Theremin Musical Instrument

The theremin musical instrument is best known for creating the spooky or eerie sounds heard in many 1950s science fiction films. It is a unique instrument being "played" without being touched.  This electronic musical instrument is named after its Russian inventor and physicist, Professor Leon Theremin, who patented the device in 1918 (or 1919).

The controlling section consists of two metal antennas that sense the position of the player's hands. It then controls oscillators for frequency with one hand, and the volume (amplitude) with the other, therefore,  played without being touched.  The electric signals from the theremin are then amplified and sent to the loudspeaker and heard.

Giacomo Puccini

Classical Music Composer's Datebook: December 22

 

Brief biography of G. Puccini, Italian Realism Opera Composer, Verismo Maestro

Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was born 22nd December, 1858, in Lucca, Tuscany. He was born into a family of musicians in Lucca. His father was a choirmaster and an organist. He was fifth in line of family composers and Italian church musicians in his hometown. Puccini is famous for operas including La Bohème,  Tosca, and Madama Butterfly, Manon Lescaut, and the unfinished Turandot, all popular to this day. Greatest 'Giovane Scuola' of his time.

Some of his melodies, such as "O mio babbino caro" from his comedic one-act masterpiece Gianni Schicchi,  and "Nessun dorma" from Turandot, popularized by the tenor Luciano Pavarotti, have become part of our modern culture. Puccini's operas combine exotic plots with elements of realism (verismo.) Having been one of the few operatic composers to successfully use both Italian and German operatic techniques, Puccini is regarded as the successor of Giuseppe Verdi.

Jane Austen

Literature / Writers Datebook: December 16

 

Brief biography of English writer Jane Austen, considered the first outstanding woman novelist. Best-known for her novels Pride and Prejudice and Emma. Her novels have been adapted to film and television series. 

 

 

 The commentary of English novelist Jane Austen bites and her masterful use of indirect discourse and irony makes her one of the most influential and respected novelists of the early 19^th century.  Austen's stories are subtle as she tells about young, well-bred heroines, injecting the snobbery and the manners of their country-house families. In Pride and Prejudice, a young man and woman begin by disliking each other but at last fall in love. In Emma, a snobbish young woman develops into someone capable of feeling and love.

Early Life  

Jane Austen was born in Steventon, Hampshire, on December 16, 1775, one of two daughters of the Rev. George Austen and his wife Cassandra (née Leigh). Her brothers James and Henry followed in the path of their father and joined the clergy (the latter towards the end of his life after a successful career as a banker), while Francis and Charles both pursued naval careers.

Close Family Relationship

She had a sister, Cassandra, with whom she maintained a close relationship throughout her life. The abundant correspondence between the sisters provides historians with the greatest insight into Austen's past. The only undisputed portrait of Jane Austen is a  rudimentary coloured sketch done by Cassandra.  

Education

In 1783, she was educated briefly by a relative in Oxford, then in Southampton, and finally in 1785–1786, she attended the Reading Ladies boarding school in Reading, Berkshire. This uncommonly advanced level of education may have contributed to her early alignment towards writing, and she began her first novel in 1789. The Austen family also often enacted plays, which gave Jane an opportunity to present her stories.

Family Move to Bath

Austen's life was even less eventful than those of her characters. In 1801 the family moved to the socially esteemed spa city of Bath, which provides the setting for many of her novels. The following year, she received a marriage proposal from a wealthy man Harris Bigg-Wither, almost six years her junior. She refused him.

Move to Southampton

After the death of her father in 1805, Austen, her sister and her mother lived in Southampton with her brother Frank and his family for several years before moving to Chawton in 1809. Here her wealthy brother Edward had an estate with a cottage, where he allowed his mother and sisters to live. This home is now a museum and is a popular site for tourists and literary pilgrims alike.

Final Years  

It was in Chawton that she wrote her later novels. In 1816, she began to suffer from ill health and moved to Winchester to be closer to her doctor. It is now thought by some that she may have suffered from Addison's disease, a failure of the adrenal glands that was often caused by tuberculosis. At that time the disease was not known and unnamed. Her condition became increasingly unstable. She died aged 41, on July 18, 1817, and was buried in Winchester Cathedral.

Film Adaptation of Austen's Novels

Austen's novels have been adapted in a great number of film and television series, varying greatly in their faithfulness to the originals.

