May 15 Dateline

Birthdays

1567 - Claudio Monteverdi, Italian composer, regarded as the father of modern opera. He was an Italian composer of both secular and sacred music, a pioneer in the development of opera and considered a crucial transitional figure between the Renaissance and the Baroque periods of music history. (Monteverdi: Damigella tutta bella; Voices of Music. Uploaded by Voices of Music. Accessed May 15, 2019. And here's the sublime Magnificat (Complete) by Monteverdi. Uploaded by S. Quimas. Accessed May 15, 2019.)

1759 - Maria Theresia Paradis, Austrian musician and composer who lost her sight at an early age, and for whom Mozart may have written his Piano Concerto No. 18 in B-flat major. (Sharing an all-time favourite music by Maria T. von Paradis, "Sicilienne", beautifully interpreted by Jacqueline du Pré, accompanied by Gerald Moore on the piano. Uploaded by Taskin Damirel. Accessed May 15, 2012. Maria Theresia von Paradis: Sicilienne for Flute and Harp. PPZ production presents in Best Youth European Classical program: Vita Benko, flute. Eva Tomšič, harp. YouTube, uploaded by zevnikov. Accessed May 15, 2021.) 

1890 - Katherine Anne Porter, American short-story writer and novelist, journalist, and essayist, and university professor. Her 1962 novel Ship of Fools was the best-selling novel in America that year, but her short stories received much more critical acclaim. Despite Porter's claim that after the publication of Ship of Fools (her only novel) she would not win any more prizes in America, in 1966 she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize and the U.S. National Book Award for The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter. That year she was also appointed to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

1909 - James Neville Mason, English actor. Mason is widely considered to be one of the greatest film actors of the 20th century, achieving success in British cinema before becoming one of Hollywood's biggest stars. He starred in Odd Man Out (1947), the first recipient of the BAFTA Award for Best British Film.  He starred in a number of successful British and American films from the 1950s to the early 1980s.  Mason was nominated for three Academy Awards, three Golden Globes (winning the Golden Globe in 1955 for A Star is Born) and two BAFTA Awards.

1948 - Brian Eno (born Brian Peter George Eno), English musician, record producer, visual artist, and theorist, best known for his pioneering work in ambient music and contributions to rock, pop and electronica. A self-described "non-musician", Eno has been described as one of popular music's most influential and innovative figures.

Lefties:
None known

More birthdays and historical events today, May 15 - On This Day.

 

Historical Events

1940 - Nylon stockings start its general sale in the U.S.  Nylon is the first commercially successful polymer, made entirely from the basic ingredients of coal, water, and air.

1944 - Generals Eisenhower and Montgomery, Prime Minister Churchill, and King George VI discuss Britain's D-Day plan.

1948 - The 28-year Mandate of Britain over Palestine ends.

1958 - Sputnik III, a Soviet research station, is launched to explore the upper atmosphere and near space.

1972 - Okinawa, a Japanese island under U.S. control since 1945, is returned to the Japanese Government.

1988 - The USSR starts to withdraw its 115,000 troops from Afghanistan, more than eight years after Soviet forces enter the country.


Video Credit:

 
Claudio Monteverdi's "Si Dolce e'l tormento".  YouTube, uploaded by Accademia D'Arcadia.  Accessed 15 May 2017.


Resources:

1. Asiado, Tel. The World's Movers and Shapers. New Hampshire: Ore Mountain Publishing House (2005)

2. Britannica. www.britannic.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. Tel. Updated May 15, 2023. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.