November 1 Dateline

Birthdays

All Saints Day or All Hallows Day

0846 A.D. - King Louis II of France, Louis II, known as Louis the Stammerer, king of Aquitaine and later the king of West Francia. He was the eldest son of Emperor Charles the Bald and Ermentrude of Orléans. Louis the Stammerer was physically weak and outlived his father by a year and a half. He succeeded his younger brother Charles the Child as the ruler of Aquitaine in 866 and his father in West Francia in 877, but he was never crowned emperor. 

1844 -  Olga Wisinger-Florian, Austrian Impressionist painter, who painted mainly of landscapes and flower still life. She was a representative of the Austrian "Stimmungsimpressionismus", a loose group of Austrian impressionist painters that was considered avant-garde in the 1870s and 1880s. The work she showed at the Paris and Chicago international exhibitions earned her worldwide acclaim. She exhibited her work at the Palace of Fine Arts and The Woman's Building at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois. She was also active in the middle-class women's movements of the time, was awarded numerous distinctions and prizes. Wisinger-Florian's early paintings can be assigned to what is known as Austrian Mood Impressionism. In her landscape paintings she adopted her teacher Schindler's sublime approach to nature, displayed in the motifs she used, such as views of tree-lined avenues, gardens and fields, before she went her own way. Her conception of landscapes became more realistic. Her late work is notable for a lurid palette, with discernible overtones of Expressionism. With landscape and flower pictures that were already Expressionist in palette by the 1890s, she was years ahead of her time. Despite her late start as a painter, Wisinger-Florian enjoyed renown in fin de siècle Vienna. (Olga Wiisinger-Florian Paintings, with Wolfgang Mozart's Concerto No. 5. Uploaded by fanfanchatblanc. Accessed November 1, 2017.)

1923 - Victoria de los Angeles, Spanish operatic lyric soprano and recitalist whose career began after the Second World War and reached its height in the years from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s. She was ranked number 3, after Maria Callas and Dame Joan Sutherland, in the BBC Music Magazine 's List of The Top Twenty Sopranos of All Time (2007).  (Victoria de los Angeles: rare and fabulous concert in 1957. YouTube, uploaded by Opera Nostalgia. Accessed November 1, 2019.)

1935 - Gary Player, DMS, OIG, South African retired professional golfer who is widely considered to be one of the greatest golfers ever. Player won nine major championships on the regular tour and nine major championships on the Champions Tour. At the age of 29, Player won the 1965 U.S. Open and became the only non-American to win all four majors in a career, known as the career Grand Slam. At the time, he was the youngest player to do this, though Jack Nicklaus (26) and Tiger Woods (24) subsequently broke this record. Player became only the third golfer in history to win the Career Grand Slam, following Ben Hogan and Gene Sarazen, and only Nicklaus and Woods have performed the feat since. He won over 150 professional tournaments on six continents over seven decades and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974.

1972 - Toni Colette (Toni Collette-Galafassi, born Toni Collett), Australian actress, producer, and singer-songwriter, known for her work in independent films as well as supporting roles in studio films. After making her feature film debut in Spotswood for which she was nominated for the AACTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, her breakthrough role came in the comedy-drama Muriel's Wedding, for which she earned a Golden Globe Award nomination and won the AACTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Collette achieved greater international recognition for her role in the horror film The Sixth Sense, for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Leftie:
King Louis of France (or Louis the Stammerer)

 

 

More birthdays and historical events, November 1 - On This Day

 

Historical Events

1512 - Michelangelo begins to paint the 5,000 square foot (1,520 sq m) ceiling of the Vatican's Sistine Chapel in July 1508. He finished it on October 31, removed the scaffolding, and the completed ceiling becomes visible to the public.

1884 - Greenwich Mean Time is adopted as the universal 0-degree longitude line, or International Date Line, at a meeting  of the International Meridian Conference in Washington D.C.

October 31 Dateline

 

Birthdays

1760 - Katsushika Hokusai, Japanese artist, ukiyo-e painter and printmaker of the Edo period. Born in Edo, Hokusai is best known as author of the woodblock print series 'Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji' which includes the internationally iconic print, The Great Wave off Kanagawa. (Katsushika Hokusai: A Collection of 1145 Works (HD). Uploaded by LearnFromMasters. Accessed October 31, 2018.)

1795 - John Keats, English Romantic poet, one of the great English poets of the Romantic movement in poetry.  He was one of the main figures of the second generation of Romantic poets, along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, despite his works having been in publication for only four years before his death from tuberculosis at the age of 25. He is famous for Ode on a Grecian Urn, Ode to Nightingale, To Autumn, and the first line of a love Sonnet, "Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art." A brief documentary of Keat's life & legacy - here, and 10 Greatest Poems by John Keats. Classical Poets Org. Accessed October 31, 2018. 

1852 - Mary Eleanor Wilkins, American writer, a prominent novelist and short-story writer. The one-act opera The Village Singer by Stephen Paulus was adapted from a Freeman short story; it was commissioned by Opera Theater of Saint Louis, and was premiered in 1979. She produced a dozen volumes of short stories and as many novels, but she is mainly remembered for the first two collections of stories, A Humble Romance and Other Stories and A New England Nun and Other Stories, and the novel Pembroke. (Britannica Encyclopedia).

 
1922 - Barbara Bel Geddes, American stage and screen actress, artist, and children's author. She was best known for her starring role as Miss Ellie Ewing in the television series Dallas. Bel Geddes also starred as Maggie in the original Broadway production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in 1955. Her notable films included I Remember Mama (1948) and Vertigo (1958). Throughout her career, she was the recipient of several acting awards and nominations. One of her early movie roles was that of Amy Lufton in the 1948 movie, Blood on the Moon, with Robert Mitchum.

1930 - Michael Collins, American astronaut who flew the Apollo 11 command module Columbia around the Moon while his crewmates, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, made the first crewed landing on the surface. He was a test pilot and major general in the U.S. Air Force Reserves.

1936 - Michael Landon, (born Eugene Maurice Orowitz), American actor, writer, director, singer and producer. He is known for his roles as Little Joe Cartwright in Bonanza,  Charles Ingalls in Little House on the Prairie, and Jonathan Smith in Highway to Heaven. Landon appeared on the cover of TV Guide 22 times, second only to Lucille Ball.

 
1957 - Brian Stokes Mitchell, American actor and singer. A powerful baritone, he has been one of the central leading men of the Broadway theatre since the 1990s. He won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical in 2000 for his performance in Kiss Me, Kate. Aside from stage and recordings, television and film credits, Mitchell is the Chairman of the Board of the Actors Fund of America, having been elected in 2004. He received the 2016 Tony Award Isabelle Stevenson Award "for his commitment to supporting members of the entertainment community in crisis or transition through his work with The Actors Fund". (Brian Mitchell. "This Nearly was Mine", Rodgers and Hammerstein's 'South Pacific'. Uploaded by brianstokesdotcom. Accessed October 31, 2012.  Brian Stokes Mitchell: "4 Amazing Broadway Songs" (B S M PICTURES). YouTube, uploaded by jeffrey a. Accessed October 31, 2022.)  