Pride and Prejudice has been the most reproduced of her works, with six films, the 2005 adaptation directed by Joe Wright, starring Keira Knightley (Elizabeth Bennett), Donald Sutherland (Mr. Bennett), Matthew Macfadyen (Mr. Darcy), and Dame Judi Dench (Lady Catherine de Bourgh), as well as the 2004 Hollywood adaptation Pride & Prejudice.

There is also a 1940 film version of the novel starring Laurence Oliver as Mr. Darcy, and Greer Garson as Elizabeth Bennett. Previously, there were five television series produced by the BBC, the most noteworthy being the well-loved 1995 version, starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle.

Emma has been adapted on television several times, first in 1948. Recent versions include a 1972 British television version, the 1996 film Emma, with Gwyneth Paltrow and Jeremy Northam, and also in 1996 on British television with Kate Beckinsale.

Sense and Sensibility has been made into four films including the 1995 version, from a screenplay adapted by Emma Thompson (who won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay), directed by Ang Lee and starred Thompson and Kate Winslet.

Persuasion has been adapted into two television series and one feature film. Mansfield Park and Northanger Abbey have also been made into films.  

Novels by Jane Austen

Sense and Sensibility, 1811

Pride and Prejudice, 1813

Mansfield Park, 1814

Emma, 1815

Northanger Abbey, 1817 (posthumous)

Persuasion, 1817 (posthumous) 

Love and Friendship, 1922 (posthumous)

 

Photo Credit:

 Jane Austen. Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain. (Portrait, c. 1810, in watercolour and pencil.)

Resources:

Cambridge Guide to Literature in English by Ian Ousby, Cambridge Univ. Press,  1993

Chambers Biographical Dictionary, edited by Una McGovern, Edinburgh. Chambers Harrap, 2002

Larousse Dictionary of Writers, edited by Rosemary Goring. New York: Larousse, 1994

 

(c) December 2009. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.  

Pauline Viardot and Don Giovanni

Trivia:  Did you know?

Pauline Viardot-Garcia, a mezzo-soprano and composer,  possessed the holograph of the famous opera Don Giovanni  of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. She left it to the Paris Conservatory Library.

Pauline Viardot [née García] (July 18, 1821 – May 18, 1910) was a 19th century French mezzo-soprano and composer of Spanish descent. She achieved initial fame as "Pauline García". She referred to herself simply as "Mme. Viardot" after her marriage.

She spoke fluent Spanish, French, Italian, English, German,and Russian, and composed variety of songs. Her career took her to the best music halls across Europe. In 1840s she was permanently attached to the Opera in Saint Petersburg, Russia.


Viardot was renowned for her wide vocal range and her dramatic roles on stage. Her performances were noted to have inspired composers such as Frédéric Chopin, Berlioz, Camille Saint-Saëns (who dedicated Samson and Delilah to her, and wanted her to sing the title role, but she declined on account of her age).  She also arranged instrumental woks of Joseph Haydn, Schubert and Brahms as songs.  She was a friend of Clara Schumann.

She spent many happy hours at George Sand's home at Nohant, with Sand and her lover Frédéric Chopin. The warmth of feeling that existed between Viardot and Chopin was based on reciprocal esteem and affinity of temperament. The friendship was also one of mutual artistic benefit. She was given expert advice by Chopin on her piano playing, her vocal compositions, and her arrangements of some of his mazurkas as songs. He in turn derived from her some firsthand knowledge about Spanish music. When Sand's and Chopin's relationship came to an end in July 1847, Viardot tried to get the two back together, but failed.

Pauline Viardot died in 1910, at the age of eighty-eight. Her body is interred in the Paris, Montmarte Centemery.



Resources:

• Eric Blum, Editor.  Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 5th edition, 1954.

• "Pauline Viardot Garcia".  Hildegard.com/Notes.  Accessed December 11, 2013.

• The Music Salon of Pauline Viardot by Rachel M. Harris.  Accessed December 11, 2013.

Brontë Sisters: Charlotte, Emily and Anne

Literature / Writers Datebook

 

English Novelists and Poets   

Brief biography in a nutshell of three famous Brontë sisters:  Charlotte, Emily and Anne

 

English writers all, the three Brontë sisters – Charlotte, Emily and Anne, are famous for their passionate novels which include two most popular books in the English language, Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre and Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights.

 

The Family Brontë

The Brontë family lived in the north of England on the bleak Yorkshire moors. Four years after Charlotte was born, the family to Haworth parsonage. After Anne's birth their mother died, leaving five sisters and a brother to be raised by their clergyman father and a strict, religious aunt. Both eldest sisters died in their early teens.

