March 10 Dateline

Birthdays

1749 - Lorenzo Da Ponte (original name Emmanuele Conegliano, Italian poet and librettist, later American opera librettist, poet and Roman Catholic priest. He is best known for his collaboration with Mozart.He wrote the libretti for 28 operas by 11 composers, including three of Mozart's most celebrated operas, Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro and Così fan tutte. (Lorenzo da Ponte. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Accessed March 10, 2019.)

1772 - Friedrich von Schlegel (born Karl Wilhelm Friedrich, after 1814: Friedrich von Schlegel), German poet, writer and philosopher. With his older brother, August Wilhelm Schlegel, he was one of the main figures of Jena Romanticism. He moved to Austria in 1809, where he became a diplomat and journalist in service of Klemens von Metternich, the Foreign Minister of the Austrian Empire.  Schlegel was a promoter of the Romantic movement and inspired Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Adam Mickiewicz and Kazimierz Brodziński.

1844 - Pablo de Sarasate, Spanish virtuoso violinist and composer, who began his volin studies at five y.o. and gave his first performance at the age of eight. He later studied at the Paris Conservatoire. In 1859 he began the concert tours that made him famous worldwide. His playing was particularly admired for sweetness and purity of tone, perfect intonation, and a flawless technique that appeared effortless. Many prominent composers, including Camille Saint-Saëns, Max Bruch, Édouard Lalo, and Antonín Dvořák, wrote pieces for him. Sarasate's most popular violin music is Zigeunerweisen (1878), a fantasy in gypsy style for violin and orchestra. (Here's young violinist Jennifer Jeon brilliantly performing Zigeunerweisen (Gypsy Airs) Opus 20, No.1 by P. Sarasate. Accessed March 10, 2012.)

1892 - Arthur Honegger (born Oscar-Arthur Honegger), French-born Swiss composer, member of the "Les Six" group of French composers. He lived a large part of his life in Paris. His most frequently performed work is probably the orchestral work Pacific 231, which was inspired by the sound of a steam locomotive. In the early 1920s, Honegger shot to fame with his "dramatic psalm" Le Roi David (King David), which is still in the choral repertoire. He composed the music for Abel Gance's epic 1927 film, Napoléon. Amongst other works, he composed nine ballets and three vocal stage works. One of those stage works, Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher, a "dramatic oratorio" (to words by Paul Claudel). In addition to his pieces written alone, he collaborated with Jacques Ibert on both an opera, L'Aiglon (1937), and an operetta. During this time period he also wrote Danse de la chèvre (1921), an essential piece of flute repertoire.   (Honegger - Pacific 231. Uploaded by logoxyz. Accessed March 10, 2020.) 

1903 - Bix Beiderbecke (Leon Bismark "Bix" Beiderbecke), American jazz cornetist, pianist, and composer. He was one of the most influential jazz soloists of the 1920s, a cornet player noted for an inventive lyrical approach and purity of tone. His solos on seminal recordings such as "Singin' the Blues" and "I'm Coming, Virginia" (both 1927) demonstrate a gift for extended improvisation that heralded the jazz ballad style, in which jazz solos are an integral part of the composition. "In a Mist" (1927) is the best known of Beiderbecke's published piano compositions, and the only one that he recorded. His piano style reflects both jazz and classical (mainly impressionist) influences. 

 
1940 - Chuck Norris (Carlos Ray "Chuck" Norris), American martial artist, actor, film producer, and screenwriter. After serving in the United States Air Force, Norris won many martial arts championships and later founded his own discipline Chun Kuk Do. Norris is a black belt in Tang Soo Do, Brazilian jiu jitsu and judo. In Hollywood, Norris trained celebrities in martial arts. Friend and fellow actor Bruce Lee invited him to play one of the main villains in Way of the Dragon. Friend and student Steve McQueen suggested to him that he take acting seriously. Norris took the starring role in the action film Breaker! Breaker! which turned a profit. His second lead Good Guys Wear Black became a hit, and Norris became a popular action film star. 

 
1958 - Sharon Vonne Stone, American actress, producer, and former fashion model. She is the recipient of a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award, as well as nominations for an Academy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Stone became a sex symbol and rose to international recognition when she starred as Catherine Tramell in another Verhoeven film, the erotic thriller Basic Instinct, for which she earned her first Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama. She received further critical acclaim with her performance in Martin Scorsese's epic crime drama Casino, garnering the Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. After modelling in television commercials and print advertisements, she made her film debut as an extra in Woody Allen's comedy-drama Stardust Memories. Her first speaking part was in Wes Craven's horror film Deadly Blessing. On television, Stone has had notable performances in the miniseries.  

 

Leftie:
Musician Bix Beiderbecke

 

More birthdays and historical events, March 10 - On This Day

 

Historical Events

49 B.C.E. - Julius Caesar and his army invade Italy by crossing the Rubicon.

1629 - Charles I of England dissolves Parliament. He does not recall it for 11 years.

1785 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is the soloist in the premiere of his C major Piano Concerto No. 21, in Vienna.  Listen to this famous Piano Concerto No. 21 in C, K.467, performed by Orchestra filarmonica della Scala, with Riccardo Muti, conductor, and Mauricio Pollini, Pianist.

1831 - The French Foreign Legion is formed, initially to suppress rebellion in Algeria. 

1876 - Alexander Graham Bell speaks on the telephone for the first time. He summons his assistant with the words, "Mr. Watson, come here. I want you."

1991 - The U.S. begins Phase Echo, the withdrawal of its 540,000 troops from the Persian Gulf at the end of the Gulf War.


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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