Lefties:
None known

 

Death:

2020 - Sir Thomas Sean Connery, Scottish actor and producer.

More birthdays and historical events, October 31 - On This Day

 

Historical Events

1517 - Martin Luther, the great German Catholic reformist for Protestantism, posted his famous 95 Theses on the church door in Wittenberg, Germany. (Martin Luther, the Reformation and the nation | DW Documentary), YouTube, uploaded by DW Documentary. Accessed October 31, 2018.) 

1887 - Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's "Capriccio espagnol" is first preformed by the Russian Symphonic Society in St. Petersburg.
Below,  Rimsky Korsakov Capriccio Espagnol Op 34.  Berliner Phil Directed by Zubin Mehta . YouTube, uploaded by Joao Viriato. Accessed  October 31, 2018.

October 30 Dateline

Birthdays

1683 - King George II of England, born to his parents George I and Sophia. Like his father, he is born in Hanover, remaining more German than English throughout his reign. His heir, Frederick, dies when he is hit in the eye by a tennis ball. George III, Frederick's son is born in England, but manages to lose the American colonies.

1735 - John Adams, American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and founding father who served as the second president of the United States, from 1797 to 1801. Before his presidency, he was a leader of the American Revolution that achieved independence from Great Britain, and he served as the first vice president of the United States. Adams was a dedicated diarist and regularly corresponded with many important figures in early American history, including his wife and adviser Abigail Adams and Thomas Jefferson. During his term, he became the first president to reside in the executive mansion now known as the White House. He and his wife generated a family of politicians, diplomats, and historians now referred to as the Adams political family, which includes their son John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States.

1857 - Gertrude Atherton (Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton), American novelist, biographer and historian. Many of her novels are set in her home state of California. Her bestseller Black Oxen (1923) was made into a silent movie of the same name. She wrote short stories, essays, and articles for magazines and newspapers on such issues as feminism, politics, and war. She was strong-willed, independent-minded, and sometimes controversial, especially for her anti-communism and her white supremacist views.

 

1885 - Ezra Pound, an expatriate American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a fascist sympathizer. His contribution to poetry began with his development of Imagism, a movement derived from classical Chinese and Japanese poetry, stressing clarity, precision, concision, and economy of language. His works include Ripostes (1912), Hugh Selwyn Mauberley (1920) and the unfinished 120-section epic, The Cantos (1917–1969).  Ezra Pound. Uploaded by Steve Ward. Accessed October 30, 2018. (9. Ezra Pound. Uploaded by YaleCourses. Accessed October 30, 2013. Read the description from the Youtube's description. This video introduces the poetry of E. Pound. Ezra Pound. Cantos - Cantos I. Uploaded by MusicBox. Accessed October 30, 2019. Essentially, Cantos consists of three parts: first, those living in hell and content with it; the second, those who experience a metamorphosis and see that things could be better; and the third, those who leading man to a better life.)  

1945 - Henry Franklin Winkler OBE, American actor, comedian, director, producer, and author. He rose to fame for his role as Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli, a greaser who became the breakout character of the sitcom Happy Days (1974–1984), for which he won two Golden Globe Awards and earned three Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. He later played Barry Zuckerkorn on the comedy series Arrested Development, Sy Mittleman on the dark comedy series Childrens Hospital, Dr. Saperstein on the comedy series Parks and Recreation, and Eddie R. Lawson on the comedy-drama series Royal Pains. He plays Gene Cousineau on the dark comedy series Barry, for which he won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.

Lefties:
None known 

 

More birthdays and historical events, October 30 - On This Day

 

Historical Events

1973 - Novelist Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn publishes in Paris The Gulag Archipelago, considered his powerful literary account of the Soviet Union's prison camp system.

1938 - Orson Welles recites H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds on radio, causing a nationwide panic as people mistake the fiction for a news report.

1944 - Aaron Copland's ballet "Appalachian Spring" is first staged by the Martha Graham Ballet, in Washington.

October 29 Dateline

Birthdays

1656 - Edmond Halley, English astronomer famous for "Halley's Comet."  Halley's Comet is arguably the most famous comet. It is a "periodic" comet and returns to Earth's vicinity about every 75 years, making it possible for a human to see it twice in his or her lifetime. The last time it was here was in 1986, and it is projected to return in 2061.

1947 - Richard Stephen Dreyfus, American actor, best known for starring in popular films during the 1970s and 1980s, including American Graffiti, Jaws, Stand by Me, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Down and Out in Beverly Hills, The Goodbye Girl, Tin Men, Stakeout, Always, What About Bob?, and Mr. Holland's Opus. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1978 for The Goodbye Girl, and was nominated in 1995 for Mr. Holland's Opus. He has also won a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA Award, and was nominated in 2002 for Screen Actors Guild Awards in the Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series and Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie categories.

1948 - Lucy Kate Jackson, American actress and television producer, best known for her television roles as Sabrina Duncan in the series Charlie's Angels and Amanda King in the series Scarecrow and Mrs. King. Her film roles include Making Love and Loverboy. She is a three-time Emmy Award nominee and four-time Golden Globe Award nominee. Her role as Sabrina Duncan on Charlie's Angels saw her appear on the front cover of Time magazine, alongside co-stars Farrah Fawcett and Jaclyn Smith, while her role as Mrs. King won her Germany's Bravo Golden Otto Award for Best Female TV Star three times. She starred in numerous TV movies, including Quiet Killer, Empty Cradle and Satan's School for Girls, a remake of the 1973 TV movie of the same name in which she also starred.

1971- Winona Ryder (Winona Laura Horowitz), American actress. She gained attention with her performance in Tim Burton's Beetlejuice. She garnered two consecutive Academy Award nominations for her portrayals of socialite May Welland in Martin Scorsese's The Age of Innocence and Jo March in the film adaptation of Little Women. Her other films were Reality Bites, How to Make an American Quilt, The Crucible, Celebrity, and Girl, Interrupted, which she also executive produced. In 2002, Ryder took a break from films, returning in 2009 with the high-profile film Star Trek. In 2010, she was nominated for two Screen Actors Guild Awards: as the lead actress in the television film When Love Is Not Enough: The Lois Wilson Story and as part of the cast of Black Swan. Since 2016, she has starred as Joyce Byers in the Netflix science fiction horror series Stranger Things, for which she has received Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild nominations; in 2020, she starred in the HBO drama miniseries The Plot Against America. Ryder is honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 

Lefties:
Richard Dreyfuss
Kate Jackson
Winona Ryder

 

More birthdays and historical events, October 29 - On This Day

 

Historical Events

1787 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera Don Giovanni is first performed in Prague, the composer himself conducting. Don Giovanni remained a favourite for many years to this day. Playing in the title role is baritone Luigi Bassi. Source: Wiki

1929 - The US stock market collapses, causing mass panic, with investors in panic and selling shares. The loss of millions of dollars led to The Great Depression bringing in a decade of mass unemployment and poverty.

October 28 Dateline

Birthdays

1803 - Caroline Unger, Hungarian contralto. She turned the deaf Beethoven's head around to hear applause at the performance of his famous Ninth Symphony.