The other three sisters and only brother, Branwell, grew up at home, playing on the moors, reading avidly, and writing in tiny books about imaginary kingdoms. They attended school only briefly. Later, however, they worked as teachers or governesses.

 

Three Novelist-Sisters

In 1846, Charlotte, Emily and Anne published a book of poems together. The finest poems were Emily's. After only a few copies sold, the Brontës tried writing fiction. A novel by each sister appeared in 1847: Jane Eyre by Charlotte, aged 31; Wuthering Heights by Emily, aged 29; and Agnes Grey by Anne, aged 27.

 

Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre

All three books drew on each author's own experiences and intense feelings, but Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre were most arresting and powerful. Wuthering Heights is a story of love, hate and revenge set on the Yorkshire moors and Jane Eyre tells of a poor but brave girl who falls in love with a harsh and difficult landowner.

 

Premature Family Deaths

No other Victorian novel shares its fierce, wild and savage spirit. It was unfortunate that by mid-1849 Emily and Anne died of tuberculosis, and their brother had died from over consumption of drugs and alcohol. In 1854 Charlotte married a clergyman and died giving birth the following year. 

 

Charlotte Brontë (April 21, 1816 – March 31, 1855)

She used the pen name Currer Bell. Born at Thornton, she was the surviving sister of a talented family, the only one to receive public acclaim but eventually, also died prematurely. She died at the age of 38.

 

Works by Charlotte Brontë:

Jane Eyre, 1847

Shirley, 1849

Villette, 1853

The Professor, 1857 (Published after she died)

 

Emily Brontë (July 30, 1818 – December 19, 1848)

She died at the age of 30.

 

Work by Emily Jane Brontë

Wuthering Heights, 1847

 

Anne Brontë (January 17, 1820 – Mary 28, 1849)

She died at the age of 29.

 

Works by Anne Brontë

Agnes Grey, 1847

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, 1848 

 

Resources:

Goring, Rosemary (Editor), Larousse Dictionary of Writers. New York: Larousse, 1994

Great British Writers, London: Colour Library Books, 1993

McGovern, Una (editor), Chambers Biographical Dictionary. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap, 2002

 

(c) December 2009. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.   

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: A Biography

Classical Music / Composers Datebook:  January 27 

 

Arguably, the greatest composer of all time, Wolfgang Mozart composed more than 600 works including: 21 theatre/stage and opera works, 15 Masses, over 50 symphonies, 25 piano concertos, 12 violin concertos (many more violin sonatas),  27 concert arias, 17 piano sonatas, 26 string quartets, concertos for clarinet and other wind instruments, chamber music, and many other pieces. Together with the work of his older contemporary he called "Papa" Haydn, Mozart's music marks the height of the Classical era in its supposed purity of melody and symmetricality of form. Since his early death in 1791, the popularity of Mozart keep soaring that even younger musicians continue to translate his music to suit their generation.   

Johann Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, better known as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (January 27, 1756 – December 5, 1791) was born in Salzburg, Austria, to a musician father Leopold Mozart and mother, Anna Pertl. Of the seven children, only Mozart and his older sister (Maria Anna or "Nannerl" as family called her) survived infancy. Leopold Mozart was himself a composer and an excellent teacher. He was a court musician of the archbishop's chapel in Salzburg, and the author of a well-known book on violin-playing. 

 

 Mozart's Younger Years

Mozart's birthplace (German: geburtshaus) was at No. 9 Getreidegasse in Salzburg. As children, Nannerl and Wolfgang showed early musical promise.  

Taught by his father, Mozart was an infant prodigy. He began to play the harpsichord at the age of three, compose at the age of five, and wrote his first minuet at six. This time Mozart went on his first tour with his family. The family lived like this for years, touring and playing over Europe. Before his ninth birthday, he composed his first symphony, wrote his first oratorio at 11, and the first opera the following year.  

 

 Mozart's Youthful Years and First Love

 In Mannheim, Germany, he fell in love with a young soprano, Aloysia Weber. His love was not reciprocated. A year later, in 1778, his beloved mother died in Paris. With heartache from the double loss of his mother and first love, he returned to Salzburg. He found work at the court but unhappy with the court restrictions, Mozart left Salzburg for Vienna in  1781, and decided to go solo, a freelance musician.

