May 6 Dateline

Birthdays

1714 - Anton Raaff, German singer, a friend of Mozart. Whilst in Mannheim in 1777 he was introduced to then young composer Wolfgang A Mozart, who reset the aria “Se al labbro mio non credi” for him. Raaff was so pleased with the aria that he arranged for Mozart to be given an opera commission by Karl Theodor. The result was Idomeneo, first performed in 1781 in Munich with Raaff in the title role. He sang the title role in the premiere of Mozart's 1781 Idomeneo; this was his last stage role. He spent his remaining years teaching. (Peter Schreier - Mozart's "Fuor del mar" from Idomeneo, the great bravura aria originally written for tenor Anton Raaff. Shreier is a German tenor in opera, concert and lied, regarded as one of the leading lyric tenors of the 20th century. YouTube, uploaded by forallyouknow. Accessed May 6, 2021.)

1856 - Sigmund Freud, Austrian psychoanalyst, neurologist and the founder of Psychoanalysis, a clinical method for treating psychopathology through dialogue between a patient and a psychoanalyst. Freud was born to Galician Jewish parents in the Moravian town of Freiberg, in the Austrian Empire. (Sigmund Freud: Father of Psychoanalysis. YouTube, uploaded by Biographies. Accessed May 6, 2020. Psychotherapy - Sigmund Freud, uploaded by The School of Life. Accessed May 6, 2015.)

1861 - Rabindranath Tagore, FRAS, Indian author and poet, 1913 Nobel Laureate in Literature, also known by his sobriquets Gurudev, Kabiguru, and Biswakabi, was a Bengali polymath, poet, musician, and artist from the Indian subcontinent. He reshaped Bengali literature and music, as well as Indian art with Contextual Modernism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. (Tribute to Tagore. Uploaded by TagoreCovers. Accessed May 6, 2018.)

1883 - Jose Ortega y Gasset, Spanish philosopher and essayist. He worked during the first half of the 20th century, while Spain oscillated between monarchy, republicanism, and dictatorship. His philosophy has been characterized as a "philosophy of life" that "comprised a long-hidden beginning in a pragmatist metaphysics inspired by William James, and with a general method from a realist phenomenology imitating Edmund Husserl, which served both his proto-existentialism (prior to Martin Heidegger's) and his realist historicism, which has been compared to both Wilhelm Dilthey and Benedetto Croce."

1895 - Rudolph Valentino (Rodolfo Alfonso Raffaello Pierre Filiberto Guglielmi di Valentina d'Antonguella), Italian actor based in the United States who starred in several well-known silent films including The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, The Sheik, Blood and Sand, The Eagle, and The Son of the Sheik. He was a sex symbol of the 1920s, who was known in Hollywood as the Latin Lover (a title invented for him by Hollywood moguls), The Great Lover, or simply Valentino. His premature death at the age of 31 caused mass hysteria among his fans and further propelled his status as a cultural film icon.

1915 - George Orson Welles, American actor, writer, film director and producer best remembered for his innovative work in radio, theatre and film. He is considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. His first film was Citizen Kane, which is consistently ranked as one of the greatest films ever made, and which he co-wrote, produced, directed and starred in as Charles Foster Kane. Welles released twelve other features, the most acclaimed of which include The Magnificent Ambersons, The Lady from Shanghai, Touch of Evil and The Trial among others. His distinctive directorial style uses of lighting such as chiaroscuro, unusual camera angles, sound techniques borrowed from radio, deep focus shots and long takes. He and John Houseman founded the Mercury Theatre, an independent repertory theatre company that presented a series of productions on Broadway, including Caesar, a Broadway adaptation of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.

1953 - Tony Blair (Anthony Charles Lynton Blair), British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. After his resignation, he was appointed Special Envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East, an office which he held until 2015. He currently serves as the executive chairman of the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, established in 2016. As Labour Leader, Blair advocated the "Third Way." Blair's governments enacted constitutional reforms, removing most hereditary peers from the House of Lords, while also establishing the UK's Supreme Court and reforming the office of Lord Chancellor (thereby separating judicial powers from the legislative and executive branches).

 
1961 - George Timothy Clooney, American actor, film director, producer, screenwriter and philanthropist. He is the recipient of three Golden Globe Awards and two Academy Awards, one for acting in Syriana and the other for co-producing Argo. In 2018, he was the recipient of the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2001, Clooney's fame widened with the release of his biggest commercial success, Soderbergh's heist comedy remake Ocean's Eleven, the first of what became a trilogy, starring himself. He made his directorial debut a year later with the biographical spy comedy Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, and has since directed various films. Clooney subsequently earned Best Actor nominations for the legal thriller Michael Clayton, and the comedy-dramas Up in the Air and The Descendants. He has been nominated for Academy Awards in six different categories, a record he shares with Walt Disney and Alfonso Cuarón, and with Brad Pitt is one of only two actors to have won both the Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor and Best Picture. Clooney was included on Time's annual Time 100 list, which identifies the most influential people in the world, every year from 2006 to 2009.

1965 - Nathalie Stutzmann,  French Operatic Contralto and Conductor. As a singer, she specialises in Lieder, mélodies and baroque music. Stutzmann is the first female conductor to be named music director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. (Haendel - Ombra Mai Fu, with Orfeo 55).  As a conductor, she conducted Mozart Requiem in D minor, among others, and directed Orfeo 55, the chamber orchestra she founded. (A favourite for meditation is JS Bach's "Erbarme Dich" performed by N. Stutzmann (conductor-contralto), with Satomi Watanabe (violinist), and Orfeo 55. Dvořák - Cello Concerto / Nathalie Stutzmann and Antonio Meneses. Nathalie Stutzmann About Herself.  Accessed May 6, 2020.)

Leftie: 
None known

More birthdays and historical events today, May 6 - On This Day.

 

Historical Events

1889 - The Eiffel Tower is officially opened that marks the start of the Exposition Universelle. Originally intended to stand for only 20 years, its rise to iconic status has ensured its future.  

1914 - The British House of Lords rejects women's suffrage.

1937 - The Hindenburg, a German zeppelin airship LZ 129, crashes on arrival at Lakehurst, New Jersey, US. Of 97 crew and passengers, 35 died, and a member of the ground crew. 

1981 - Maya Ying Lin's design for the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial, popularly known as The Wall of D.C., is chosen from a total of 1,421 entries. Lin, aged 21 then, had originally designed the memorial as a student project.

1994 - Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and French President Francois Mitterand formally open the 31-mile (50-km) long Channel Tunnel between their countries.  The tunnel is only exceeded by Japan's Seikan Tunnel.

2001 - Pope John Paul II prays in the Great Umayyad Mosque in Syria, the first time a pontiff ever visits and prays in a Muslim mosque.  

2023 - The coronation of Charles III and his wife, Camilla, as king and queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms is to take place on 6 May 2023, at Westminster Abbey. Charles acceded to the throne on 8 September 2022, upon the death of his mother, Elizabeth II. The service will include Charles being anointed, symbolising his spiritual entry into kingship, and then his crowning and enthronement, representing his assumption of temporal powers and responsibilities.


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. Coronation of Charles III and Camilla.  en.wikipedia.org. Accessed May a6,a 2023.
4. Dateline. Sydney: Millennium House, (2006)
5. Grun, Bernard. The Timestables of History, New 3rd Revised Ed. Simon and Schuster/Touchstone (1991)
6. Wikipedia.en.wikipedia.org

 

(c) June 2007. Updated May 6, 2023. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.