May 30 Dateline

Birthdays

1846 - Peter Carl Fabergé (also known as Karl Gustavovich Fabergé), Russian master jeweller and goldsmith, best known for the famous Fabergé eggs made in the style of genuine Easter eggs, but using precious metals and gemstones rather than more mundane materials.

1883 - Riccardo Zandonai, Italian composer. As a young man, he showed such an aptitude for music that he entered the Pesaro Conservatorio in 1899 and completed his studies in 1902. He completed the nine-year curriculum in only three years. Among his teachers was Pietro Mascagni (famous for his masterpiece Cavalleria Rusticana), who regarded him highly. (Zandonai's Francesca da Rimini. Uploaded by bel canto. Accessed May 30, 2019.)

1909 - Benny David Goodman, American clarinetist and jazz-band leader, called the "King of Swing". In the mid-1930s, Goodman led one of the most popular musical groups in the United States. (Benny Goodman plays Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's famous clarinet music. Pure bliss! Uploaded by Clarinet Clasica. Accessed May 30, 2014.)  

1912 - Julian Gustave Symons (originally Gustave Julian Symons), British crime writer and poet. He also wrote social and military history, biography and studies of literature.

1977 - Rachael Stirling, English actress on stage, film and television. She has been nominated twice for the Laurence Olivier Award for her stage work. She played Nancy Astley in the BBC drama Tipping the Velvet, and Millie in the ITV series The Bletchley Circle, BBC Four sitcom Detectorists. She has also guest starred in episodes of numerous series, such as Agatha Christie's Poirot,  Lewis, and Doctor Who alongside her mother Dame Diana Rigg.


Lefties:
None known

 

More birthdays and historical events today, May 30 - On This Day

Historical Events

1431 - Joan of Arc is burned at the stake in Rouen, France. Her ashes is thrown into the Seine by the English so no relics could be taken. This was the time called The Hundred Years War, when France was at war against England. 

1962 - Benjamin Britten's War Requiem, for soli, chorus, and orchestra, is first performed in the Coventry Cathedral, England. (Here's a relished performance - Britten's War Requiem, himself conducting and Meredith Davies.) 

May 29 Dateline

Birthdays

1860 - Isaac Albeniz (born Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz y Pascual, Spanish virtuoso pianist, composer, and conductor. He is one of the foremost composers of the Post-Romantic era who also had a significant influence on his contemporaries and younger composers. He is best known for his piano works based on Spanish folk music idioms. Transcriptions of many of his pieces, such as Asturias (Leyenda), Granada, Sevilla, Cadiz, Córdoba, Cataluña, Mallorca, and Tango in D, are important pieces for classical guitar, though he never composed for the guitar. The personal papers of Albéniz are preserved, among other institutions, in the Biblioteca de Catalunya.

 1892 - Frederick Schiller Faust, pen name is "Max Brand" becomes "king of the pulp writers". American author known primarily for his Western stories. As Max Brand, he created the popular fictional character of young medical intern Dr. James Kildare for a series of pulp fiction stories. Faust's Kildare character was subsequently featured over several decades in other media, including a series of American theatrical movies by Paramount Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), a radio series, two television series, and comics.Faust used many other pseudonyms including George Owen Baxter, Evan Evans, George Evans, Peter Dawson, David Manning, John Frederick, Peter Morland, George Challis, Peter Ward and Frederick Frost.

1897 - Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Austrian-American composer and conductor. A child prodigy, he became one of the most important and influential composers in Hollywood history. He was a noted pianist and composer of classical music, along with music for Hollywood films, and the first composer of international stature to write Hollywood scores.  (Toscha Seidel (violin) - Korngold, "Much Ado About Nothing" Suite 3, Op. 11- III, Daniel Kurganov. Accessed May 29, 2019.

1903 - Bob Hope, KBE, KC*SG, KSS (born Leslie Townes Hope), British-American stand-up Comedian, Vaudevillian, actor, singer, dancer, athlete, and author. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in more than 70 short and feature films, with 54 feature films with Hope as star, including a series of seven "Road" musical comedy movies with Bing Crosby as Hope's top-billed partner.  In addition to hosting the Academy Awards show 19 times, more than any other host, he appeared in many stage productions and television roles, and was the author of 14 books. The song "Thanks for the Memory" was his signature tune. 

1917 - John Fitzgerald Kennedy, often referred to by his initials as JFK or by the nickname Jack. He was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination near the end of his third year in office. Kennedy was the youngest person to assume the presidency by election. He was also the youngest president at the end of his tenure, and his lifespan was the shortest of any president. Kennedy served at the height of the Cold War, and the majority of his work as president concerned relations with the Soviet Union and Cuba. A Democrat, he represented Massachusetts in both houses of the U.S. Congress prior to his presidency.
 

1958 - Annette Carol Bening, American actress. She was nominated for the 1987 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her Broadway debut in Coastal Disturbances and for the 2019 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for All My Sons. She is a four-time Academy Award nominee for the films: The Grifters, American Beauty, Being Julia, and The Kids Are All Right. In 2006, she received a film star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Bening won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role for American Beauty, two Golden Globe Awards for Being Julia and The Kids Are All Right, and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie for Mrs. Harris. In 2019, she played the roles of Supreme Intelligence and Mar-Vell / Wendy Lawson in the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Captain Marvel, which became her highest grossing release. Annette Being is married to actor Warren Betty.

Leftie:
None known

 

More birthdays and historical events today, May 29 - On This Day

 

Feature: 

 

Sharing a favourite tango music of Albeniz I grew up listening to. (I don't know the performing pianist.)  Enjoy!

Historical Events

1453 - Constantinople falls to Muhammad II, ending the Byzantine Empire.

1919 - Charles Strite patents a pop-up toaster.