Birthdays
1844 - Sarah Bernhardt, (see October 22 or 23), French stage actress who starred in some of the most popular French plays of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including La Dame Aux Camelias by Alexandre Dumas fils; Ruy Blas by Victor Hugo, Fédora and La Tosca by Victorien Sardou, and L'Aiglon by Edmond Rostand.
1844 - Robert Seymour Bridges, OM, English poet who was Poet Laureate from 1913 to 1930. A doctor by training, he achieved literary fame only late in life. His poems reflect a deep Christian faith, and he is the author of many well-known hymns. It was through Bridges’ efforts that Gerard Manley Hopkins achieved posthumous fame. ("Seven Poems" of Robert Bridges, composed by Gerard Finzi, and sung by Sheffield University Sheffield Chamber Choir. YouTube, uploaded by SUCC. The Poems: I Praise the Tender Flower, I have loved flowers that fade, My spirit sang all day, Clear and gentle stream, Nightingales, Haste on my Joys, Wherefore tonight so full of care.)
1893 - Milton "Gummo" Marx, American vaudevillian performer, actor, comedian and theatrical agent. He was the second youngest of the five Marx Brothers. Born in Manhattan, New York City, he worked with his brothers on the vaudeville circuit, but left acting when he was drafted into the U.S. Army during World War I.
1893 - Jean Absil, Belgian composer, organist, and professor at the Brussels Conservatoire. Initially, Absil was influenced by the late Romantic school, particularly Wagner and Richard Strauss. Around the time he made his trip to Paris in 1934, he began to adopt a more modern style. Absil concentrated especially on writing piano works, himself a skilled pianist. These works include Ballade, op. 129, for solo piano (which is played with the left hand only) as well as 3 Pièces (played with the right one only). The Grand Suites (Op.110, composed in 1965) served as a tribute to Frédéric Chopin. In 1946, he composed another work, Hommage à Schumann and in 1957 the Passacaglia in Memoriam Alban Berg, both of them for piano. His last finished composition was the Piano Concerto no. 3, op. 162. Non-piano music of Absil's includes one opera, Les Voix de la mer, and a cycle of five symphonies, the first of which (op. 1) he composed at 27, when he was a pupil of Paul Gilson. It won the Prix Agniez in 1921.
1905 - Felix Block, Swiss-American physicist and Nobel Peace Laureate who made fundamental theoretical contributions to the understanding of electron behavior in crystal lattices, ferromagnetism, and nuclear magnetic resonance. He worked mainly in the U.S. He and Edward Mills Purcell were awarded the 1952 Nobel Prize for Physics for "their development of new ways and methods for nuclear magnetic precision measurements." In 1954–1955, he served for one year as the first Director-General of CERN.
1940 - Pelé (Edson Arantes do Nascimento), Brazilian retired professional footballer who played as a forward. Widely regarded as the greatest player of all time, he was among the most successful and popular sports figures of the 20th century. During his playing days, Pelé was for a period the best-paid athlete in the world. In 1999, Pelé was voted World Player of the Century by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS). That same year, Pelé was elected Athlete of the Century by the International Olympic Committee and was included in the Time list of the 100 most important people of the 20th century. His total of 1279 goals in 1363 games, which included friendlies, is a Guinness World Record.
1945 - Hugh Fraser, English actor, theatre director and author, best known for his portrayal of Captain Hastings in the television series Agatha Christie's Poirot opposite David Suchet, and his role as the Duke of Wellington (replacing David Troughton) in the Sharpe television series. He studied acting at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Fraser's first big break came after portraying Anthony Eden in the 1978 television series Edward & Mrs. Simpson, with Edward Fox, after which he was frequently cast as upper class or aristocratic characters, such as Mr Talmann in Peter Greenaway's The Draughtsman's Contract. He has regularly appeared on film and in television.
Leftie:
Brazilian professional footballer Pelé
More birthdays andhistorical events, October 23 - On This Day
425 - Valentinian III becomes Emperor of Rome at the age of six.
1897 - Alexander Scriabin is soloist in the first performance of his Piano Concerto, in Odessa. The Piano Concerto in F-sharp minor, Op. 20, is an early work of Russian composer Scriabin written in 1896, when he was 24. It was his first work for orchestra and the only concerto he composed. Scriabin completed the concerto in only a few days in the fall of 1896, but did not finish the orchestration until the following May. The work consists of three movements: Allegro, Andante, and Allegro Moderato, typically lasting about 28 minutes in total.
Here's a recording of Scriabin's First Concerto interpreted by pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy. It's beautiful and moving, especially coming from Scriabin, known more for his atonal works.
Historical Events
425 - Valentinian III becomes Emperor of Rome at the age of six.
1897 - Alexander Scriabin is soloist in the first performance of his Piano Concerto, in Odessa. The Piano Concerto in F-sharp minor, Op. 20, is an early work of Russian composer Scriabin written in 1896, when he was 24. It was his first work for orchestra and the only concerto he composed. Scriabin completed the concerto in only a few days in the fall of 1896, but did not finish the orchestration until the following May. The work consists of three movements: Allegro, Andante, and Allegro Moderato, typically lasting about 28 minutes in total.
Here's a recording of Scriabin's First Concerto interpreted by pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy. It's beautiful and moving, especially coming from Scriabin, known more for his atonal works.
