October 11 Dateline

Birthdays

1815 - Prince Pierre-Napoléon Bonaparte, French nobleman, revolutionary and politician, the son of Lucien Bonaparte and his second wife Alexandrine de Bleschamp. He was a nephew of Napoleon I of France.

1884 - Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, Former U.S. First Lady, American political figure, Diplomat and Activist. Then President Harry Truman called her the "First Lady of the World" in tribute to her human rights achievements. She served as the First Lady of the United States from March 4, 1933, to April 12, 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four terms in office, making her the longest-serving First Lady of the United States.  She was the niece of Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States. Her husband, FDR (the 32nd President), was her distant cousin. (Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Speech. Uploaded by PublicResourceOrg.  Eleanor Roosevelt - Her Star Shines. Uploaded by FDRLibrary. Both accessed October 11, 2011.) Eleanor Roosevelt advocated for expanded roles for women in the workplace, the civil rights of African Americans and Asian Americans, and the rights of World War II refugees. Following her husband's death in 1945, she remained active in politics for the remaining 17 years of her life.

1884 - Friedrich Bergius, German chemist and inventor, Nobel Laureate, known for the Bergius process for producing synthetic fuel from coal, Nobel Prize in Chemistry in recognition of contributions to the invention and development of chemical high-pressure methods.

1885 - Francois Charles Mauriac, French author, poet, playwright, critic and journalist. He was a member of the Académie française (from 1933), and laureate of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1952. He was awarded the Grand Cross of the Légion d'honneur in 1958.

1966 - Luke Perry (born Coy Luther Perry III), American actor. He became a teen idol for playing Dylan McKay on the TV series Beverly Hills, 90210 from 1990 to 1995, and again from 1998 to 2000. He also starred as Fred Andrews on the CW series Riverdale . He had guest roles on notable shows which are Criminal Minds, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, The Simpsons, and Will & Grace, and also starred in several films, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 8 Seconds, The Fifth Element, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, his final feature performance.

1974 - Rachel Barton Pine (born Rachel Elizabeth Barton), American violinist. She debuted with the Chicago Symphony at age 10, and was the first American and youngest ever gold medal winner of the International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition. Pine tours worldwide as a soloist with prestigious orchestras, has an active recording career, and runs The Rachel Barton Pine Foundation since 2001 which provides services and funding to promote classical music education and performances. (Rachel Barton Pine plays Sarasate's Zigeunerweisen (Gypsy Airs with the Highland Park Strings at Ravinia. Accessed October 11, 2015. Rachel Barton Pine On Mozart, with Sir Neville Mariner, St Martin in the Fields. Accessed October 11, 2018.)

Leftie:
Actor Luke Perry

 

More birthdays and historical events, October 11 - On This Day

 

Historical Events

1727 - One of George Frideric Handel's best-known works, Zadok the Priest: The Coronation Anthem (HWV 258), alongside other three coronation anthems: The King Shall Rejoice, My Heart is Inditing, and Let Thy Hand Be Strengthened, premiered on October 11, 1727, when King George II was crowned in London's Westminster Abbey. Zadok the Priest has been sung prior to the anointing of the sovereign at the coronation of every British monarch since its composition and has become recognised as a British patriotic anthem.

1811 - The first steam-powered ferry begins service between New York and Hoboken, New Jersey

1830 - Frederic Chopin is soloist in his Piano Concerto No. 1, in a Warsaw theatre, Poland.

October 10 Dateline

Birthdays

1731 - Henry Cavendish, FRS, English scientist, philosopher, and an important experimental and theoretical chemist and physicist. Amongst other discoveries, he is noted for his discovery of chemical element hydrogen, which he termed "inflammable air". Using his exacting experimental skills, Cavendish was the first to distinguish this inflammable air from ordinary air and to investigate its specific properties. He presented a paper detailing his findings in 1766. He is also known for the Cavendish Experiment, the first experiment to measure the force of gravity between masses in the laboratory and the first to yield accurate values for the gravitational constant (G). (The Cavendish Experiment, uploaded by Sixty Symbols. Accessed October 10, 2013.)

1895 - Lin Yutang, Hokkien Chinese writer, scholar, translator, linguist, philosopher and inventor. His informal but polished style in both Chinese and English made him one of the most influential writers of his generation. His compilations and translations of classic Chinese texts into English were bestsellers in the West. ("Human Life as a Poem" - Souvenirs From Dreamland Ep2 ~Lin Yutang. Uploaded by souvenirs of dreamland. Accessed October 10, 2012.)  "Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials." ~ Lin Yutang

1813 - Giuseppe Verdi, (Oct 9 or 10?), Italian opera composer. He came to dominate the Italian opera scene after the era of Vincenzo Bellini, Gaetano Donizetti, and Gioachino Rossini, whose works significantly influenced him. In his early operas, Verdi demonstrated a sympathy with the Risorgimento movement which sought the unification of Italy. He also participated briefly as an elected politician. The famous chorus "Va, pensiero" from his early opera Nabucco (1842), and similar choruses in later operas, were much in the spirit of the unification movement, and the composer himself became esteemed as a representative of these ideals. An intensely private person, however, he did not seek to ingratiate himself with popular movements and as he became professionally successful was able to reduce his operatic workload and sought to establish himself as a landowner in his native region. He surprised the musical world by returning, after his success with the opera Aida (1871), with three late masterpieces: his Verdi Requiem (1874), and the operas Otello (1887) and Falstaff (1893). His operas remain extremely popular, especially Rigoletto, Il trovatore and La traviata.(Verdi:Aida - triumphal march "Gloria all´Egitto". Czech Philharmony choir Brno choirmaster - Petr Fiala Czech Radio symphony orchestra cond. Vladimir Valek. Uploaded by AchillesValda. Accessed October 10, 2011.)

1930 - Harold Pinter, British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramatists with a writing career that spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party, The Homecoming, and Betrayal, each of which he adapted for the screen. His screenplay adaptations of others' works include The Servant, The Go-Between, The French Lieutenant's Woman, The Trial, and Sleuth. He also directed or acted in radio, stage, television, and film productions of his own and others' works. Despite being diagnosed with oesophageal cancer in December 2001, Pinter continued to act on stage and screen, last performing the title role of Samuel Beckett's one-act monologue Krapp's Last Tape, for the 50th anniversary season of the Royal Court Theatre, in October 2006.

1971 - Evgeny Kissin, Russian concert pianist. He has been a British citizen since 2002 and an Israeli citizen since 2013. He first came to international fame as a child prodigy. He first came to international fame as a child prodigy. He has a wide repertoire and is especially known for his interpretations of the works of the Romantic era, particularly those of Franz Schubert, Frédéric Chopin, Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt, Johannes Brahms, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and Ludwig van Beethoven. He is commonly viewed as a great successor of the Russian piano school because of the depth, lyricism and poetic quality of his interpretations.

Leftie:
None known

 

More birthdays and historical events, October 10 - On This Day

 

Featured Video Watch:  Verdi Requiem. 

Proms 2016 - Verdi - Requiem [Marin Alsop, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment]. YouTube, uploaded by hollowchatter. Accessed October 10, 2020. 

Historical Events

1919- Richard Strauss's opera Die Frau ohne Schatten, is first performed, at the Vienna State Opera.

1931 - Sir William Walton's oratorio Belshazzar's Feast, is first performed, at the Leeds Festival, England.