Birthdays
1454 - Amerigo Vespucci, Italian merchant navigator, explorer, and adventurer from the Republic of Florence, by which the name America is coined. He became a Castillian citizen in 1505.
1737 - Josef Mysliveczek, Opera composer and friend of Mozart, who contributed to the formation of late eighteenth-century classicism in music. (Josef Mysliveček Il Bellerofonte, Opera in 3 acts Complete. Uploaded by HarpsichordVal. Accessed March 9 2018.)
1892 - Vita Sackville-West (Victoria Mary Sackville-West, Lady Nicolson), English novelist, poet, critic, and garden designer. She was also a prolific letter writer and diarist. (Who was Vita Sackville-West by Allison Adler Kroll. Accessed March 9, 2019.)
1910 - Samuel Barber (born Samuel Osmond Barber II), American composer of orchestral, opera, choral, and piano music. He is one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century. His Adagio for Strings (1936) has earned a permanent place in the concert repertory of orchestras. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music twice: for his opera Vanessa (1956–57) and for the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (1962). Also widely performed is his Knoxville: Summer of 1915 (1947), a setting for soprano and orchestra of a prose text by James Agee. (Barber Adagio for Strings, performed by Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Accessed March 9, 2018.)
1934 - Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin, Soviet Union cosmonaut, Soviet Air Forces pilot and cosmonaut who became the first human to journey into outer space, achieving a major milestone in the Space Race; his capsule, Vostok 1, completed one orbit of Earth on 12 April 1961. Gagarin became an international celebrity and was awarded many medals and titles, including Hero of the Soviet Union, his nation's highest honour.
1943 - Bobby Fischer (born Robert James Fischer), American chess grandmaster and the eleventh World Chess Champion. Many consider him to be the greatest chess player of all time. He showed great skill in chess from an early age; at 13, he won a brilliancy known as "The Game of the Century". At age 14, he became the youngest ever U.S. Chess Champion, and at 15, he became both the youngest grandmaster (GM) up to that time and the youngest candidate for the World Championship. At age 20, Fischer won the 1963/64 US Championship with 11 wins in 11 games, the only perfect score in the history of the tournament. His book My 60 Memorable Games, published in 1969, is regarded as essential reading. He won the 1970 Interzonal Tournament by a record 3½-point margin, and won 20 consecutive games, including two unprecedented 6–0 sweeps, in the Candidates Matches. In July 1971, he became the first official FIDE number-one-rated player.
1964 - Juliette Binoche, French actress, artist and dancer. She has been the recipient of numerous international awards, and performed frequently on stage – both as an actress and dancer. After performing in several stage productions, she was cast in the films of such notable auteur directors as Jean-Luc Godard (Hail Mary, 1985), Jacques Doillon (Family Life, 1985), and André Téchiné; the latter would make her a star in France with the leading role in his 1985 drama Rendez-vous. Her sensual performance in her English-language debut The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988), directed by Philip Kaufman, launched her international career.
Lefties:
None known
More birthdays and historical events, March 9 - On This Day
Historical Events
1074 - Pope Gregory VII excommunicates married priests from the Catholic Church.
1785 - The Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K. 467, was completed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, four weeks after the completion of the previous No. 20 in D minor concerto, K. 466.
1796 - French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte marries Josephine de Beauharnais in a civil ceremony.
1842 - Giuseppe Verdi's opera Nabucco is first performed, in Milan's La Scala.
