March 4 Dateline

Birthdays

1678 - Antonio Vivaldi, Italian Baroque composer regarded as one of the greatest. He is known as the "Red Priest," and whose best-known work is a series of violin concertos known as the Four Seasons. He composed many instrumental concertos, for the violin and a variety of other musical instruments, as well as sacred choral works and more than forty operas.

1754 - Benjamin Waterhouse, American physician, pioneer in Smallpox vaccination. He was co-founder and professor of Harvard Medical School. He is most well known for being the first doctor to test the smallpox vaccine in the United States, which he carried out on his own family.

1921 - Joan Mary Waller Greenwood, English actress. Her husky voice, coupled with her slow, precise elocution, was her trademark. She is perhaps best remembered for her role as Sibella in Kind Hearts and Coronets, and also appeared in The Man in the White Suit, The Importance of Being Earnest, Stage Struck, Tom Jones and Little Dorrit. Greenwood worked mainly on the stage, where she had a long career, appearing with Donald Wolfit's theatre company in the years following World War II. Later, after the war, her appearances in Ealing comedies are among her memorable screen appearances. In 1960, Greenwood appeared as the title character in a production of Hedda Gabler at the Oxford Playhouse.

1929 - Bernard Haitink (born Bernard Johan Herman Haitink), CH KBE, Dutch conductor. He led master classes in conducting for young conductors in Lucerne for several years. In June 2015, the European Union Youth Orchestra announced the appointment of Haitink as its conductor laureate, effective immediately. His final concerts as conductor were done with Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam, and Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. His final UK concert was at The Proms in London on 3 September 2019, his 90th Prom, with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. His last concert was in Lucerne at the KKL on 6 September 2019, with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.

1939 - Paula Prentiss, American actress best known for her film roles in Where the Boys Are, Man's Favorite Sport?, The Stepford Wives, What's New Pussycat?, In Harm's Way, The Black Marble, and The Parallax View, and the cult television series He & She.

1944 - Dame Kiri Te Kanawa (born Claire Mary Teresa Rawstron), ONZ CH DBE AC, New Zealand former opera singer. Her career included a full lyric soprano voice, which has been described as "mellow yet vibrant, warm, ample and unforced". She received accolades in many countries, singing a wide array of works in many languages dating from the 17th to the 20th centuries. She is particularly associated with the works of Mozart, Strauss, Verdi, Handel and Puccini. Though she rarely sang opera later in her career, Te Kanawa frequently performed in concert and recital, gave masterclasses, and supported young opera singers in launching their careers. (Kiri Sings Mozart. Uploaded by KiriOnLine - Kiri Te Kanawa. Recorded at St. David's Hall, Cardiff. Orchestra of the Welsh National Opera, Charles Mackerras / Conductor, Cardiff, UK, 1990. Accessed March 4, 2015. Kiri Te Kanawa - Montreal Concert 1986. KiriOnLine. Accessed March 4, 2019.)
 

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More birthdays and historical events, March 4 - On This Day

 

 

 

Historical Events

1461 - King Edward IV of England (Yorkist), usurps his cousin, King Henry VI (Lancastrian), from the English throne in the War of the Roses.

1787 - The U.S. Congress convenes for the first time forming the American constitution.

March 3 Dateline

Birthdays

1847 - Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish-born scientist, inventor, engineer, and innovator who is credited with inventing and patenting the first practical telephone, although there have been debates about this, though not conclusively proven. The other claimant is Antonio Meucci, an Italian inventor. Bell also founded the American Telephone and Telegraph Company in 1885. (Alexander Bell Biography. Uploaded by CloudBiography. Accessed March 3, 2014.)

1869 - Sir Henry Joseph Wood, English conductor and composer, best known for his association with London's annual series of promenade concerts, known as the Proms. He conducted them for nearly half a century, introducing hundreds of new works to British audiences. After his death, the concerts were officially renamed in his honour as the "Henry Wood Promenade Concerts", although they continued to be generally referred to as "the Proms". Wood declined the chief conductorships of the New York Philharmonic and Boston Symphony Orchestras, believing it his duty to serve music in the UK. He also conducted concerts and festivals and trained the student orchestra at the Royal Academy of Music. He had an enormous influence on the musical life of Britain over his long career.

