November 15 Dateline

Birthdays

1511 - Johannes Secundus (also Janus Secundus), Dutch New Latin poet. In 1533 he went to join his other brother Grudius at the Spanish court of Charles V. There he spent two years as secretary to the Archbishop of Toledo. He returned to Mechlin because of illness. Secundus was a prolific writer, producing several books of elegies on his lovers Julia and Neaera, epigrams, odes, verse epistles and epithalamia, as well as some prose writings (epistles and itineraria). His most famous work was the Liber Basiorum (Book of Kisses, first complete edition 1541), a short collection consisting of 19 poems, in which the poet explores the theme of the kiss in relation to his Spanish lover, Neaera. The 'Basia' are really extended imitations of Catullus (in particular poems 5 and 7) and some poems from the Anthologia Graeca.

 
1738 - Sir Frederick William Herschel, German-born British astronomer, composer and brother of fellow astronomer Caroline Herschel. Herschel followed his father into the Military Band of Hanover, before migrating to Great Britain at the age of 19. He constructed his first large telescope in 1774, after which he spent 9 years carrying out sky surveys to investigate double stars. Hepublished catalogues of nebulae in 1802 (2,500 objects) and in 1820 (5,000 objects). The resolving power of the Herschel telescopes revealed that many objects called nebulae in the Messier catalogue were actually clusters of stars. Herschel pioneered the use of astronomical spectrophotometry. He also discovered infrared radiation. Other work included an improved determination of the rotation period of Mars, the discovery that the Martian polar caps vary seasonally, the discovery of Titania and Oberon (moons of Uranus) and Enceladus and Mimas (moons of Saturn). Herschel was made a Knight of the Royal Guelphic Order in 1816. He was the first President of the Royal Astronomical Society. His work was continued by his only son, John Herschel.

 
1887 - Georgia O'Keeffe, American artist. She was known for her paintings of enlarged flowers, New York skyscrapers, and New Mexico landscapes. She has been recognized as the "Mother of American modernism". Alfred Stieglitz, an art dealer and photographer, requested her to move to New York which she did 1918. They developed a professional and a personal relationship that led to their marriage in 1924. O'Keeffe created many forms of abstract art, including close-ups of flowers, such as the Red Canna paintings, that many found to represent female genitalia, although O'Keeffe consistently denied that intention. The imputation of the depiction of women's sexuality was also fueled by explicit and sensuous photographs that Stieglitz had taken and exhibited of O'Keeffe. In later years, O'Keeffe began spending part of the year in the Southwest, which served as inspiration for her paintings of New Mexico landscapes and images of animal skulls. 

1905 - Annunzio Paolo Mantovani, known mononymously as Mantovani, was an Anglo-Italian Conductor, Composer of light music and light orchestra-styled Entertainer with a cascading strings musical signature. The book British Hit Singles Albums states that he was "Britain's most successful album act before the Beatles...the first act to sell over one million stereo albums and six albums simultaneously in the US Top 30 in 1959". (Mantovani & his Orchestra. Very Best of Mantovani Album Pre-Listen (Official). Uploaded by ToCo Int'l Official Channel. Accessed November 15, 2018. Mantovani Golden Hits 1967. Uploaded by Green Blue. Accessed November 15, 2019.)

1914 - Jorge Bolet, Cuban-American virtuoso pianist and teacher. Among his teachers were Leopold Godowsky, and Moriz Rosenthal, the latter an outstanding pupil of Franz Liszt. Bolet provided the piano soundtrack for the 1960 biopic, Song Without End, which starred Dirk Bogarde as the legendary 19th-century piano virtuoso, Franz Liszt. (The film won the Academy Award for Best Music score.)  In 1974 he came to national prominence, with a stupendous recital in Carnegie Hall. Bolet was Professor of Music (piano) at Indiana University. In 1977 he became Head of Piano at the Curtis Institute, succeeding Rudolf Serkin, but he resigned to concentrate on his performing career. The Decca/London record company put him under contract in 1978, giving the 64-year-old Bolet his first systematic exposure internationally. 

