April 23 Dateline

Birthdays

1564 - William Shakespeare, English poet, playwright and actor (It's always a challenge to verify facts about him, but it is believed that on this day, Shakespeare was born, and baptised on the 26th. He died in Stratford on the same day, April 23, in 1616.  He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language, and world's pre-eminent dramatist.)  W. Shakespeare - Poet

1775 - J.M.W Turner RA (Joseph Mallord William Turner), English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colourisations, imaginative landscapes and turbulent, often violent marine paintings. He left behind more than 550 oil paintings, 2,000 watercolours, and 30,000 works on paper. He was championed by the leading English art critic John Ruskin from 1840. Turner is regarded as having elevated landscape painting to an eminence rivalling history painting. (To the tune of Carl Orff's famous Carmina Burana, are images to William Turner's paintings. Uploaded by Beatriz. Accessed April 23, 2015.)  

1857 - Ruggero (or Ruggiero) Leoncavallo, Italian opera composer (Famous for his opera I Pagliacci) and librettist. Although he produced numerous operas and other songs throughout his career it is Pagliacci (1892) that remains his lasting contribution. It continues to be one of the most popular works in the repertory, appearing as number 20 on the Operabase list of the most-performed operas worldwide in the 2013/14 season. His other well-known works include the song "Mattinata", popularized by Enrico Caruso.

1891 - Sergei Prokofiev, Russian Soviet composer, pianist, conductor, Russian Soviet composer, pianist and conductor. Acknowledged creator of masterpieces across numerous musical genres, he is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century. His works include widely heard pieces as the March from The Love for Three Oranges, the suite Lieutenant Kijé, the ballet Romeo and Juliet—from which "Dance of the Knights" is taken—and the famous Peter and the Wolf. Of the established forms and genres in which he worked, he created seven completed operas, seven symphonies, eight ballets, five piano concertos, two violin concertos, a cello concerto, a symphony-concerto for cello and orchestra, and nine completed piano sonatas. (Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 2, Op.16, performed by Evgeny Kissin, with Philharmonia Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy conducting. Uploaded by The Best of Music. Accessed April 23, 2018.) 

1921 - Janet Blair (born Martha Janet Lafferty), American big-band singer who later became a popular film, stage and television actress. She made a string of successful pictures, although she is today best remembered for playing Rosalind Russell's sister in My Sister Eileen (1942)^[5] and Rita Hayworth's best friend in Tonight and Every Night (1945). In the 1947 film The Fabulous Dorseys, Blair returned to her musical roots, portraying a singer. In 1950, Blair took the lead role of Nellie Forbush in the U.S touring production of the stage musical South Pacific, making more than 1,200 performances in three years.
 

1928 - Shirley Temple Black, American child actress, dancer, singer, businesswoman, and diplomat who was Hollywood's number one box-office draw as a child actress from 1935 to 1938. As an adult, she was named United States ambassador to Ghana and to Czechoslovakia, and also served as Chief of Protocol of the United States. Temple was the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the Kennedy Center Honors and a Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award. She is 18th on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest female American screen legends of Classic Hollywood cinema. 

1936 - Roy Kelton Orbison, American singer, songwriter, and musician known for his impassioned singing style, complex song structures, and dark, emotional ballads. He was known for his shyness and stage fright, which he countered by wearing dark sunglasses. Orbison's honors include inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987, the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1989, and the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2014. He received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and five other Grammy Awards. Rolling Stone placed him at number 37 on its list of the "Greatest Artists of All Time" and number 13 on its list of the "100 Greatest Singers of All Time". 

 
1939 - Lee Majors, (born Harvey Lee Yeary), American actor. Majors is best known for portraying the characters of Heath Barkley in the American television Western series The Big Valley, Colonel Steve Austin in the American television science fiction action series The Six Million Dollar Man, and Colt Seavers in American television action series The Fall Guy.

1955 - Judy Davis, Australian actress known for her work in film, television, and theatre. She is commended for her versatility and is regarded as one of the finest actresses of her generation. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including eight Australian Film Institute Awards, three Primetime Emmy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards and two Golden Globe Awards, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards. For her work on television, Davis won Primetime Emmy Awards for Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story, for playing Judy Garland in Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows and The Starter Wife and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film for Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows and One Against the Wind.


Leftie:
Composer Sergei Prokofiev

 

More birthdays and historical events today, 23 April - On This Day.

 

Feature:

Enjoy a video of S. Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 1, featuring Martha Argerich with Alexandre Ravinovitch conducting. Filmed at the La Roque d'Anthéron festival on July 29th, 2005. (Two other Prokofiev works you might want to listen to: "Classical Symphony" and his famous symphonic fairy tale "Peter and the Wolf.") 

Historical Events

1533 - The Archbishop of Canterbury annuls the marriage of Catherine of Aragon and King Henry VIII. First, he had to pass a law repudiating jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Church over England.

1775 - Wolfgang A. Mozart's opera  Il re pastore (The Shepherd King), K. 208, premieres in Salzburg. He wrote it to an Italian libretto by Metastasio, edited by Giambattista Varesco. It was based on Aminta by Torquato Tasso. Mozart was 19 years old. (Annette Dasch - Mozart - Il Re Pastore, uploaded by ilrepastore2006. Accessed April 23, 2007.)

1942 - Germans begin the Baedeker Raids on England during World War II, beginning with a bomb strike over Exeter in retaliation for the British raid on Lubeck.

1968 - Britain starts using decimal currency, with the introduction of the 5p and 10p coin.

1975 - U.S. President Gerald Ford announces that the Vietnam War is over.

1984 - Scientists discover the HTLV-3 virus, which is thought to cause AIDS. In 1987, its name is changed to HIV.

2003 - Beijing in China closes all schools for two weeks due to a SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) virus scare.


Video Credit:

Prokofiev, Piano Concerto No 1, Martha Argerich and Alexandre Rabinovitch COMPLETE. YouTube, uploaded by mmoyman. Accessed April 23, 2017.



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 April 23, 2023.  Tel. Inspired Pen Web.All rights reserved.