1871 - Ada Jemima Crossley, Australian contralto notable as the first Red Seal recording artist engaged in the US by the Victor Talking Machine Company in 1903. Her first appearance was with the Philharmonic Society at Melbourne in 1889. She sang frequently at concerts and in oratorio. She made her début performance in Sydney in January 1892. Her first appearance in London was at the Queen's Hall on 18 May 1895. She gave five command performances before Queen Victoria in two years. She was also successful in America. She also visited South Africa. She sang regularly at English festivals until 1913 but retired a few years later. Her tours were a series of triumphs. (First Victor Red Seal): Australian Contralto Ada CROSSLEY: Caro mio ben (1903). YouTube, uploaded by CurzonRoad.)  

1911 - Jean Harlow Carpenter, American actress and sex symbol. Often nicknamed the "Blonde Bombshell" and the "Platinum Blonde", she was popular for her "Laughing Vamp" screen persona. Harlow was in the film industry for only nine years, but she became one of the biggest movie stars in Hollywood, whose image in the public eye has endured. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Harlow No. 22 on their greatest female stars of Classic Hollywood Cinema list.

1918 - Arthur Kornberg, American biochemist and physician, shared 1959 Nobel Prize in Medicine for his discovery of "the mechanisms in the biological synthesis of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)" together with Dr. Severo Ochoa of New York University. He was also awarded the Paul-Lewis Award in Enzyme Chemistry from the American Chemical Society in 1951, L.H.D. degree from Yeshiva University in 1962, as well as National Medal of Science in 1979. In 1991, Kornberg received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement and the Gairdner Foundation Award in 1995. His primary research interests were in biochemistry, especially enzyme chemistry, deoxyribonucleic acid synthesis (DNA replication) and studying the nucleic acids which control heredity in animals, plants, bacteria and viruses.

1962 - Jackie Joyner-Kersee, American retired track and field athlete, ranked among the all-time greatest athletes in the heptathlon and long jump. She won three gold, one silver, and two bronze Olympic medals in those two events at four different Olympic Games. Sports Illustrated for Women magazine voted Joyner-Kersee the Greatest Female Athlete of All-Time. She is on the Board of Directors for USA Track & Field (U.S.A.T.F.), the national governing body of the sport. Joyner-Kersee is an active philanthropist in children's education, racial equality and women's rights. She is a founder of the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation, which encourages young people in East St. Louis to pursue athletics and academics.
 

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More birthdays and historical events, March 3 - On This Day

Historical Events

1539 - Sir Nicholas Carew, a very accomplished knight and once a favourite of King Henry VIII is beheaded. He was a distant relative of Anne Boleyn. Carew was present at "The Field of the Cloth of Gold", Henry VIII's meeting with the French king near Calais. At the jousting on that day, Carew was successful against all-comers and not unhorsed. The story goes that when King Henry VIII spoke rudely to him at a game of bowls, he forgot caution and treated the king in the same manner, deeply offending the king. Carew was eventually charged with exchanging letters with Exeter, a traitor, and was executed at London's Tower Hill.

1817 - John Keats' first volume of poems is published. His first work, a poem, the sonnet O Solitude appeared in the Examiner in May 1816, followed by his first book, Poems (1817).  After 1817, Keats devoted himself entirely to poetry, becoming a master of the Romantic sonnet and trying his hand at epic poems like Hyperion. The year 1818 was a tragic one for Keats. His collection Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St. Agnes and other poems was published in July 1820 before his last visit to Rome. (Selected Poems by John Keats (Full Audiobook). Accessed March 3, 2014. A Thing of Beauty by John Keats - Poetry Reading. Uploaded by Pearls of Wisdom. Accessed March 3, 2018.)