 

 

Anton Webern

Classical Music / Composer Datebook: December 3

Austrian composer Anton Webern (December 3, 1883 – September 15, 1945) was born in Vienna. . He was a member of the Second Viennese School. As a student and follower of Arnold Schoenberg, he became one of the best-known proponents of the twelve-tone technique. His innovations regarding schematic organization of pitch, rhythm and dynamics were formative in the musical style later known as serialism.

Webern was born as Anton Friedrich Wilhelm von Webern. He never used his middle names, dropping the von in 1918. He attended Vienna University from 1902 where he studied musicology with Guido Adler, writing his thesis on the Choralis Constantinus of Heinrich Isaac. This interest in early music greatly influenced his compositional technique in later years.

Wilhelm Friedemann Bach

Classical Music / Composers Datebook: November 22

Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (Nov 22, 1710 – July 1, 1784), German composer and organist,  was the second child and eldest son of Johann Sebastian (JS) Bach. He is considered the most gifted son by common reputation.

Early Life of Wilhelm F. Bach 

Born in Weimar and educated at Leipzig, he was appointed in 1733 organist of St. Sophia's Church at Dresden. In 1746, he became organist of the Liebfrauenkirche at Halle. His  father's influence was enough to secure him the latter position without the usual trial performance.

His father, JS Bach, was the stabilizing factor in his life, and when his father died in 1750, he lived an unhappy life in Halle, from which he frequently traveled to seek other employment.

Benjamin Britten

Classical Music / Composer's Datebook: November 22

Benjamin Britten's brief biography – his life, major works, list of operas. Opera and vocal music. Considered 20th century's most prominent key figure in 20^th and one of the most important composers.    

  

Benjamin Britten (Lord Edward Benjamin Britten) came as a major English composer after Elgar, more than half a century later. His music sets him apart from compatriots Elgar and Vaughan Williams, with focus on voice music and opera. His birth coincides with St Cecilia’s Day, patron saint of music. 

 

Early Life and Frank Bridge's Influence

He was the son of a dental surgeon and a singer mother. Along the British coast where Lord (Edward) Benjamin Britten was born on November 22, 1913 in Lowestoft, he was aged 10 when he heard Frank Bridge’s song The Sea. This had a tremendous impact on him as a boy. Significantly, he also studied with Frank Bridge before entering the Royal College of Music in London.  

 

Early Compositions and Exposure

Britten's Sinfonietta was published when he was 19 years old. His first international success was the Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge, played at the Salzburg Festival in 1937 followed by a number of works that established him as the leading English composer of the day, especially his Sinfonia da Requiem and  Serenade. 

 

Adult Life and Career

In 1939 he moved to North America with his lifetime partner, the tenor Peter Pears, returning to Britain during the Second World War. He participated in the war by playing concerts for the wounded. 

 

Later Years

His second opera, Peter Grimes, was premiered in London in 1945, established him as a dramatist and gained him international fame. This was followed by The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, a wonderful journey around the orchestra. Until his death in Aldeburgh, 4th December, 1976, about six more operas followed.

Much of his music is inspired by words, as shown by the many song cycles, the Spring Symphony and the Nocturne. He had a close artistic association with Shostakovich and the great Russian cellist Matislav Rostropovich.  

 

Appointments and Awards

Britten was appointed a Companion of Honour, to the Order of Meriot, and the first British composer awarded a life peerage.

 

Britten's Operas

Peter Grimes

The Rape of Lucretia

Albert Herring

Billy Budd

The Turn of the Screw

Noye's Fludde

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Death in Venice

 

Britten's Other Major Works

Sinfonietta

Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge

Violin Concerto

Song Cycle, Les Illuminations

Sinfonia da Requiem

Hymn to St Cecilia, for five-part chorus

Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell (Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra)

A Ceremony of Carols

Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings

Cantata, Saint Nicholas

Spring Symphony

War Requiem

Cello symphony

 

Suggested Recording:

Britten: Song cycle: Les Illuminations, Op.18; Nocturne, Op.60, etc…

Decca CD. 

 

Image Credit:

Benjamin Britten. Wikipedia Commons (Britten in 1968, by Hans Wild) / Public Domain 

 

Resources:

The Great Composers by Wendy Thompson, Hermes House (2001)

The Grove Concise Dictionary of Music, edited by Stanley Sadie, Macmillan (1994)

The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2^nd Edition, edited by Stanley Sadie (2000)

 

 

(c) November 2009. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved. 

