Birthdays
1593 - Artemisia Lomi or Artemisia Gentileschi, Italian Baroque painter, considered one of the most accomplished seventeenth-century artists, initially working in the style of Caravaggio. She was producing professional work by the age of fifteen. In an era when women had few opportunities to pursue artistic training
or work as professional artists, Artemisia was the first woman to become a member of the Accademia di Arte del Disegno in Florence and she had an international clientele. (Artemisia Gentileschi in 8 paintings, National Gallery. Artemisia Gentileschi: A collection of 79 paintings (HD), LearnFromMasters. YouTube, Accessed October 18, 2020.)
1621 - Jean de la Fontaine, French fabulist, one of the most widely read French poets of the 17th century. He is known above all for his Fables, which provided a model for subsequent fabulists across Europe and numerous alternative versions in France, as well as in French regional languages. After a long period of royal suspicion, he was admitted to the
French Academy and his reputation in France has never faded since. Evidence of this is found in the many pictures and statues of the writer, later depictions on medals, coins and postage stamps.
1819 - Vatroslav Lisinski (born Ignatius Fuchs to a German Jewish family), Croatian composer.The name he adapted is a Croatian calque of his original name. He composed the first Croatian opera, Love and Malice. The Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall is named after him.Lisinski was one of the founders of Illyrism, a movement that advocated the importance of Croatian and more generally South Slavic cultural heritage, as a reaction to Magyarisation during the Austro-Hungarian rule. The international train EN 498/499 connecting Zagreb and Munich is named Lisinski.
1838 - Count Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin (born Ferdinand Adolf Heinrich August Graf von Zeppelin), German general, airship inventor, later inventing the Zeppelin rigid airships. He founded the company Luftschiffbau Zeppelin.
1839 - John Davison Rockefeller, Sr., American oil tycoon and philanthropist, business magnate. He is widely considered the wealthiest American of all time, and the richest person in modern history. He founded the Standard Oil Company in 1870. He ran it until 1897, and remained its largest shareholder.
1882 - Percy Grainger (born George Percy Aldridge Grainger), Australian-born pianist, composer and Arranger, who lived in the United States from 1914 on and became a citizen in 1918. He played a prominent role in the revival of interest in British folk music in the early years of the 20th century. Although much of his work was experimental and unusual, the piece with which he is most generally associated is his piano arrangement of the folk-dance tune "Country Gardens". (Martin Jones performs Percy Grainger's "Country Gardens". YouTube, uploaded by NimbusRecords TV. Accessed July 8, 2014.)
1819 - Vatroslav Lisinski (born Ignatius Fuchs to a German Jewish family), Croatian composer.The name he adapted is a Croatian calque of his original name. He composed the first Croatian opera, Love and Malice. The Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall is named after him.Lisinski was one of the founders of Illyrism, a movement that advocated the importance of Croatian and more generally South Slavic cultural heritage, as a reaction to Magyarisation during the Austro-Hungarian rule. The international train EN 498/499 connecting Zagreb and Munich is named Lisinski.
1838 - Count Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin (born Ferdinand Adolf Heinrich August Graf von Zeppelin), German general, airship inventor, later inventing the Zeppelin rigid airships. He founded the company Luftschiffbau Zeppelin.
1839 - John Davison Rockefeller, Sr., American oil tycoon and philanthropist, business magnate. He is widely considered the wealthiest American of all time, and the richest person in modern history. He founded the Standard Oil Company in 1870. He ran it until 1897, and remained its largest shareholder.
1882 - Percy Grainger (born George Percy Aldridge Grainger), Australian-born pianist, composer and Arranger, who lived in the United States from 1914 on and became a citizen in 1918. He played a prominent role in the revival of interest in British folk music in the early years of the 20th century. Although much of his work was experimental and unusual, the piece with which he is most generally associated is his piano arrangement of the folk-dance tune "Country Gardens". (Martin Jones performs Percy Grainger's "Country Gardens". YouTube, uploaded by NimbusRecords TV. Accessed July 8, 2014.)