1903 - Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh, English writer of novels, biographies, and travel books, a prolific Journalist and book Reviewer. His most famous works include the early satires Decline and Fall and A Handful of Dust, the novel Brideshead Revisited, and the Second World War trilogy Sword of Honour. Waugh s recognised as one of the great prose stylists of the English language in the 20th century. Waugh converted to Catholicism in 1930 after his first marriage failed. His traditionalist stance led him to strongly oppose all attempts to reform the Church, and the changes by the Second Vatican Council (1962–65) greatly disturbed his sensibilities, especially the introduction of the vernacular Mass. That blow to his religious traditionalism, his dislike for the welfare state culture of the postwar world, and the decline of his health all darkened his final years, but he continued to write. He displayed to the world a mask of indifference, but he was capable of great kindness to those whom he considered his friends. After his death, he acquired a following of new readers through the film and television versions of his works, such as the television serial Brideshead Revisited (1981). (Evelyn Waugh Face to Face BBC Interview. Uploaded by george harris. Accessed October 28, 2017.)

1907 - Edith Head, American costume designer. She won a record eight Academy Awards for Best Costume Design between 1949 and 1973. She started her career as a Spanish teacher, but was interested in design. After studying at the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles, she was hired as a costume sketch artist at Paramount Pictures in 1923. She won acclaim for her design of Dorothy Lamour’s trademark sarong in the film The Jungle Princess, and became a household name after the Academy Award for Best Costume Design was created in 1948. Head was considered exceptional for her close working relationships with her subjects, with whom she consulted extensively; these included virtually every top female star in Hollywood.She worked at Paramount for 44 years. In 1967, the company declined to renew her contract, and she was invited by Alfred Hitchcock to join Universal Pictures where she earned her eighth and final Academy Award for her work on the famous The Sting, starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford.

1909 - Francis Bacon - Irish-born English figurative painter known for his raw, unsettling imagery. Focusing on the human form, his subjects included crucifixions, portraits of popes, self-portraits, and portraits of close friends, with abstracted figures sometimes isolated in geometrical structures. He rejected various classifications of his work and claimed that he strove to render "the brutality of fact." 

 

1927 -  Dame Cleo Laine DBE, English jazz and pop singer and an actress, known for her scat singing and for her vocal range. Though her natural range is that of a contralto, she is able to produce a G above high C, giving her an overall compass of well over three octaves. (Cleo Laine with John Williams (guitar) - He was beautiful (Cavatina). Uploaded by Betaman31252. Accessed May 11, 2021. Cleo Laine - Not a Day Goes By. YouTube, uploaded by pbamse. Accessed June 25, 2022.)

1955 - Bill Gates (William Henry Gates III) - American principal founder/pioneer of Microsoft, business magnate / entrepreneur, philanthropist, author. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions of Chairman, CEO and Chief Software Architect, while also being the largest individual shareholder until May 2014.(Bill Gates Breaks Down 6 Moments from his Life / WIRED. Uploaded by WIRED. Accessed October 28, 2019.)

1967 - Julia Roberts, American actress and producer. She established herself as a leading lady in Hollywood after headlining the romantic comedy film Pretty Woman, which grossed $464 million worldwide. She has won three Golden Globe Awards, from eight nominations, and has been nominated for four Academy Awards for her film acting, winning the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Erin Brockovich. Roberts was the highest-paid actress in the world throughout most of the 1990s and in the first half of the 2000s. People magazine has named her the most beautiful woman in the world a record five times.

Lefties:
Bill Gates

Julia Roberts - In the film "Erin Brockovich" lefty Julia Roberts played in the character role of Erin Brockovich-Ellis who is right-handed. Julia had to learn how to use her right hand, naturally. She obviously did very well. She won the Oscar for Best Actress, didn't she?

More birthdays and historical events, October 28 - On This Day

 

Historical Events

1636 - Harvard University is founded with a bequest from John Harvard, an English-born Puritan. It is the oldest univeristy in the U.S.

1893 - Tchaikovsky conducts the first performance of his Symphony No. 6, "Pathetique," in St. Petersburg, nine days before his death. It's his final completed symphony, written between February and the end of August 1893. The music lasts for 45 minutes in four movements. Tchaikovsky dedicated it to his nephew Vladimir Davidov. This symphony might be about death, but he considered: "the best thing I have composed"; indeed, for any lover of the composer's music, it is deeply engaging, so full of confidence and energy.  


 

1948 - Swiss chemist Paul Mueller is awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discovery of the insecticidal properties of DDT.

October 27 Dateline

Birthdays

1728 - Captain James Cook, FRS, British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean and to Australia in particular. He made detailed maps of Newfoundland prior to making three voyages to the Pacific, during which he achieved the first recorded European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands, and the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand. Most modern references note James Cook’s date of birth as 27th of October 1728, which is the Julian calendar date, and for those who believe the correct date is 7th of November 1728, this is the Gregorian calendar date.

1782 - Niccolo Paganini,  Italian violinist, violist, guitarist, and composer. He was the most celebrated violin virtuoso of his time, a towering figure who left his mark as one of the pillars of modern violin technique. His 24 Caprices for Solo Violin Op. 1 are among the best known of his compositions, and have served as an inspiration for many prominent composers.(The Best of Paganini. Uploaded by Top Classical Music. Accessed October 27, 2014. Paganini Violin Concerto No. 1, beautifully interpreted by young Korean violinist In Mo Yang. Uploaded by SoundProfessional Boston. Accessed October 17, 2016. Here's an interesting post from StringOvation Team: "8 Secrets of Paganini". Accessed October 27, 2019.

1858 - Theodore Roosevelt Jr, 26th U.S. President from 1901 to 1909, referred to as Teddy Roosevelt or his initials T. R., American statesman, conservationist, naturalist, historian and writer. He previously served as 33rd governor of New York from 1899 to 1900 and the 25th vice president of the United States from March to September 1901. Roosevelt emerged as a leader of the Republican Party and became a driving force for the anti-trust policy while supporting Progressive Era policies in the early 20th century. His face is depicted on Mount Rushmore alongside George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln.

1872 - Emily Post, American author and socialite famous for writing about etiquette, on how to behave graciously in society and business. She wrote in various styles, including humorous travel books. She published her first etiquette book Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics, and at Home (1922, frequently referenced as Etiquette) when she was 50;  it became a best-seller, with updated versions continued to be popular for decades, and it made her career. After 1931, Post spoke on radio programs and wrote a column on good taste for the Bell Syndicate. It appeared daily in some 200 newspapers after 1932. In 1946, Post founded The Emily Post Institute, which continues her work.

1914 - Dylan Thomas (born Dylan Marlais Thomas), Welsh poet and playwright whose works include the poems "Do not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" and "And Death Shall Have No Dominion"; the 'play for voices' Under Milk Wood; and stories and radio broadcasts such as A Child's Christmas in Wales and Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog. One of his most famous and best-loved poems, "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" is a villanelle, a poem divided into three-line stanzas where the same two repeated lines of verse comprise the last line of each alternating stanza. (Seven Classic Dylan Thomas Poems that Everyone Should Read. Interesting Literature. Accessed October 27, 2019.)