 

1931 - John Grinham Kerr, American actor and attorney. He began his professional career on Broadway, earning critical acclaim for his performances in Mary Coyle Chase's Bernardine and Robert Anderson's Tea and Sympathy. He reprised his role in the film version of Tea and Sympathy, which won him a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer, and portrayed Joseph Cable in the Rodgers and Hammerstein movie musical South Pacific. He subsequently appeared in number of television series, including a starring role on the primetime soap opera Peyton Place. In the 1970s, he moved away from acting to become a lawyer, making a few small cameos in Canadian-produced films like The Silent Partner and The Amateur. He operated a legal practice in Beverly Hills until 2000, when he retired from the profession. (John Kerr sings "You've Got to be Carefully Taught" - South Pacific (1958), YouTube, Rodgers & Hammerstein. Accessed November 15, 2019.)

 
1932 - Petula Clark, CBE (born Sally Olwen Clark), British singer, actress and composer whose career spans eight decades. Clark's professional career began as an entertainer during World War II on BBC Radio. During the 1950s she started recording in French and having international success in both French and English. During the 1960s, she became known globally for her popular upbeat hits, including "Downtown", "I Know a Place", "My Love", "A Sign of the Times", "I Couldn't Live Without Your Love", "Colour My World", "This Is My Song," "Kiss Me Goodbye," and "Don't Sleep in the Subway", and she was dubbed "the First Lady of the British Invasion". She has sold more than 68 million records. (Petula Clark - This is My Song / C'est ma chanson (1967), words & music by Charles Chaplin. Uploaded by ClassicPerformances2. Accessed November 15, 2017.)

1932 - J.G. Ballard, English novelist, short-story writer, satirist, and essayist who first became associated with the New Wave of science fiction for his post-apocalyptic novels such as The Drowned World. He produced a variety of experimental short stories (or "condensed novels"), such as those collected in the controversial The Atrocity Exhibition. While much of Ballard's fiction would prove thematically and stylistically provocative, he became best known for his relatively conventional war novel, Empire of the Sun, a semi-autobiographical account of a young British boy's experiences in Shanghai during Japanese occupation. The story was adapted into a film by Steven Spielberg. In the following decades until his death, Ballard's work shifted toward the form of the traditional crime novel. The literary distinctiveness of Ballard's fiction gave rise to the adjective "Ballardian".

 

1942 - Daniel Barenboim, KBE, citizen of Argentina, Israel, Palestine, and Spain, pianist and conductor. As general music director of the Berlin State Opera and the Staatskapelle Berlin, Barenboim previously served as Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris and La Scala in Milan. Barenboim is known for his work with the West–Eastern Divan Orchestra, a Seville-based orchestra of young Arab and Israeli musicians, and as a resolute critic of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. His awards and prizes include seven Grammy awards, an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire, France's Légion d'honneur both as a Commander and Grand Officier, and the German Großes Bundesverdienstkreuz mit Stern und Schulterband. Barenboim is a polyglot, fluent in Spanish, Hebrew, English, French, Italian, and German.

Lefties:

None known

More birthdays and historical events, November 15 - On This Day

Historical Events

1684 - King Louis XIV of France opens the Galerie des Glaces (Hall of Mirrors) in the Palace of Versailles. In this room the German empire was proclaimed on January 18, 1871, and the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919.

1832 - Felix Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 5 in D minor, Op.107, "Reformation," is first performed in Berlin.

 

 
1920 - The first assembly of the League of Nations is held in Geneva, which is chosen due to Switzerland's neutrality.

1927 - Jerome Kern's musical Show Boat (lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II) opens in Washington, making theatrical history for this music genre.  "Ol' Man River" (music by Jerome Kern, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II) is a show tune from the 1927 musical Show Boat that contrasts the struggles and hardships of African Americans with the endless, uncaring flow of the Mississippi River.




1985 - The Anglo-Irish Agreement is signed by Margaret Thatcher and Irish leader Garret Fitzgerald. This allows the Irish Republic to be involved in peace negotiations in Northern Ireland.

1996 - The Stone of Scone or "Stone of Destiny" is returned to Scotland, having been taken from them by Edward I in the 13th century. A vital part of the coronation of Scottish kings, Robert the Bruce had to be crowned without it.


Video Credit:

 
Mendelssohn: 5. Sinfonie (»Reformations-Sinfonie«) ∙ hr-Sinfonieorchester ∙ Jérémie Rhorer.  YouTube, uploaded by hr-Sinfonieorchester - Frankfurt Radio Symphony.  Accessed November 15, 2016.

Ol' Man River (Show Boat, 1936), Paul Robeson.  YouTube, uploaded by The QuirkyCharacter.  Accessed November 15, 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


(c) June 2007. Updated November 15, 2023. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.