August 13 Dateline

Birthdays

1820 - Sir George Grove, English engineer and musicologist known for Dictionary of Music and Musicians. His interest in the music of Franz Schubert, led him and his friend Arthur Sullivan to go to Vienna in search of undiscovered Schubert manuscripts. Their researches led to their discovery of the lost score of Schubert's Rosamunde music, several of his symphonies and other music in 1867, leading to a revival of interest in Schubert's work. Grove was the first director of the Royal College of Music, from its foundation in 1883 until his retirement in 1894. He recruited leading musicians including Hubert Parry and Charles Villiers Stanford as members of the College faculty and established a close working relationship with London's Royal Academy of Music. Grove had a deep and scholarly knowledge of the Holy Bible. He contributed to the English literature on the subject, including a concordance in 1854 and a thousand pages of Sir William Smith's 1863 Bible Dictionary.
 
1879 - John Ireland (born John Nicholson Ireland), English composer and music teacher. Majority of his output consists of piano miniatures and of songs with piano. His best-known works include the short instrumental or orchestral work "The Holy Boy", a setting of the poem "Sea-Fever" by John Masefield, a formerly much-played Piano Concerto, the hymn tune "Love Unknown" and the choral motet "Greater Love Hath No Man". (John Ireland’s “Greater love” [orchestral]: St John’s Cambridge 1997 (Christopher Robinson). This orchestrated version was published in 1924. YouTube, uploaded by Archive of Recorded Church Music. Recording of a live radio broadcast from the chapel of St John's College, Cambridge, 13 August 1997, featuring the choir of St John’s College Cambridge with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Christopher Robinson. Organ scholar: Peter Davis. Accessed August 13, 2020.)

1899 - Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, English film director and producer, widely regarded as one of the most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Known as "the Master of Suspense", he directed over 50 feature films in a career spanning six decades, becoming as well known as any of his actors thanks to his many interviews, his cameo roles in most of his films, and his hosting and producing of the television anthology Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955–1965). Hitchcock made his directorial debut with the silent film The Pleasure Garden (1925). His first successful film, The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927), helped to shape the thriller genre, while his 1929 film, Blackmail, was the first British "talkie". Two of his 1930s thrillers, The 39 Steps (1935) and The Lady Vanishes (1938), are ranked among the greatest British films of the 20th century. By 1939 Hitchcock was a filmmaker of international importance, and film producer David O. Selznick persuaded him to move to Hollywood. A string of successful films followed, including Rebecca (1940), Foreign Correspondent (1940), Shadow of a Doubt (1943), and The Paradine Case (1947); Rebecca was nominated for 11 Oscars and won the Academy Award for Best Picture. More popular films include Vertigo, North By Northwest, Rear Window, Dial M For Murder, Psycho, The Birds, Trouble With Harry, and Strangers On A Train.  His 53 films have garnered a total of 46 Oscar nominations and six wins. (Top 10 Alfred Hitchcock Movies. Uploaded by WatchMojo.com. Accessed August 13, 2015.)

Leftie:
None known

 

More birthdays and historical events today, 13 August - On This Day.

 

Featured Composer:  John Ireland 

John Ireland was born in Cheshire, in 1879. The majority of his output consists of piano miniatures and songs but he did write a moderate amount of church music, probably as a result of being organist and choirmaster of St Luke’s Chelsea, in London. His one film score was “The Overlanders” (Australia, 1942).

The anthem “Greater love”, a setting of texts “from the Scriptures”, was published 1912; when Ireland died in 1962, its opening words were inscribed on his gravestone as an epitaph:

"Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it. Love is strong as death. Greater love hath no man than this: that a man lay down his life for his friends. Who his own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins should live unto righteousness. Ye are washed, ye are sanctified, ye are justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus. Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, that ye should shew forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness, into His marvellous light..."


Featured Music:

Bernard Herrmann's "Scene d'amour" from Hitchcock's mystery and suspense film Vertigo (1958).  Conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen, with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.




Vertigo (film) is considered one of the greatest achievements of director-producer Alfred Hitchcock, referred to as "Master of Suspense. Set among San Francisco's famous landmark, the film stars James Stewart as former police detective John "Scottie" Ferguson, who is forced into an early retirement due to an incident in line of duty that caused him to develop acrophobia (fear of heights) and vertigo (false sense of rotational movement). Scottie is hired by an acquaintance as a private investigator to shadow his friend's wife, Madeleine (Kim Novak), who behaves strangely, rather icy but alluring. After Scottie saves her from drowning, he becomes fascinated with her.

