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November 10 Dateline

Birthdays


1483 - Martin Luther, German founder of Protestant Reformation, Catholic church reformer (Luther and the Protestant Reformation, YouTube, uploaded by CrashCourse. Accessed November 10, 2015), hymn writer, and considered the "Father of Hymn-Singing" as important part of Protestant worship.  Felix Mendelssohn and J.S. Bach wrote music reflecting the  significance of music in the Reformation. Bach wrote Cantata No. 80, Ein' feste Burg, for the bicentennial of the Lutheran Church. Mendelssohn composed The Reformation Symphony intended to celebrate the 1830 Augsburg Confession, and The Lobgesang, or "Song of Praise" (Symphony No. 2), that marked the 400th anniversary in 1840 of Gutenberg's printing invention, which greatly helped the Reformation possible. (Hymn history of "A Mighty Fortress is our God", with text and music by Martin Luther. YouTube, uploaded by David Duerr. Accessed Noveember 10, 2018. Felix Mendelssohn honoured Martin Luther with his magnificent Symphony No. 5 in D Major, Op. 107, "Reformation": IV. Choral: Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott: A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. Performed by Ireland National Symphony Orchestra, Reinhard Seifried, conducting.) YouTube, uploaded by Classical Gold Music. Accessed November 10, 2021.)     

1668 - Francois Couperin, French Baroque organist, harpsichordist, and composer. He was known as Couperin le Grand ("Couperin the Great") to distinguish him from other members of the musically talented Couperin family. He acknowledged his debt to the Italian composer Corelli and introduced Corelli's trio sonata form to France. Couperin's most famous book, L'art de toucher le clavecin ("The Art of Harpsichord Playing"), contains suggestions for fingerings, touch, ornamentation and other features of keyboard technique. He influenced later future prominent composers: Couperin's four volumes of harpsichord music, published in Paris in 1713, 1717, 1722, and 1730, contain over 230 individual pieces, and he also published a book of Concerts Royaux which can be played as solo harpsichord pieces or as small chamber works. The four collections for harpsichord alone are grouped into ordres, a synonym of suites, containing traditional dances as well as pieces with descriptive titles. These volumes were admired by JS Bach, who exchanged letters with Couperin, and later by Brahms, Richard Strauss, and by Ravel, the latter of whom memorialized the composer in Le Tombeau de Couperin (Couperin's Memorial).   Many of Couperin's keyboard pieces have evocative, picturesque titles (such as "The little windmills" and "The mysterious barricades") and express a mood through key choices and adventurous harmonies.  
 
1697 - William Hogarth, FRSA, English painter, printmaker, pictorial satirist, social critic, and editorial cartoonist. His work ranges from realistic portraiture to comic strip-like series of pictures called "modern moral subjects". He is perhaps best known for his series A Harlot's Progress, A Rake's Progress and Marriage A-la-Mode. Knowledge of his work is so pervasive that satirical political illustrations in this style are often referred to as "Hogarthian". Influenced by French and Italian painting and engraving, his works are mostly satirical caricatures, sometimes bawdily sexual, mostly of realistic portraiture. They became popular and mass-produced via prints in his lifetime, and he was the most significant English artist of his generation. Charles Lamb deemed Hogarth's images to be books, filled with "the teeming, fruitful, suggestive meaning of words. Other pictures we look at; his pictures we read."

1759 - (Johann Christoph) Friedrich von Schiller, German poet, philosopher, physician, historian, and playwright. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller developed a productive, if complicated, friendship with the already famous and influential Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Schiller encouraged Goethe to finish works he left as sketches. This relationship and these discussions led to a period now referred to as Weimar Classicism. They also worked together on Xenien, a collection of short satirical poems in which both Schiller and Goethe challenge opponents of their philosophical vision. Famous composers set their music from Schiller's poems: Beethoven's setting of "An die Freude" (Ode to Joy) in the final movement of his Ninth Symphony, Johannes Brahms' choral setting of "Nänie" and "Des Mädchens Klage" by Franz Schubert, who set 44 of Schiller's poems as Lieder, mostly for voice and piano, also including "Die Bürgschaft". Giuseppe Verdi admired Schiller greatly and adapted several of his stage plays for his operas: I masnadieri is based on The Robbers; Giovanna d'Arco on The Maid of Orleans; Luisa Miller on Intrigue and Love; La forza del destino is based partly on Wallenstein; and Don Carlos on the play of the same title. Donizetti's Maria Stuarda is based on Mary Stuart, and Rossini's Guillaume Tell is an adaptation of William Tell. Tchaikovsky's 1881 opera The Maid of Orleans is partly based on Schiller's work. The 20th-century composer Giselher Klebe adapted The Robbers for his first opera of the same name, which premiered in 1957.

1893 - John Phillips Marquand, American writer, Pulitzer Prize winner (The Late George Apley and the Mr. Moto detective stories). Originally best known for his Mr. Moto spy stories, he achieved popular success and critical respect for his satirical novels, winning a Pulitzer Prize for The Late George Apley in 1938. One of his abiding themes was the confining nature of life in America's upper class and among those who aspired to join it. Marquand treated those whose lives were bound by these unwritten codes with a characteristic mix of respect and satire.

