March 4 Dateline

Birthdays

1678 - Antonio Vivaldi, Italian Baroque composer regarded as one of the greatest. He is known as the "Red Priest," and whose best-known work is a series of violin concertos known as the Four Seasons. He composed many instrumental concertos, for the violin and a variety of other musical instruments, as well as sacred choral works and more than forty operas.

1754 - Benjamin Waterhouse, American physician, pioneer in Smallpox vaccination. He was co-founder and professor of Harvard Medical School. He is most well known for being the first doctor to test the smallpox vaccine in the United States, which he carried out on his own family.

1921 - Joan Mary Waller Greenwood, English actress. Her husky voice, coupled with her slow, precise elocution, was her trademark. She is perhaps best remembered for her role as Sibella in Kind Hearts and Coronets, and also appeared in The Man in the White Suit, The Importance of Being Earnest, Stage Struck, Tom Jones and Little Dorrit. Greenwood worked mainly on the stage, where she had a long career, appearing with Donald Wolfit's theatre company in the years following World War II. Later, after the war, her appearances in Ealing comedies are among her memorable screen appearances. In 1960, Greenwood appeared as the title character in a production of Hedda Gabler at the Oxford Playhouse.

1929 - Bernard Haitink (born Bernard Johan Herman Haitink), CH KBE, Dutch conductor. He led master classes in conducting for young conductors in Lucerne for several years. In June 2015, the European Union Youth Orchestra announced the appointment of Haitink as its conductor laureate, effective immediately. His final concerts as conductor were done with Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam, and Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. His final UK concert was at The Proms in London on 3 September 2019, his 90th Prom, with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. His last concert was in Lucerne at the KKL on 6 September 2019, with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.

1939 - Paula Prentiss, American actress best known for her film roles in Where the Boys Are, Man's Favorite Sport?, The Stepford Wives, What's New Pussycat?, In Harm's Way, The Black Marble, and The Parallax View, and the cult television series He & She.

1944 - Dame Kiri Te Kanawa (born Claire Mary Teresa Rawstron), ONZ CH DBE AC, New Zealand former opera singer. Her career included a full lyric soprano voice, which has been described as "mellow yet vibrant, warm, ample and unforced". She received accolades in many countries, singing a wide array of works in many languages dating from the 17th to the 20th centuries. She is particularly associated with the works of Mozart, Strauss, Verdi, Handel and Puccini. Though she rarely sang opera later in her career, Te Kanawa frequently performed in concert and recital, gave masterclasses, and supported young opera singers in launching their careers. (Kiri Sings Mozart. Uploaded by KiriOnLine - Kiri Te Kanawa. Recorded at St. David's Hall, Cardiff. Orchestra of the Welsh National Opera, Charles Mackerras / Conductor, Cardiff, UK, 1990. Accessed March 4, 2015. Kiri Te Kanawa - Montreal Concert 1986. KiriOnLine. Accessed March 4, 2019.)
 

Lefties:
None known

More birthdays and historical events, March 4 - On This Day

 

 

 

Historical Events

1461 - King Edward IV of England (Yorkist), usurps his cousin, King Henry VI (Lancastrian), from the English throne in the War of the Roses.

1787 - The U.S. Congress convenes for the first time forming the American constitution.

1801 - Thomas Jefferson, the first U.S. president to be inaugurated in Washington D.C., delivers his first inaugural address in the Senate Chamber of the uncompleted Capitol. 

1861 - Abraham Lincoln is sworn in as the 16th U.S. President.

1877 - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake / Le Lac de Cygnes  premieres at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Russia. (Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake / Le Lac de Cygnes, Bolshoi Ballet (Moscow, 1989. Uploaded by Ballet Seeker. Accessed March 4, 2018.) 

1945 - In Great Britain during the Second World War, Princess Elizabeth (future Queen of England, QE II), joins the British Army as a driver.

1954 - The first successful kidney transplant takes place in the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Boston.

1977 - An earthquake, with intensity of 7.5 in Richter scale strikes Bucharest, Romania, killing some 15,000 people. 

1980 - Robert Mugabe becomes the first black president of Zimbabwe, formerly Rhodesia.



Video Credit:

Four Seasons - Antonio Vivaldi.  Youtube, uploaded by AnAmericanComposer.  Accessed March 4, 2016. 



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 Timetables of History, New 3rd Revised Ed. Simon & Schuster/Touchstone (1991)
6. Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org



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