1923 - Roy Fox Lichtenstein, American pop artist. Along with Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, and James Rosenquist among others, he became a leading figure in the new art movement. His work defined the premise of pop art through parody. Inspired by the comic strip, Lichtenstein produced precise compositions that documented while they parodied, often in a tongue-in-cheek manner. His work was influenced by popular advertising and the comic book style. He described pop art as "not 'American' painting but actually industrial painting".

1932 - Sylvia Plath, American poet, novelist, and short-story writer. She married fellow poet Ted Hughes in 1956, and they lived together in the United States and then in England. They had two children, before separating in 1962. Plath was clinically depressed for most of her adult life, and was treated multiple times. She died by suicide in 1963. Plath is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry, best known for two of her published collections, The Colossus and Other Poems and Ariel, and a semi-autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar, published shortly before her death. In 1982, she won a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for The Collected Poems. (Sylvia Plath Interview. YouTube, uploaded by nagusd. Accessed October 27, 2013.)

Lefties:
None known

More birthdays and historical events, October 27 - On This Day

Historical Events

1886 - The Night on Bald Mountain of Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky is first performed posthumously in St. Petersburg. It is re-orchestrated by Rimsky-Korsakov.

1904 - One of the biggest subway lines in the world, and the biggest in the U.S., opens in New York.

October 26 Dateline

Birthdays

1466 - Desiderius Erasmus, Dutch humanist and scholar, considered the greatest scholar of the northern Renaissance, the first editor of the New Testament, and also an important figure in patristics and classical literature.

1685 - Domenico Scarlatti, Italian composer and harpsichord virtuoso. Son of composer Alessandro Scarlatti, the younger Domenico Scarlatti is classified primarily as a Baroque composer, although his music was influential in the development of the Classical style and he was one of the few Baroque composers to transition into the classical period. Like his renowned father, Alessandro Scarlatti, he composed in a variety of musical forms, although today he is known mainly for his 555 keyboard single-movement sonatas (Exercises). (Scarlatti: 42 Sonatas. YouTube, uploaded by Brilliant Classics. Accessed October 26, 2020.)
 
1854 - Charles William "C. W." Post, American innovator, entrepreneur,  breakfast cereal and foods manufacturer and a pioneer in the prepared-food industry. He was the founder of what is now Post Consumer Brands.

1865 - Benjamin "Ben" Guggenheim, American businessman. Notable for being a passenger of RMS Titanic, he died aboard when the ship sank in the North Atlantic Ocean, and his body was never recovered. In 1894, he married Florette Seligman, daughter of James Seligman, a senior partner in the firm J. & W. Seligman & Co. and Rosa Seligman, née Content. They had three daughters: Benita Rosalind Guggenheim, Marguerite "Peggy" Guggenheim and Barbara Hazel Guggenheim. Ben Guggenheim inherited a great deal of money from his mother. Due to business concerns, he grew distant from his wife and was frequently away from their New York City home.

1911 - Mahalia Jackson (born Mahala Jackson), American gospel singer. Possessing a contralto voice, she was referred to as "The Queen of Gospel". She became one of the most influential gospel singers in the world and was heralded internationally as a singer and civil rights activist. She recorded about 30 albums (mostly for Columbia Records) during her career, and her 45 rpm records included a dozen "golds"—million-sellers. "I sing God's music because it makes me feel free", Jackson said about her choice of gospel, adding, "It gives me hope. With the blues, when you finish, you still have the blues."

1916 - Francois Mitterrand (François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand), French statesman who served as President of France from 1981 to 1995, the longest time in office in the history of France. As First Secretary of the Socialist Party, he was the first left-wing politician to assume the presidency under the Fifth Republic.

1947 - Hillary Rodham Clinton (born Hillary Diane Rodham), American politician, diplomat, lawyer, writer, and public speaker who served as the 67th United States secretary of state from 2009 to 2013, as a United States senator from New York from 2001 to 2009, and as First Lady of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Clinton became the first woman to be nominated for president of the United States by a major political party when she won the Democratic Party nomination in 2016. She was the first woman to win the popular vote in an American presidential election, which she lost to Donald Trump.

Lefties:
None known

More birthdays and historical events, October 26 - On This Day

 

 

Historical Events

1919 - Sir Edward Elgar conducts the first performance of his Cello Concerto at Queen's Hall, London with cellist Felix Salmond.

1977 - The last case of smallpox is diagnosed in Somalia. After this case, the World Health Organization (WHO) and Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) declare that smallpox is officially eradicated, due to the success of vaccination.

October 25 Dateline

Birthdays

1825 - Johann Strauss II (Jr.), Austrian composer, famous for "The Blue Danube Waltz" and Die Fledermaus ("The Bat"). He's the eldest son of composer and orchestra leader Johann Strauss I. Johann strauss II is known as "The Waltz King", with his waltzes melodic and charming. He wasn't also limited to dances, as he composed a series of brilliant operettas. His music exudes the same love of melody and graceful Viennese mood.

1838 - Georges Bizet (born Alexandre César Léopold Bizet) French composer of the Romantic era, famous for opera Carmen, the tragic tale of a Spanish gypsy girl, is one of the most popular and frequently performed operas ever written. During his brilliant student career at the Conservatoire de Paris, Bizet won many prizes, including the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1857. His two other works are Symphony in C and Les Pecheurs de perles (The Pearl Fishers). (Bizet - Symphony in C 1/4, Avi Ostrowsky, Bilkent Symphony Orchestra. Uploaded by avihu4. Accessed October 25, 2015. Note: I've enabled the autoplay at Youtube so the next three movements will play until 4/4.)

1881 - Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, stage designer. Regarded as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, he is known for co-founding the Cubist movement, the invention of constructed sculpture, the co-invention of collage, and for the wide variety of styles that he helped develop and explore. Among his most famous works are the proto-Cubist Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907), and Guernica (1937), a dramatic portrayal of the bombing of Guernica by the German and Italian airforces during the Spanish Civil War. He spent most of his adult life in France.  (Pablo Picasso - Complete Documentary. Uploaded by Star Arts. Accessed October 25, 2015.) 

1923 - Don Oscar Banks, Australian composer of concert, jazz, and commercial music. Jazz was Banks' earliest and strongest musical influence. He studied composition privately with Matyas Seiber, who was himself much interested in jazz. He became a friend and associate of Gunther Schuller and was much involved with Tubby Hayes, writing several compositions for him. Banks's best-known works include Nexus, his major 'Third Stream' composition, the Sonata da Camera for flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, piano, percussion, violin, viola, and cello (1961 - dedicated to Matyas Seiber); a Horn Concerto (1965); a Trio for horn, violin, and piano (1962); and a Violin Concerto (1968).

1928 - Marion Eileen Ross, American retired actress. Her best-known role is that of Marion Cunningham on the ABC television sitcom Happy Days, on which she starred from 1974 to 1984 and received two Primetime Emmy Award nominations. Before her success on Happy Days, Ross appeared in a variety of film roles, appearing in The Glenn Miller Story, Sabrina, Lust for Life, Teacher's Pet, Some Came Running, Operation Petticoat, and Honky, as well as several minor television roles, one of which was on television’s The Lone Ranger. Ross also starred in The Evening Star, for which she was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress. Since the 1990s, Ross has been known for voice-over work on animated television series.