1925 - Richard Burton, CBE, Welsh actor. Noted for his mellifluous baritone voice, Burton established himself as a formidable Shakespearean actor in the 1950s, and giving a memorable performance of Hamlet in 1964. He was called "the natural successor to Olivier" by critic and dramaturge Kenneth Tynan. Burton was nominated for an Academy Award seven times, but never won an Oscar. He was a recipient of BAFTA, Golden Globes, and Tony Awards for Best Actor. In the mid-1960s, Burton ascended into the ranks of the top box office stars. By the late 1960s, Burton was one of the highest-paid actors in the world, receiving fees of $1 million or more plus a share of the gross receipts. He remained closely associated in the public consciousness with his second wife, actress Elizabeth Taylor.

1928 - Ennio Morricone, OMRI, Knight Grand Cross. Italian composer, orchestrator, conductor, and trumpet player, who writes music in a wide range of styles. Morricone composed over 400 scores for cinema and television, as well as over 100 classical works. His score to The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is considered one of the most influential soundtracks in history and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. His filmography includes over 70 award-winning films, all Sergio Leone's films since A Fistful of Dollars, all Giuseppe Tornatore's films since Cinema Paradiso, The Battle of Algiers, Dario Argento's Animal Trilogy, 1900, Exorcist II, Days of Heaven, several major films in French cinema, as well as The Thing, Once Upon A Time In America, The Mission, The Untouchables, Mission to Mars, Bugsy, Disclosure, In the Line of Fire, Bulworth, Ripley's Game and The Hateful Eight. (Cellist Yo-Yo Ma plays Ennio Morricone - The Mission: Gabriel's Oboe. Uploaded by MrEgon04. Accessed Nov. 10, 2017.  Ennio Morricone - Cinema Paradiso (The Original Soundtrack)(Official Audio), YouTube, accessed Nov. 10, 2018.) Ennio Morricone - Concerto Arena di Verona - 28 Settembre 2002. YouTube, uploaded by Paolo Gavi. Accessed November 10, 2022.

1944 - Sir Tim Rice, English lyricist, author and multi-awarded lyricist: Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Emmy Award, Tony Award, and Grammy Award. He is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber; Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Anderson of ABBA, and for his work with Alan Menken. He also worked with famous musicians like Elton John and Ennio Morricone. 

1949 - Ann Reinking, American dancer, actress, choreographer and singer. She worked in musical theater, starring in Broadway productions such as Coco, Over Here!, Goodtime Charley, Chicago, Dancin' and Sweet Charity. Reinking won the Tony Award for Best Choreography for her work in the 1996 revival of Chicago, which she choreographed while reprising the role of Roxie Hart. For the 2000 West End production of Fosse, she won the Olivier Award for Best Theatre Choreographer. She also appeared in the films All That Jazz, Annie, and Micki & Maude.

 
Leftie:
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More birthdays and historical events, November 10 - On This Day

 
Featured Hymn:

Martin Luther's "A Mighty Fortress is Our God."  YouTube, uploaded by Christian Praise and Worship. Accessed November 10, 2017.


Historical Events


1775 - The Continental Marines, later renamed the U.S. Marine Corps, is founded early in the War of American Independence to serve with the new Continental Navy.

1862 - Verdi's opera La forza del destino, opens in St Petersburg. This work was commissioned by the Russian Imperial Opera. Below is  Verdi's Overture of  La forza del destino, performed by Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia - Lorin Maazel, director. Palacio de la Ópera de A Coruña, May 17, 2012. Mozart Festival.



1871 - American journalist Henry Stanley is sent to Africa by his newspaper to find the lost Scottish missionary Dr. David Livingstone. This day, Stanley finds the man and famously says, "Doctor Livingstone, I presume?"

1928 - Michinomiya Hirohito is crowned the 124th Emperor of japan. He was Emperor until his death in 1989.

1970 - The Great Wall of China is opened to foreign tourists for the first time.  Its construction began under orders from the first Emperor of the Qin Dynasty, Qin Shi Huang Di, in around 220 B.C.E. and was last built in the 17th century. It is billed as the only artificial structure visible from space. Now, around 10,000 people visit the Great Wall each day. 

1995 - Massive avalanches in the Everest region of Himalayas caused by heavy snowfalls trap close to 600 people. Thirty two Nepalese and twenty four tourists are found dead.


Video Credit:

A Man Named Luther. YouTube, uploaded by Theology, Philosophy and Science.  Accessed November 11, 2016

The 95 Theses.  YouTube, uploaded by Ryan Reeves. Accessed November 11, 2016

G. Verdi: La forza del destino (obertura) - Maazel - Sinfónica de Galicia. Youtube, uploaded by SinfonicadeGalicia. Accessed November 10, 2017.

Resources:

1. Asiado, Tel. The World's Movers and Shapers. New Hampshire: Ore Mountain Publishing House (2005)
2. Chambers Biographical Dictionary, 19th Ed. London: Chambers Harrap, 2011
3. Dateline. Sydney: Millennium House, (2006)
4. Grun, Bernard. The Timetables of History, New 3rd Revised Ed. Simon & Schuster/Touchstone (1991)
5. Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org


(c) June 2007. Updated November 10, 2023. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.

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