Historical Events

International Lefthander's Day.  This day is celebrated as "Lefthanders Day." International Left Handers Day is an international day observed annually on August 13 to celebrate the uniqueness and differences of left-handed individuals. The day was first observed in 1976 by Dean R. Campbell, founder of Lefthanders International, Inc. In 1976, the first one fell on a Friday and was chosen to spoof the superstitions and myths associated with lefties. (Lefthanders Day)

1415 - Henry V lands at Harfleur in Normandy. He will fight the French knights at Agincourt two months later.

August 12 Dateline

Birthdays

1644 - Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber (Baptised this day), Baroque Bohemian-Austrian court violinist and composer. He worked in Graz and Kremsier (now Kroměříž) before he illegally left his Kremsier employer, Prince-Bishop Carl Liechtenstein-Kastelkorn, and settled in Salzburg. He was one of the most important composers for the violin in the history of the instrument. He wrote one of the earliest known pieces for solo violin, the monumental 'passacaglia' of the Mystery Sonatas. In the late 18th century he was named the best violin composer of the 17th century by music historian Charles Burney, and in the late 20th century, his music, especially the Mystery Sonatas, enjoyed a renaissance. Biber's "Battle Music" ("Battalia"), is a masterpiece depicting scenes of battle drums, drunken soldiers, blasting canons, the wounded and the dying. It is riveting, poignant, and refreshingly modern in some dissonances.  (Biber's Battalia, performed by New York Baroque Incorporated. Uploaded by NY Baroque Incorp. Accessed August 12, 2018.)

1762 - George IV (George Augustus Frederick), King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820 until his own death ten years later. From 1811 until his accession, he served as regent during his father's final mental illness.

1859 - Katherine Lee Bates, American poet and prolific writer, she was also a college professor, scholar, and social activist. Although she published volumes of poetry, travel books, essays, children's books, books for young adults, today she is primarily remembered as the author of "America the Beautiful". While on the Wellesley College faculty, Bates mentored many young poets (including some, like Robert Frost, not enrolled at Wellesley) and helped establish American literature as a field for college study. 

1876 - Mary Roberts Rinehart, American author, often called the American Agatha Christie, although her first mystery novel was published 14 years before Christie's first novel in 1920.

1881 - Cecil B. DeMille, American filmmaker. Between 1914 and 1958, he made a total of 70 features, both silent and sound films. He is acknowledged as a founding father of the American cinema and the most commercially successful producer-director in film history. His films were distinguished by their epic scale and by his cinematic showmanship. His first biblical epic, The Ten Commandments, was both a critical and commercial success; it held the Paramount revenue record for twenty-five years. He received his first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Director for his circus drama The Greatest Show on Earth, which won both the Academy Award for Best Picture and the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama. Nominated for Best Picture Academy Award, The Ten Commandments, is currently the eighth-highest-grossing film of all time, adjusted for inflation. He also received an Academy Honorary Award, the Palme d'Or (posthumously) for Union Pacific, a DGA Award for Lifetime Achievement, and the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award. He was the first recipient of the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award, which was named in his honor. His reputation as a filmmaker has influenced many other films and directors.

1886 - Sir Keith Murdoch, Australian newspaper owner, journalist, businessman. He's the father of Rupert Murdoch, media mogul.

1887 - Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrödinger, Nobel laureate physicist and author of many physics-related books.

1925 - Norris Dewar McWhirter, CBE, British writer, co-founder of The Freedom Association, and a TV Presenter. He and his twin brother Ross were known internationally for the founding of Guinness World Records (as The Guinness Book of Records) which they wrote and annually updated together between 1955 and 1975. After Ross's assassination by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), Norris carried on alone as editor.

1957 - Amanda Redman, MBE, English actress, known for her role as Sandra Pullman in the BBC One series New Tricks (2003–13) and as Dr. Lydia Fonseca in The Good Karma Hospital (2017–18). She gained BAFTA TV Award nominations for At Home with the Braithwaites (2000–03) and Tommy Cooper: Not Like That, Like This (2014). Her film roles include For Queen and Country (1988), Sexy Beast (2000) and Mike Bassett: England Manager (2001).

1971 - Pete Sampras, American tennis player, former professional tennis champion. A right-handed player with a single-handed backhand, his precise and powerful serve earned him the nickname "Pistol Pete".

Lefties:
None known

 

More birthdays and historical events today, 12 August - On This Day. 

 

Historical Events

1851 - American Isaac Singer patents the sewing machine.

1908 - The first Model T Ford is built. On this day, the dream of Henry Ford became a reality when this first model rolled off the factory floor in Detroit, Michigan. It revolutionized the motor industry by making cars accessible to the common people.