1942 - Helen Maxine Reddy, Australian-American singer, songwriter, author, actress, and activist. She moved to Chicago, and subsequently, Los Angeles, where she made her debut singles "One Way Ticket" and "I Believe in Music". The B-side of the latter single, "I Don't Know How to Love Him", reached number eight on the pop chart of Canadian magazine RPM. She was signed to Capitol Records a year later. Reddy's song "I Am Woman" played a significant role in popular culture, becoming an anthem for second-wave feminism. She came to be known as a "feminist poster girl" or a "feminist icon". In 2011, Billboard named her the number-28 adult contemporary artist of all time (number-9 woman). In 2013, the Chicago Tribune dubbed her as the "Queen of '70s Pop" (Helen Reddy - I don't know how to love Him [Andrew Lloyd Webber]  - "The Queen of Pops 70s. ReddyRockedThe70s. Accessed October 25, 2020.) 

 
Leftie:
Artist Pablo Picasso

 

More birthdays and historical events, October 25 - On This Day

 

Historical Events

1415 - Henry V of England defeats the French at the Battle of Agincourt in northern France.

1823 - Carl Maria von Weber's opera Euryanthe stars Henrietta Sontag at its premiere, in Vienna.

Sydney Philharmonia Choirs' Carols at the House (2023)

Choral Singing / Choral Music

CAROLS at the HOUSE (2023) presented by the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs

Dates: Friday 15 December 2023, 8pm; Saturday16 Dec, 8pm; Sunday 17 Dec, 2pm  (with ABC Classic live broadcast)
Venue: Sydney Opera House Concert Hall, Sydney

A Christmas treat for the ears and for the heart. 

Carols at the House is back! True to form, we’re combining beautiful and uplifting music with your favourite Christmas carols and filling the Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House with the sound of a 600-strong choir and full symphony orchestra.

Australian stage icon John Bell will shape the program with moving and thoughtful spoken interludes. Popular soprano Julie Lea Goodwin is Sydney Philharmoni Choirs' featured soloist. And conductor Elizabeth Scott has chosen the perfect selection of music for this family-friendly concert.

John Rutter’s Gloria is the highlight: a magnificent setting of the words the angels spoke to the shepherds on the first Christmas Night. Blazing brass, gorgeous harmonies and ecstatic singing. Highlights from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker ballet music set the party mood. Favourites ranging from Irving Berlin’s White Christmas to highlights from Handel’s Messiah will evoke a northern hemisphere Yuletide, while Australian carols, both classic and new, and Luke Byrne’s rapturous Capricorn bring the concert Down Under.

As a special treat, ABC Classic host Vanessa Hughes will compere the concert and on Sunday, everyone is invited to join in singing Summer Together – a new song written by Elena Kats-Chernin with words by Kirli Saunders. ABC Classic will live broadcast the performance as part of the ABC Classic Choir initiative.

Of course there will also be opulent arrangements of carols and popular standards, stirring baroque choruses, some unexpected delights and plenty of audience participation – perfection.

Join in the Carols at the House tradition and celebrate Christmas with us!

Friday 15 December 2023 at 8pm
Saturday 16 December 2023 at 8pm
Sunday 17 December 2023 at 2pm (with ABC Classic Live Broadcast) 
Sydney Opera House Concert Hall

PROGRAM

RUTTER Gloria
HANDEL Messiah (highlights)
TCHAIKOVSKY Nutcracker: Suite
ADAMS O Holy Night
BERLIN White Christmas
BYRNE Capricorn
KATS-CHENIN & SAUNDERS Summer Together
and an eclectic mix of singalong carols and favourite Christmas music.

This program will run for approximately 2 hours and 20 minutes, including a 20-minute interval. 

ARTISTS

Elizabeth Scott conductor
Vanessa Hughes compere
John Bell actor
Julie Lea Goodwin soprano
Symphony Chorus
VOX
Christmas Choir
Sydney Philharmonia Orchestra

TICKETS

Premium $129 | A $105 | B $85 | C $60 | D $45
Concessions $116 | A $92| B $75 | C $55 | D $41
Under 30 $30
A booking fee of $8.95 per transaction applies.

Under 30 $30
A booking fee of $8.50 per transaction applies.

BOOK TICKETS HERE

A digital program book will be available to download on this page a week prior to the concert. A limited number of printed program books will be available for $10 each at the concert.

ABC CLASSIC CHOIR | SUNDAY PRE-CONCERT SING

Everyone is invited to join conductor Elizabeth Scott for a run-through of Elena Kats-Chernin’s song Summer Together ahead of the concert. In the concert, the whole audience will sing the song and will be broadcast live on ABC Classic.

Seating is on the carpeted stairs in the Northern Foyer.
Access the Northern Foyer via the new tunnel from the Southern Foyer.

• Sunday 17 December: 1:15PM-1:45PM
• Concert Hall, Northern Foyer stairs

BROADCAST

ABC Classic will live broadcast the 2PM Sunday 17 December performance.

Broadcast partner

Reviews: 

Carols at the House. Stage Whispers. Reviewed by Carol Wimmer. Accessed Dec. 18, 2023

Review: Carols at the House – Sydney Philharmonia Choirs. EAST SIDE FM 89.7 (eastsidefm.org). Accessed December 19, 2023.

SYDNEY PHILHARMONIA CHOIRS : CAROLS AT THE HOUSE. 5 Stars. Sydney Arts Guide. Reviewed by David Kary. Dec 17, 2023. Accessed Dec. 18, 2023

Video Credit:

Carols at the House (2023). YouTube, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs. 

Image  Credit:

Carols at the House (2023). Sydney Philharmonia Choirs.

Resources:

Carols at the House (2023). Sydney Philharmonia Choirs. Accessed October 24, 2023  (Available at this time)

Sydney Philharmonia Choirs' 2023 Season Catalogue.

COVID-19 SAFETY AT SPC CONCERTS

Up-to-date COVID guidelines will be available a few weeks before the concert. Please note that we regularly update our guidelines based on health advice available at the time.

 

(c) October 24, 2023. Tel.  Inspired Pen Web.  All rights reserved.

October 24 Dateline

Birthdays

1632 - Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, FRS, Dutch businessman and scientist (Microbiologist) in the Golden Age of Dutch science and technology. A largely self-taught man in science, he is commonly known as "the Father of Microbiology", and one of the first microscopists and microbiologists. (Antonie van Leeuwenhoek Biography. Uploaded by CloudBiography. Accessed October 24, 2013.)

1811 - Ferdinand (von) Hiller, German composer, conductor, pianist, writer and music critic. He was very successful lecturer and a forceful writer, his contributions to reviews and newspapers having been in book form. He also published among others: Musikalisches und Persönliches (1870), Wie hören wir Musik? (How do we hear [or: listen to] music?, 1880); Goethes musikalisches Leben (Goethe's musical life, 1880); and Erinnerungsblätter (Reminiscences, 1884). He published an account of his friendship with Mendelssohn in 1874. Part of his vast correspondence with other musicians and artists of his period has been published in seven volumes.

1868 -  Alexandra David-Néel, Belgian–French explorer, spiritualist, anarchist and writer. She is most known for her 1924 visit to Lhasa, Tibet, when it was forbidden to foreigners. She was unhappy as a child. She tried running away over and over, starting when she was two years old. As a teenager, she traveled by herself through European countries, including a bike trip across Spain. When she was 21, she inherited money from her parents, and she used it all to go to Sri Lanka. She worked as an opera singer for a while to finance her travels. She was especially interested in Buddhism. She wrote over 30 books about Eastern religion, philosophy, and her travels, including Magic and Mystery in Tibet which was published in 1929. Her teachings influenced the beat writers Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, the populariser of Eastern philosophy Alan Watts, and the esotericist Benjamin Creme.

1925 - Luciano Berio, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI, Italian composer. He is noted for his experimental work (in particular his 1968 composition Sinfonia and his series of virtuosic solo pieces titled Sequenza), and also for his pioneering work in electronic music.

1932 - Perre-Gilles de Gennes, French physicist and the Nobel Prize Laureate in physics in 1991. He worked on granular materials and on the nature of memory objects in the brain and was awarded the Nobel Prize for discovering that "methods developed for studying order phenomena in simple systems can be generalized to more complex forms of matter, in particular to liquid crystals and polymers".

1947 - Kevin (Delaney) Kline, American actor. He has won an Oscar and three Tony Awards and is a 2003 American Theatre Hall of Fame inductee. A multi-awarded actor, Kline began his career on stage in 1972 with The Acting Company. He has gone on to win three Tony Awards for his work on Broadway, winning Best Featured Actor in a Musical for the 1978 original production of On the Twentieth Century, Best Actor in a Musical for the 1981 revival of The Pirates of Penzance, and Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for the 2017 revival of Present Laughter.

Lefties:
None known

 

More birthdays and historical events, October 24 - On This Day

 

Historical Events

1260 - Chartres Cathedral in France, is dedicated in the presence of King Louis IX of France. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

1861 - The first transcontinental telegraph line across the U.S., between St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California, is completed by the Western Union Company.

1885 - Johann Strauss, Jr.'s operetta The Gipsy Baron is first staged in Vienna. (Below is its famous overture in a public concert performance by the Cologne New Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Volker Hartung. Live from Hamburg's Laeisz-Concert Hall, Germany in March 2012.

 

WATCH VIDEO in YOUTUBE!  Playback is ONLY made available there.  Johann Strauss • Overture to 'The Gipsy Baron' - Der Zigeunerbaron • Volker Hartung, conductor.

October 23 Dateline

Birthdays

1844 - Sarah Bernhardt, (see October 22 or 23), French stage actress who starred in some of the most popular French plays of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including La Dame Aux Camelias by Alexandre Dumas fils; Ruy Blas by Victor Hugo, Fédora and La Tosca by Victorien Sardou, and L'Aiglon by Edmond Rostand.

1844 - Robert Seymour Bridges, OM, English poet who was Poet Laureate from 1913 to 1930. A doctor by training, he achieved literary fame only late in life. His poems reflect a deep Christian faith, and he is the author of many well-known hymns. It was through Bridges’ efforts that Gerard Manley Hopkins achieved posthumous fame. ("Seven Poems" of Robert Bridges, composed by Gerard Finzi, and sung by Sheffield University Sheffield Chamber Choir. YouTube, uploaded by SUCC. The Poems: I Praise the Tender Flower, I have loved flowers that fade, My spirit sang all day, Clear and gentle stream, Nightingales, Haste on my Joys, Wherefore tonight so full of care.)

1893 - Milton "Gummo" Marx,  American vaudevillian performer, actor, comedian and theatrical agent. He was the second youngest of the five Marx Brothers. Born in Manhattan, New York City, he worked with his brothers on the vaudeville circuit, but left acting when he was drafted into the U.S. Army during World War I.

1893 - Jean Absil, Belgian composer, organist, and professor at the Brussels Conservatoire. Initially, Absil was influenced by the late Romantic school, particularly Wagner and Richard Strauss. Around the time he made his trip to Paris in 1934, he began to adopt a more modern style. Absil concentrated especially on writing piano works, himself a skilled pianist. These works include Ballade, op. 129, for solo piano (which is played with the left hand only) as well as 3 Pièces (played with the right one only). The Grand Suites (Op.110, composed in 1965) served as a tribute to Frédéric Chopin. In 1946, he composed another work, Hommage à Schumann and in 1957 the Passacaglia in Memoriam Alban Berg, both of them for piano. His last finished composition was the Piano Concerto no. 3, op. 162. Non-piano music of Absil's includes one opera, Les Voix de la mer, and a cycle of five symphonies, the first of which (op. 1) he composed at 27, when he was a pupil of Paul Gilson. It won the Prix Agniez in 1921.

1905 - Felix Block, Swiss-American physicist and Nobel Peace Laureate who made fundamental theoretical contributions to the understanding of electron behavior in crystal lattices, ferromagnetism, and nuclear magnetic resonance. He worked mainly in the U.S. He and Edward Mills Purcell were awarded the 1952 Nobel Prize for Physics for "their development of new ways and methods for nuclear magnetic precision measurements." In 1954–1955, he served for one year as the first Director-General of CERN.

1940 - Pelé (Edson Arantes do Nascimento), Brazilian retired professional footballer who played as a forward. Widely regarded as the greatest player of all time, he was among the most successful and popular sports figures of the 20th century. During his playing days, Pelé was for a period the best-paid athlete in the world. In 1999, Pelé was voted World Player of the Century by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS). That same year, Pelé was elected Athlete of the Century by the International Olympic Committee and was included in the Time list of the 100 most important people of the 20th century. His total of 1279 goals in 1363 games, which included friendlies, is a Guinness World Record. 

1945 -  Hugh Fraser, English actor, theatre director and author, best known for his portrayal of Captain Hastings in the television series Agatha Christie's Poirot opposite David Suchet, and his role as the Duke of Wellington (replacing David Troughton) in the Sharpe television series. He studied acting at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Fraser's first big break came after portraying Anthony Eden in the 1978 television series Edward & Mrs. Simpson, with Edward Fox, after which he was frequently cast as upper class or aristocratic characters, such as Mr Talmann in Peter Greenaway's The Draughtsman's Contract.  He has regularly appeared on film and in television.

Leftie:
Brazilian professional footballer Pelé

 

 

More birthdays andhistorical events, October 23 - On This Day

Historical Events

425 - Valentinian III becomes Emperor of Rome at the age of six.

1897 - Alexander Scriabin is soloist in the first performance of his Piano Concerto, in Odessa. The Piano Concerto in F-sharp minor, Op. 20, is an early work of Russian composer Scriabin written in 1896, when he was 24. It was his first work for orchestra and the only concerto he composed. Scriabin completed the concerto in only a few days in the fall of 1896, but did not finish the orchestration until the following May. The work consists of three movements: Allegro, Andante, and Allegro Moderato, typically lasting about 28 minutes in total.

Here's a recording of Scriabin's First Concerto interpreted by pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy. It's beautiful and moving, especially coming from Scriabin, known more for his atonal works.
 
 

 

October 22 Dateline

Birthdays

1811 - Franz Liszt, Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor, music teacher, arranger, and organist of the Romantic era. He was also a writer, a philanthropist, a Hungarian nationalist and a Franciscan tertiary. He gained renown in Europe during the early 19th century for his prodigious virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was a friend, musical promoter and benefactor to many composers of his time, including Frédéric Chopin, Richard Wagner, Hector Berlioz, Robert Schumann, Camille Saint-Saëns, Edvard Grieg, Ole Bull, Joachim Raff, Mikhail Glinka, and Alexander Borodin. Liszt was one of the most prominent representatives of the New German School (Neudeutsche Schule). He produced extensive and diverse body of work which influenced contemporaries and anticipated 20th-century ideas and trends. Among Liszt's musical contributions were the symphonic poem and radical innovations in harmony. (Liszt: Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude (Hough). YouTube, uploaded by A.X. Kumar. Accessed October 22, 2018.)

1844 - Sarah Bernhardt, French stage actress (22 or 23 Oct), starred in some of the most popular French plays of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including La Dame Aux Camelias by Alexandre Dumas, fils, Ruy Blas by Victor Hugo, Fédora and La Tosca by Victorien Sardou, and L'Aiglon by Edmond Rostand. She also played male roles, including Shakespeare's Hamlet. Rostand called her "the queen of the pose and the princess of the gesture", while Hugo praised her "golden voice". She made several theatrical tours around the world, and was one of the first prominent actresses to make sound recordings and to act in motion pictures. (Movie Legends - Sarah Bernhardt. Uploaded by Movie Legends. Accessed October 22, 2015.)

1917 -  Joan Fontaine (born: Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland), British-American actress, best known for her starring roles in cinema during the Classical Hollywood era. Fontaine appeared in more than 45 feature films in a career that spanned five decades. Sister of another famous actress, Olivia de Havilland. 

1919 - Doris May Lessing CH OMG (née Tayler), British-Zimbabwean (Rhodesian) novelist. She was born to British parents in Iran, where she lived until 1925 as her family moved to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), eventually moving to London in 1949. Her novels include The Grass Is Singing, the sequence of five novels collectively called Children of Violence, The Golden Notebook, The Good Terrorist, five novels collectively known as Canopus in Argos: Archives, The Fifth Child, and Love, Again. Lessing was awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize in Literature, the oldest person ever to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. She was also awarded the David Cohen Prize for a lifetime's achievement in British literature. In 2008, The Times ranked her fifth on a list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".

1925 - Milton Ernest "Robert" Rauschenberg, American painter and graphic artist whose early works anticipated the Pop art movement. He is well known for his "Combines", a group of artworks which incorporated everyday objects as art materials and which blurred the distinctions between painting and sculpture. The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation fosters the legacy of the artist's life, work, and philosophy.

1938 - Sir Derek Jacobi, CBE, (born Derek George Jacobi), English actor and stage director. A "forceful, commanding stage presence", Jacobi has enjoyed a successful stage career, appearing in such stage productions as Hamlet, Uncle Vanya, and Oedipus the King.

1943 - Catherine Deneuve (born Catherine Fabienne Dorléac), French actress, considered one of the greatest European actresses. She gained recognition for her portrayal of icy, aloof and mysterious beauties for various directors. In 1985, she succeeded Mireille Mathieu as the official face of Marianne, France's national symbol of liberty. A 14-time César Award nominee, she won for her performances in Truffaut's The Last Metro (1980), for which she also won the David di Donatello for Best Foreign Actress, and Régis Wargnier's Indochine (1992). Deneuve made her film debut aged 13 and came to prominence in Jacques Demy's 1964 musical The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. ('Umbrellas of Cherbourg' | Critics' Picks | The New York Times. Accessed Oct. 22, 1918.) She was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress for Belle de Jour, and the Academy Award for Best Actress for Indochine. She also won the 1998 Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival for Place Vendôme

1963 - Brian Boitano (born Brian Anthony Boitano), American figure skater from Sunnyvale, California. He is the 1988 Olympic champion, the 1986 and 1988 World Champion, and the 1985–1988 U.S. National Champion. He turned professional following the 1988 season. He returned to competition in 1993 and competed at the 1994 Winter Olympics, where he placed sixth.

Leftie:
None known

 

 

More birthdays and historical events, October 22 - On This Day

 

Historical Events

1836 - Sam Houston becomes the President of Texas. The state became a breakaway republic for nearly a decade after the Texas Revolution.

1881 - The Boston Symphony Orchestra presents its first concert. 

1883 - The Metropolitan Opera House in New York opens with Charles Gounod's opera Faust. (French Chorus presents Gounod's Faust "Soldiers Chorus") 

 The "Met" Auditorium, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

October 21 Dateline

Famous Birthday

1772 - Samuel Taylor Coleridge, English critic, poet, philosopher and theologian, a friend of William Shakespeare, best known for poems "Kubla Khan" and "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." (A look at the life of S.T. Coleridge, YouTube, uploaded by Heather Barton. Accessed October 21, 2018. And here's Coleridge's famous poem "Kublai Khan" discussed, a history behind this one of the most popular poems of the Romantic era. YouTube, uploaded by Bookworm History. Accessed October 21, 2018.)

1833 - Alfred Nobel, Swedish chemist, engineer, founder of Nobel Prize, inventor and philanthropist. (Alfred Nobel and the Nobel Prize. Uploaded by Nobel Prize Museum. Accessed October 21, 2018)

1879 - Joseph Canteloube, Fench opera composer and pianist (Soprano Dame Kiri Te Kanawa interprets Canteloube's 'Chants' d'Auvergne - Baïlèro' with Julian Reynolds conducting. YouTube, uploaded by Coloraturissimo. Accessed October 21, 2018)

1912 - Sir Georg Solti, KBE (born György Stern), Hungarian-born British orchestral and operatic conductor, best known for his appearances with opera companies in Munich, Frankfurt and London, and as a long-serving music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Born in Budapest, he studied there with Béla Bartók, Leó Weiner and Ernő Dohnányi. In the 1930s, he was a répétiteur at the Hungarian State Opera and worked at the Salzburg Festival for Arturo Toscanini. His career was interrupted by the rise of the Nazis' influence on Hungarian politics, and being of Jewish background he fled the increasingly harsh Hungarian anti-Jewish laws in 1938. After conducting a season of Russian ballet in London at the Royal Opera House he found refuge in Switzerland, where he remained during the Second World War, and earned a living as a pianist. He recorded many works and was a prolific recording artist, making more than 250 recordings, including 45 complete opera sets. The most famous of his recordings is probably Decca's complete set of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen. Solti's Ring has twice been voted the greatest recording ever made, in polls for Gramophone magazine in 1999 and the BBC's Music Magazine in 2012. Solti was repeatedly honoured by the recording industry with awards throughout his career, including a record 31 Grammy Awards as a recording artist. (Maestro or Mephisto: The Real Georg Solti. YouTube, uploaded by The Georg Solti Accademia. Accessed October 21, 2017.)

