June 6 Dateline

Remembering the D-Day, 6th June

Day's Quote:  

 "The free men of the world are marching together to victory." 

General Dwight D. Eisenhower  giving the D-Day Order on June 6, 1944.

 

Birthdays

1599 - Diego Velasquez (baptised Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez), Spanish painter, the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV and of the Spanish Golden Age. He was an individualistic artist of the contemporary Baroque period. He began to paint in a precise tenebrist style, later developing a freer manner characterized by bold brushwork. He also painted scores of portraits of the Spanish royal family and commoners, culminating in his masterpiece Las Meninas. Velázquez's artwork became a model for 19th century realist and impressionist painters. In the 20th century, artists such as Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí and Francis Bacon paid tribute to Velázquez by re-interpreting some of his most iconic images.(Diego Velasquez: A Collection of 133 Paintings. YouTube, uploaded by LearnFromMasters. Accessed June 6, 2020.)

1799 - Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin, Russian poet, playwright, and novelist of the Romantic era considered by many to be the greatest Russian poet and the founder of modern Russian literature. Pushkin was born into Russian nobility in Moscow. (Alexander Pushkin, uploaded by Steven Parris Ward. Accessed June 6, 2018.)

1868 - Robert Falcon Scott, English explorer, a Royal Navy officer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the Discovery expedition of 1901–1904 and the ill-fated Terra Nova expedition of 1910–1913. On the first expedition, he set a new southern record by marching to latitude 82°S and discovered the Antarctic Plateau, on which the South Pole is located. On the second venture, Scott led a party of five which reached the South Pole on 17 January 1912, less than five weeks after Amundsen's South Pole expedition.

1869 - Siegfried Wagner (Siegfried Helferich Richard Wagner), German opera composer and conductor, the son of Richard Wagner and Cosima Liszt Wagner. He was the artistic director of the Bayreuth Festival from 1908 to 1930. It was for him that his father wrote the Siegfried Idyll. Through his mother, he was a grandson of Franz Liszt, from whom he received some instruction in harmony. Sieigfried made his conducting debut as an assistant conductor at Bayreuth in 1894. In 1896 he became associate conductor, sharing responsibility for conducting the Ring Cycle with Felix Mottl and Hans Richter, who had conducted its premiere 20 years earlier. In 1908 he took over as Artistic Director of the Bayreuth Festival in succession to his mother, Cosima.

1875 - Paul Thomas Mann, German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate for his novel The Magic Mountain. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas are noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual. His analysis and critique of the European and German soul used modernized versions of German and Biblical stories, as well as the ideas of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich Nietzsche and Arthur Schopenhauer. (Thomas Mann: His Life and Documentry. Uploaded by zecxixo. Accessed June 6, 2018. His novella Death in Venice (originally titled Der Tod in Venedig) was made into a 1971 film. The soundtrack made use of Mahler's compositions, particularly the "Adagietto" 4th movement from the 5th Symphony.)

1903 - Aram Khachaturian, Soviet Armenian composer and conductor. He is considered one of the leading Soviet composers. His first major work, the Piano Concerto, popularized his name within and outside the Soviet Union. It was followed by the Violin Concerto and the Cello Concerto. His other significant compositions include the Masquerade Suite, the Anthem of the Armenian SSR, three symphonies (1935, 1943, 1947), and around 25 film scores. Khachaturian is best known for his ballet music—Gayane (1942) and Spartacus (1954). His most popular piece, the "Sabre Dance" from Gayane, and has been covered by a number of musicians worldwide. (Khachaturian: Sabre Dance / Rattle · Berliner Philharmoniker. Accessed June 6, 2020.)

1909 - Sir Isaiah Berlin, OM CBE FBA, Latvian-born British social and political theorist, philosopher and historian of ideas. Although he became increasingly averse to writing for publication, his improvised lectures and talks were sometimes recorded and transcribed, and many of his spoken words were converted into published essays and books, both by himself and by others, especially his principal editor from 1974, Henry Hardy. (6 The Roots of Romanticism - Lasting Effects (Isaiah Berlin - 1965. YouTube, uploaded by Philosophy Overdose. Accessed June 6, 2020.)

1956 - Björn Rune Borg, Sedish Tennis Player, a former world No. 1 tennis player. Between 1974 and 1981 he became the first man in the Open Era to win 11 Grand Slam singles titles (six at the French Open and five consecutive at Wimbledon), although he was never able to win the US Open in four finals appearances. He is the first male player to win five Wimbledon titles in the Open Era. He won four consecutive French Open (1978–81) and is 6–0 in French Open finals.

Lefties:
None known

 

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

 

Feature:
Armenian composer Aram Khatchaturian's famous "Sabre Dance" from his ballet Gayaneh. Sir Simon Rattle conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. (YouTube, uploaded by Berliner Philharmoniker. Accessed 6 June 2018.)  Also, for others interested, here's a link to Khatchaturian's famous "Masquerade Suite" (waltz), with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Stanley Black.
 

Historical Events

1844 - The Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) is founded in St. Paul's churchyard in London.    

1925 - Walter Percy Chrysler founds the Chrysler Corporation, to become one of the most famous automobile manufacturers in the U.S.

1944 - The D-D arrives. The Battle of Normandy begins. Operation Overload sees thousands upon thousands of Allied troops land on the beaches of Normandy in France. It is the largest amphibious mission in military history.   Link:  D-Day 70th Anniversary Celebration

1982 - The 1982 Lebanon War begins. Ariel Sharon, the Israeli Defense Minister, is the prime instigator of the Southern Lebanon's invasion, to quash the Palestine Liberation Organizations's activities and also stop Syria's intrusion into the Lebanese civil war.         

2002 - Explosion of a small Earth-bound asteroid with near-nuclear force over the Mediterranean Sea. The fireball causes a riot of UFO reports.


D-Day Links:

72nd D-D Anniversary in Normandy.  Accessed June 6, 2016.

D-Day Festival Normandy 2016.  Accessed June 6, 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 and Schuster/Touchstone (1991)
6. Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org

 

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