Carl Maria von Weber

Composers Datebook: November 18 

German Composer, Master in Opera. Classical and Romantic era

Carl Maria von Weber's brief biography – his life and major works. He is best known for founding the Romantic school of opera after producing his famous Der Freischütz.     

Born: Eutin, 18 November 1786

Died: London, 5 June 1826

Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1844), German composer of the Romantic era, is best remembered for establishing the Romantic school of opera with his Der Freischütz, his famous opera produced in Berlin, and recognized throughout Germany as instrumental in helping found a truly German national opera style, already challenged earlier by Mozart.

Carl Maria (Friedrich Ernst) von Weber, born on 18 November 1786, was a son of a musician. His was cousin of Constanze Weber, wife of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. From childhood, he received a strong musical education from his family-operated traveling Weber Theatre Company, his own mother performing so that by age 13, he successfully produced his opera Das Waldmadchen (The Forest Maiden.) 

 

Suggested Listening: 

 

Carl Maria von Weber : Der Freischutz - Overture. YouTube, uploaded by Classical Music Only. Accessed November 18, 2022.  

 

Carl Maria von Weber: Der Freischütz (English Subtitles). YouTube, uploaded by Queen City Opera. queencityopera.org. Accessed November 18, 2022. 

 

Der Freischütz J277 : Overture - Simone Young, conducting. NHK Symphony Orchestra. YouTube, KiatMac Pattaya. Accessed November 18, 2022.

 

Weber: Euryanthe – Ouvertüre ∙ hr-Sinfonieorchester ∙ Daniel Smith. YouTube, hr-Sinfonieorchester (Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra) ∙ Daniel Smith, conductor. Accessed November 18, 2022.  

Weber - Overture to the Opera "Oberon" (Israel Philharmonic Orchestra). Barenboim, conducting. YouTube, uploaded by EuroArtsChannel. Accessed November 18, 2022.

Below is a performance of Weber's opera Overture From “Der  Freischütz” with Südfunk-Sinfonieorchester 1970. Carlos Kleiber, conducting.  Video credit:  YouTube, uploaded by RayChuan. Accessed November 18, 2022.

François Couperin

Classical Music / Composers Datebook: November 10


François Couperin (10 November 1668 – 11 September 1733), was a French Baroque composer, organist and harpsichordist. He was known as Couperin le Grand ("Couperin the Great"), to distinguish him from other members of the musically talented Couperin family.
He was also noted for his harpsichord and organ music, highly influential to Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750).  

Life in Brief


Couperin was born in Paris. He was taught by his father, Charles Couperin, who died when François was about 10, and by Jacques Thomelin. In 1685 he became the organist at the church of Saint-Gervais, Paris, a post he inherited from his father and that he would pass on to his cousin, Nicolas Couperin, and other members of the family. In 1693 Couperin succeeded his teacher Thomelin as organist at the Chapelle Royale (Royal Chapel) with the title organiste du Roi, organist by appointment to Louis XIV.

Rachmaninoff Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini

Classical Music Milestone - November 7

Rachmaninoff is soloist in the premiere of his own Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43.

This day, Nov 7 (1934),   Sergei Rachmaninoff is soloist in his famous Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.  It was written for piano and orchestra, first premiered in Baltimore, Maryland.  He composed the music from a theme of Niccolo Paganini, a famous virtuoso violinist and composer.

Sergei (Vasilievich) Rachmaninoff was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor.  "Sergei Rachmaninoff" was the spelling the composer himself used while living in the West throughout the later half of his life. However, alternative transliterations of his name include Sergey or Serge, and Rachmaninov, Rachmaninow, Rakhmaninov or Rakhmaninoff.  The beautiful and haunting  Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Variation 18, has been much popularized in the movie  "Somewhere in Time" starring Jane Seymour and Christopher Reeve, based on the book "Bid Time Return" by author and screenwriter Richard Matheson, who passed away in June, 2013.

Movement is andante cantabile, a tempo vivace.

Video Credits:

• Rachmaninoff plays Reachmaninoff - Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op.43, Variations 13-18. YouTube, uploaded by violavonschnitzel.  Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op.43, Variations 13-18
• Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini Variation 18. YouTube, uploaded by 65Seasons.  Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Variation 18

(c) November 2009. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.

