German organic chemist and 1902 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He discovered the Fischer esterification. He also developed the Fischer projection, a symbolic way of drawing asymmetric carbon atoms. He also hypothesized lock and key mechanism of enzyme action.

1940 - John Lennon, MBE (born John Winston Lennon), English musician, singer, songwriter, Beatles Band/Group and peace activist who gained worldwide fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist, and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. His songwriting partnership with Paul McCartney remains the most successful in history. In 1969, he started the Plastic Ono Band with his second wife, Yoko Ono. After the Beatles disbanded in 1970, Lennon continued as a solo artist and as a collaborator of Ono's music. (John Lennon - Imagine. Uploaded by EMI Records Italy. Accessed October 9, 2014.)

1966 - David William Donald Cameron, Former U.K. Prime Minister. British Conservative Party Politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Witney from 2001 to 2016 and leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016.

Leftie:
Former British Prime Minister David Cameron

 

 

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

Historical Events

1776 - Father Francisco Palou founds Mission San Francisco de Asis, which becomes the U.S. City of San Francisco.

1891 - Antonin Dvorak conducts his Requiem Mass at Birmingham, England.