April 8 Dateline

Birthdays

1605 - King Philip IV of Spain, King of Spain from 1621 to his death and (as Philip III) King of Portugal from 1621 to 1640. Philip is remembered for his patronage of the arts, including such artists as Diego Velázquez, and his rule over Spain during the Thirty Years' War. By the time of his death, the Spanish Empire had reached approximately 12.2 million square kilometers (4.7 million square miles) in area but in other aspects was in decline, a process to which Philip contributed with his inability to achieve successful domestic and military reform.

1692 - Giuseppe Tartini, Italian violin virtuoso, composer and theorist who helped establish the modern style of violin bowing and formulated principles of musical ornamentation and harmony. (Tartini's famous Violin Sonata in G minor, "Devil's Trill Sonata" Uploaded by La Stravaganze. Accessed April 8, 2014.)

1859 - Edmund Gustav Albrecht Husserl, German philosopher who established the school of phenomenology. He elaborated critiques of historicism and of psychologism in logic based on analyses of intentionality. Arguing that transcendental consciousness sets the limits of all possible knowledge, Husserl redefined phenomenology as a transcendental-idealist philosophy arguing that transcendental consciousness sets the limits of all possible knowledge. His thought profoundly influenced 20th-century philosophy, and he remains a notable figure in contemporary philosophy.

1902 - Josef Alois Krips, Austrian conductor and violinist. He was the first to conduct the Vienna Philharmonic and the Salzburg Festival in the postwar period. Krips helped restore the Vienna State Opera and Vienna Philharmonic to their prewar levels. From 1950 to 1954, Krips was principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra then led the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. He made his Covent Garden debut in 1947 and his Metropolitan Opera in 1966. He made his first appearance with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at the 1968 Berkshire Festival. In 1970, he became conductor of the Deutsche Oper in Berlin. Between 1970 and 1973, he was the principal conductor of the Vienna Symphony. Mozart - Complete Symphonies 21-40,41 Jupiter, Paris, Prague + Presentat°  (Cent. rec. : Josef Krips. YouTube, uploaded by Classical Music//Reference Recording. Accessed April 8, 2018.)

1911 - Melvin Ellis Calvin, American biochemist known for discovering the Calvin cycle along with Andrew Benson and James Bassham, for which he was awarded the 1961 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He spent most of his five-decade career at the University of California, Berkeley.

1918 - Betty Ford, (Elizabeth Anne Ford (née Bloomer; formerly Warren), First Lady of the United States from 1974 to 1977 as the wife of President Gerald Ford. She was active in social policy and set a precedent as a politically active presidential spouse. She also served as the Second Lady of the U.S. from 1973 to 1974. Throughout her husband's term in office, she maintained high approval ratings despite opposition from some conservative Republicans who objected to her more moderate and liberal positions on social issues. In addition, she was a passionate supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). 

1929 - Jacques Romain Georges Brel,  Belgian singer, songwriter, actor and director who composed and performed literate, thoughtful, and theatrical songs that generated a large, devoted following—initially in Belgium and France, later throughout the world. He is considered a master of the modern chanson. two of his most popular songs include "Quand on n'a que l'amour" and "Ne me quitte pas". Here are links to his famous song "Ne me quitte pas". (Jacques Brel - Ne Me Quitte Pas. YouTube, uploaded by merkulka. Ne me quitte pas Jacques Brel with French and English subtitles mp4. Uploaded by Renata Borovac. Accessed April 8, 2020. Shirley Bassey sings "If You Go Away". Uploaded by kidm2m. Accessed April 8, 2021.) 

 

1955 - Barbara Kingsolver, American novelist, essayist and poet. She earned degrees in biology and worked a freelance writer before she began writing novels. Her widely known works include The Poisonwood Bible, the tale of a missionary family in the Congo. Her work often focuses on topics such as social justice, biodiversity and the interaction between humans and their communities and environments. Each of her books published since 1993 has been on the New York Times Best Seller list. Kingsolver has received numerous awards, including UK's Orange Prize for Fiction 2010, for The Lacuna, and the National Humanities Medal. She has been nominated for the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Pulitzer Prize. In 2000, Kingsolver established the Bellwether Prize to support "literature of social change".

1963 - Julian Lennon (born John Charles Julian Lennon), English singer, musician, photographer and philanthropist. He is the founder of the White Feather Foundation.  He is the son of The Beatles member John Lennon and his first wife, Cynthia, and was the direct inspiration for three Beatles' songs: "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", "Hey Jude", and "Good Night". His parents divorced in 1968. He has produced a number of albums, beginning with Valotte. He has also held exhibitions of his photography. In 2006, Lennon produced the environmental documentary film Whale Dreamers. He worked on the documentary film Women of the White Buffalo, as one of the executive producers.

1968 - Patricia Arquette,  American actress. She has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards. She made her feature film debut as Kristen Parker in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987). Other notable films followed. On TV, she played the character Allison DuBois in the supernatural drama series Medium (2005–2011). She won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 2005, from two nominations she received for the role, in addition to three Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations.

Lefties:
None known
 

More birthdays and historical events today, 8 April - On This Day.

 

Historical Events

1341 - Petrarch is crowned poet laureate on the steps of the Capitol of Rome.

1820 - The Venus de Milo is discovered on Melos, an Aegean island. Aphrodite of Milos (Greek, Aphroditē tēs Mēlou), better known as the Venus de Milo, is an ancient Greek statue, one of the most famous Greek sculture works. It was created some time between 130 and 100 BC, believed to depict Aphrodite, which is Venus to the Romans, the Greek goddess of love and beauty. The statue is a marble sculpture, slightly larger than life size at 203 cm (6 ft 8 in) high, with arms and original plinth lost. From an inscription that was on its plinth, the work is thought to be of Alexandros of Antioch, earlier mistakenly attributed to sculptor Praxiteles. Venus de Milo is on permanent display at the Louvre Museum in Paris.

1876 - Amilcare Ponchielli's opera La Gioconda (includes the famous "Dance of the Hours") is first performed in Milan. The opera is in four acts by Amilcare Ponchielli set to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Angelo, Tyrant of Padua, a play in prose by Victor Hugo, dating from 1835. A synopsis can be found in Wiki - here.  Watch the video and enjoy the music! Sorry, there are no English sub-titles.  (Orchestra-Choir-Ballet Ensemble, Ente autonomo regionale, Teatro Massino "V. Bellini", Catania, conducted by Donato Renzetti.)

 

 
1945 - Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran pastor, is hanged for allegedly plotting against the Nazi dictatorship in Germany.

1953 - Jomo Kenyatta is sentenced to seven years hard labour for his alleged involvement with the rebel Mau Mau movement in Kenya, a nationalist society who wanted to get rid of European settlers out of Africa. He eventually became the first Prime Minister of Kenya in 1963.

1975 - Beverly Sills makes her Metropolitan Opera debut in Rossini's Siege of Corinth.

1986 - Actor Clint Eastwood becomes Mayor of Carmel, California.


Video Credit:

 
La Gioconda - Ponchielli. YouTube, uploaded by Pierrot Boccanegra. Accessed April 8, 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 8, 2023. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.