Jacopo Peri Opera Euridice

Classical Music: Opera

Jacopo Peri Opera Euridice Premieres

Jacopo Peri's opera Euridice, with additional music by Giulio Caccini, was first performed in Florence on October 6, 1600, at the Palazzo Pitti with Peri himself singing the role of Orfeo. The libretto by Ottavio Rinuccini is based on books X and XI of Ovid's Metamorphoses which recount the story of the legendary musician Orpheus and his wife Euridice.

Euridice was written for the marriage of King Henry IV of France and Maria de Medici. It should be noted that Caccini wrote his own Euridice even as he supplied music to Peri's opera, in fact published this version before Peri's was performed, in 1600, and got it staged two years later.

Gustav Holst Suite The Planets

Classical Music Datebook: September 29

"The Planets" by Gustav Holst

Gustav Holst's suite "The Planets" was first performed on Sept 29, 1918,  in Queen's Hall, London. He composed it for voices and orchestra. It is Holst's  best-known music.  One of Holst’s mystical influences was astrology and the zodiac, which was one of his hobbies for the rest of his life. Astrology was the primary influence behind his most famous work, The Planets.

The movements of "The Planets":

• Mars, the Bringer of War: Use of timpani.
• Venus, the Bringer of Peace: Strings.
• Mercury, the Winged Messenger: Strings and bassoon.
• Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity:  The Jupiter theme was adopted as a patriotic hymn tune, considered the most recognizable in the suite.
• Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age: The musical messenger of decline, eventually death.
• Uranus, the Magician.
• Nepture, the Mystic: More strings and winds.

Miguel de Cervantes

 Literature / Writer's Datebook: September 29

 

Brief biography of Miguel de Cervantes, Spanish novelist, poet and playwright, one of the greatest writers in Spanish literature, famous for Don Quixote.

 

 

 

Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes is best-known for his epic satire masterpiece, the ingenious gentleman Don Quixote de la Mancha, simply known as Don Quixote.

 

Early Life of Miguel de Cervantes

Miguel de Cervantes was born on September 29, 1547, with birth name of Alcalá de Henares. He lived an unsettled life of adventure and hardship. He was born near Madrid, Spain, into an aristocratic but poor family and spent much of his childhood moving from one town to another while his doctor father sought work. Years spent in study with a famous humanist scholar gave him a passion for learning and tolerance.

 

Military Life 

In his early 20s Cervantes became a solder. At 24, he joined the Spanish Armada and fought at the Battle of Lapanto, one of the greatest sea battles in history. His left hand was wounded and never regained its full use. When he was 28, he was captured and enslaved by North African pirates for five years. Eventually, his family was able to raise money for his return home, only to be imprisoned for fraud.

 

Literary Pursuits

Returning to Spain, Cervantes found his family in poverty. He had several temporary jobs and turned to writing as a way of earning money. Among his works in this period were a pastoral novel, poetry and several plays.

 

Don Quixote de la Mancha

During a period of particularly bad luck Cervantes found himself in jail for fraud. It was here that he had the idea for his masterpiece, Don Quixote. Like his hero, Cervantes was much stricken by fate aside from having fought in the battle of Lepanto. Don Quixote is a story of a man who reads numerous books about chivalry, becomes mad, and tries to restore old-fashioned heroism. 

Don Quixote

 

The first volume of Don Quixote was published when he was 58, and it was an immediate success. It follows the adventures of a slightly in same Spanish nobleman and his loyal servant. Quixote sees himself as a knight in shining armour and sets out to right the wrongs of the world. Scholars describe Don Quixote as one of the world's first novels.

Cervantes also wrote poetry and plays, however, they were overshadowed by his contemporaries. He died on April 23, 1616, aged 68.

 

Popular Song adaptation:  'The Impossible Dream'

 

Miguel de Cervantes Books

La Galatea: A Pastoral Romance, 1585

Comedy of Confusion, c.1586

Don Quixote, 1605

Exemplary Novels, 1613

Eight New Plays and Eight New Interludes, 1615

The Exploits of Persiles and Sigismunda, 1617 (published after he died) 

 

Image Credit:

Don Quixote. Wikipedia Commons / Public Domain

Miguel de Cervantes. Wikipedia Commons / Public Domain 

 

Resources:

Goring, Rosemary, Ed. Larousse Dictionary of Writers. New York: Larousse, 1994

McGovern, Una, Ed. Biographical Dictionary. Edinburgh: Chambers / Harrap Publishers, 2002

Payne, Tom. The A-Z of Great Writers. London: Carlton, 1997

 

(c) September 29, 2009. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.