1900 - George Antheil, Experimental American avant-garde composer (who also wrote film scores), Pianist, Author, and Inventor. Spending much of the 1920s in Europe, he returned to the US in the 1930s, and spent much time composing music for films, and television. Antheil was constantly reinventing himself. He wrote magazine articles (one accurately predicted the development and outcome of World War II), an autobiography, a mystery novel, and newspaper and music columns. In 1941, Antheil and the actress Hedy Lamarr developed a radio guidance system for Allied torpedoes that used a code (stored on a punched paper tape) to synchronise random frequencies, known as 'frequency hopping', with a receiver and transmitter. This technique is known as 'spread spectrum' and is widely used in telecommunications. In 2014, Antheil and Lamarr were inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
1908 - Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller, American businessman, philanthropist, and politician. He was 41st vice president of the U.S. from 1974 to 1977, and previously, the 49th governor of New York from 1959 to 1973. A grandson of billionaire John D. Rockefeller and a member of the wealthy Rockefeller family, he was a noted art collector and served as administrator of Rockefeller Center in Manhattan, New York City.
1926 - Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, Swiss-American psychiatrist, a pioneer in near-death studies, and author of the internationally best-selling book, On Death and Dying, where she first discussed her theory of the five stages of grief, known as the "Kübler-Ross model". She was a 2007 inductee into the National Women's Hall of Fame, was named by Time (magazine) as one of the "100 Most Important Thinkers" of the 20th Century and was the recipient of nineteen honorary degrees. By July 1982, Kübler-Ross taught 125,000 students in death and dying courses in colleges, seminaries, medical schools, hospitals, and social-work institutions.
1958 - Kevin Norwood Bacon, American actor and musician. His films include musical-drama film Footloose, the controversial historical conspiracy legal thriller JFK, the legal drama A Few Good Men, the historical docudrama Apollo 13, and the mystery drama Mystic River. Bacon is known for taking on darker roles and for hit comedies. He is equally prolific on television. For the HBO original film Taking Chance, he won a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award, also receiving a Primetime Emmy Award nomination. Bacon portrayed the title character/series lead, Amazon Prime web television series I Love Dick, for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award.
Leftie:
Nelson A. Rockefeller, former U.S. Vice-President
More birthdays and historical events today, 8 July - On This Day.
In Memoriam, Percy Aldridge Grainger (1882-1961): The composer plays piano solo of his "Molly on the Shore." Recorded in 1927.
Historical Events
1497 - Vasco da Gama sets sail from Lisbon, Portugal, to find a sea route to the East Indies.
1791 - Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 92, "Oxford" is first performed, in the Sheldonian Theatre; he is awarded Doctor of Music by Oxford University.
1889 - Dow Jones and Company, in New York, publishes the first issue of the financial newspaper The Wall Street Journal. It is four pages long and sells for two cents.
1943 - Jean Moulin, leader of the French Resistence, dies while being held by the Gestapo in Lyon after weeks of torture under the direction of Klaus Barbie.
1986 - Kurt Waldheim, former head of the United Nations (UN), is elected President of Austria despite allegations of his involvement in war crimes in Greece as a German officer.
2012 - Roger Federer takes the 7th Wimbledon win. Swiss legend Roger Federer won Wimbledon finals against Scot Andy Murray 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4, capturing his 17th Grand Slam title and regaining the no. 1 spot in the world ranking. He equalled Pete Sampras' record at the All England Club with a seventh Wimbledon title. He also equalled another Sampras-record by regaining world no. 1, that is, the following day, 286 weeks on top of the ATP world ranking.
Video Credit:
Percy Grainger's Molly on the Shore. YouTube, uploaded by pianopera. Accessed July 8, 2014.
Resources:
1. Asiado, Tel. The World's Movers and Shapers. New Hampshire: Ore Mountain Publishing House (2005)
2. Britannica. www.britannica.com
3. Chambers Biographical Dictionary, 19th Ed. London: Chambers Harrap, 2011
4. Dateline. Sydney: Millennium House, (2006)
5. Grun, Bernard. The Timestables of History, New 3rd Revised Ed. Simon & Schuster/Touchstone (1991)
6. Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org
(c) June 2007. Updated July 8, 2023. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment