Birthdays
1819 - Clara Josephine Schumann (née Wieck), German piano viruoso, composer, concert pianist and piano teacher. She is considered the 19th-century's most important female composer, and regarded as one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic era, exerting her influence over a 61-year concert career. She is particualrly noted for her interpretations of Robert Schumann's revolutionary piano works. She was also her husband's personal muse and protector, a role she undertook and played in heroic dimensions, acknowledged by Schumann himself, in the composition of the song cycle Frauenliebe und ~leben. She changed the format and repertoire of the piano recital from shows of mere virtousity to programs of serious works. She composed a body of work, including solo works for her instrument, a Piano Concerto, chamber music and choral pieces. Married to composer Robert Schumann, the couple had eight children. Together, they encouraged Johannes Brahms and maintained a close relationship with him. She was the first to perform in public many works by her husband and by Brahms. Her international concert tours in Europe began at age eleven with a tour to Paris. After her husband's death, she toured further, especially to Britain, with a focus on chamber music which she frequently performed with the violinist Joseph Joachim. Beginning in 1878, she was for two decades an influential piano educator at Dr. Hoch's Konservatorium in Frankfurt.(The Schumanns - Robert and Clara by Agnes Selby. Clara Schumann - Complete Piano Works (recording of the Century : Josef De Beenhouwer). Uploaded by Classical Music/ /Reference Recording. Accessed September 13, 2019.)
1857 - Milton Snavely Hershey, American chocolatier, businessman, and philanthropist. He pioneered the manufacture of caramel, using fresh milk. He launched the Lancaster Caramel Company, which achieved bulk exports, and then sold it to start a new company supplying mass-produced milk chocolate, previously a luxury good.
1874 - Arnold Schönberg or Schoenberg, Austrian-born American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He was associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School. He created new methods of musical composition involving atonality, namely serialism and the 12-tone row. With the rise of the Nazi Party, Schoenberg's works were labeled degenerate music, because they were modernist and atonal. He emigrated to the United States in 1933, becoming an American citizen in 1941.His music approach, bοth in terms of harmony and development, has shaped much of the 20th-century musical thought. Many European and American composers from at least three generations have consciously extended his thinking, whilst others have passionately reacted against it. With his mega-cantata, “Gurrelieder,” first performed in Vienna in 1913, Schoenberg achieved his greatest critical and popular success; none of his atonal or 12-tone works (to his chagrin) is said to have ever matched it. (Arnold Schoenberg: Gurrelieder, written by George Pidota for Interlude. (Oct, 2015).
1916 - Roald Dahl, British novelist, short story and childreen's writer, poet, screenwriter, and fighter pilot. His books have sold more than 250 million copies worldwide. He has been referred to as "one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th century". His awards for contribution to literature include the 1983 World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement, and the British Book Awards' Children's Author of the Year in 1990. In 2008, The Times placed Dahl 16th on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945". Dahl's books champion the kindhearted, and feature an underlying warm sentiment. His works for children include James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, The Witches, Fantastic Mr Fox, and George's Marvellous Medicine. His adult works include Tales of the Unexpected. (Roald Dahl interview and short film - Pebble Mill at One 1982. Uploaded by Telling Tales with Carl Ashmore. Accessed September 13, 2018.)
1944 - Jacqueline Bisset, English actress. She came to prominence in 1968 with roles in The Detective, Bullitt, and The Sweet Ride, for which she received a most promising newcomer Golden Globe nomination. In the 1970s, she starred in Airport, Day for Night which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, Murder on the Orient Express (1974), The Deep, and Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?, which earned her a Golden Globe nomination as Best Actress in a Comedy. Her other film and TV credits include Rich and Famous, Class, her Golden Globe-nominated role in Under the Volcano, her Cesar-nominated role in La Cérémonie, her Emmy-nominated role in the miniseries Joan of Arc and the BBC miniseries Dancing on the Edge, for which she won a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress (television). She received France's highest honour, the Légion d'honneur, in 2010. She speaks English, French and Italian.
1969 - Shane Keith Warne, Australian cricketer and cricket commentator. Former international cricketer who captained the Australian national team in One Day Internationals (ODI). Widely regarded as one of the greatest bowlers in the history of the game. He officially retired from all formats of cricket in July 2013.
1971 - Goran Ivanišević, Croatian former pofessional tennis player and current Tennis Coach. He is the only person to win the men's singles title at Wimbledon as a wildcard. He achieved this in 2001, having previously been runner-up at the championships in 1992, 1994 and 1998.
Lefties:
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More birthdays and historical events, September 13 - On This Day
Historical Events
122 - The construction of Hadrian's Wall begins. The stone and turf wall is built by the Romans from east to west across what is now England, to stop raids from the tribes of Scotland and crete border to their lands.
1906 - Brazilian inventor Alberto Santos-Dumont, working in France, makes the first flight in Europe when his canvas and bamboo biplane is airborne for 23 feet (7 m) on the outskierts of Paris.