 
1921 - Sir Malcolm Henry Arnold CBE, English composer, conductor, and trumpet player. He composed the famous film score Bridge on the River Kwai, for which he won an Academy Award. His works feature music in many genres, including a cycle of nine symphonies, numerous concertos, concert works, chamber music, choral music and music for brass band and wind band. His style is tonal and rejoices in lively rhythms, brilliant orchestration, and an unabashed tunefulness. He wrote extensively for the theatre, with five ballets specially commissioned by the Royal Ballet, as well as two operas and a musical. He also produced scores for more than a hundred films. 

1949 - Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, Israeli politician serving as Prime Minister of Israel since 2009, and previously from 1996 to 1999. He is the longest-serving Prime Minister in Israeli history and the first to be born in Israel after the establishment of the state.

1956 - Carrie Frances Fisher, American actress, writer, and comedienne. Fisher played Princess Leia in the Star Wars films, a role for which she was nominated for four Saturn Awards and her other film credits include Shampoo, The Blues Brothers, Hannah and Her Sisters, The 'Burbs, When Harry Met Sally..., Soapdish, and The Women. Fisher was nominated twice for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her performances on the television series 30 Rock and Catastrophe. She was posthumously made a Disney Legend in 2017, and in 2018 she was awarded a posthumous Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album.

1957 - Wolfgang Ketterle, German physicist and professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His research has focused on experiments that trap and cool atoms to temperatures close to absolute zero, and he led one of the first groups to realize Bose–Einstein condensation in these systems in 1995. For this achievement, as well as early fundamental studies of condensates, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2001, together with Eric Allin Cornell and Carl Wieman.

 
Leftie:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

 

More birthdays and historical events, October 21 - On This Day

 

Historical Events

1805 - Admiral Lord Nelson leads the British Royal Navy to defeat the French and Spanish fleets in the Battle of Trafalgar.

1858 - Jacques Offenbach's operetta Orpheus in Hades is first performed at Bouffes-Parisiens, in Paris. (Overture of Orpheus in Hades, conducted by Arthur Fiedler with the Boston Pops Orchestra  in 1956.) 

October 20 Dateline

Birthdays

1632 - Sir Christopher Wren, British architect. As well as London's famous St. Paul's Cathedral, C Wren designed the Monument to the Great Fire of 1666, the Royal Observatory at Greenwich and the Library at Trinity college, Cambridge, and more than 50 other churches and secular buildings. He is buried under the words: "Lector, si monumentum requiris, circumspice" - translated in English to mean "Reader, if you seek his monument, look around you."

1854 - Arthur Rimbaud, French poet, influential on modern literature and arts which prefigured surrealism. During his late adolescence and early adulthood he produced the bulk of his literary output, then completely stopped writing literature at the age of 20, after assembling his last major work, Illuminations. Rimbaud was known to have been a libertine and a restless soul, having engaged in a hectic, at-times-violent romantic relationship with fellow poet Paul Verlaine, which lasted nearly two years. After his retirement, he traveled extensively as a merchant and explorer, until his death from cancer just after his thirty-seventh birthday. As a poet, Rimbaud is known for his contributions to symbolism and, among other works, for A Season in Hell, a precursor to modernist literature.

1859 - John Dewey, American philosopher and educational theorist, psychologist, and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. The overriding theme of Dewey's works was his profound belief in democracy, be it in politics, education, or communication and journalism. He considered two fundamental elements—schools and civil society. He asserted that complete democracy was to be obtained by ensuring that there exists a fully formed public opinion, accomplished by communication among citizens, experts, and politicians, with the latter being accountable for the policies they adopt. Dewey was one of the primary figures associated with the philosophy of pragmatism and is considered one of the fathers of functional psychology.

1874 - Charles Edward Ives, American modernist composer, noted for experimental techniques, one of the first American composers of international renown. His music was largely ignored during his early life. Later in life, the quality of his music was publicly recognized, and he came to be regarded as an "American original". He was among the first composers to engage in a systematic program of experimental music, with musical techniques including polytonality, polyrhythm, tone clusters, aleatory elements, and quarter tones. His experimentation foreshadowed many musical innovations that were later more widely adopted during the 20th century, hence, he is often regarded as the 20th century leading American composer of art music. Sources of Ives' tonal imagery included hymn tunes and traditional songs. He also incorporated melodies of the town band at holiday parade, the fiddlers at Saturday night dances, patriotic songs, sentimental parlor ballads, and the melodies of Stephen Foster. (The Best of Charles Ives. YouTube, uploaded by ClassicalMusic11. Accessed October 20, 2018.)

1931 - Lauris Margaret Elms, AM OBE, Australian retired contralto, renowned for her roles in opera and lieder and as a recording artist. She toured Israel in 1958 for the 10th anniversary of the State of Israel, appearing with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in nine performances of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony conducted by Rafael Kubelík. In 1958 she married Graeme de Graaff, and they have one daughter, the clarinetist Deborah de Graaff. In 2001 she published her autobiography "The Singing Elms: the autobiography of Lauris Elms". Lauris Elm debuted at Covent Garden, in Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera (1957) and became principal resident artist there. She appeared with leading Australian companies and is renowned for portrayal of Azucena in Verdi's Il Trovatore. She toured Australia with Joan Sutherland (1965) and appeared at the opening of Sydney Opera House (1973). She made many acclaimed recordings and frequent radio broadcasts and gave regular lieder recitals with pianist Geoffrey Parsons. (The Glory of the Human Voice The Contralto Lauris Elms Great Australian Contralto. YouTube, uploaded by Virtutis Studio Productions; Lauris Elms - "Softly Awakes My Heart" Samson and Delilah (Saint-Saëns ) 1961, uploaded by Brian Castles-Onion;   Lauris Elms sings Mon coeur s'ouvre à ta voix: Samson et Dalila, Op. 47, R. 288. Accessed October 20, 2020.)

 
Lefties:
None known 

 

More birthdays and historical events, October 20 - On This Day

 

Historical Events

 

This day 20 October 1973.  Australia's iconic landmark, the Sydney Opera House, designed by Danish architect Jorn Utzon, is formally opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.  The opening was celebrated with fireworks and a performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9.

 

 

The Sydney Opera House, click the link to join the celebration!

1714 - George I is crowned in Westminster Abbey - the first of the Hanoverian kings.

1827 - The Battle of Navarino ends the Greek Liberation War, marking the beginning of Modern Greece.

October 19 Dateline

Birthdays

1916 - Jean Dausset (Jean-Baptiste-Gabriel-Joachim Dausset), French immunologist. He received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1980 along with Baruj Benacerraf and George Davis Snell for their discovery and characterisation of the genes making the major histocompatibility complex. Using the money from his Nobel Prize and a grant from the French Television, Dausset founded the Human Polymorphism Study Center (CEPH) in 1984, which was later renamed the Foundation Jean Dausset-CEPH in his honour. He married Rose Mayoral in 1963, with whom he had two children, Henri and Irène. 

 

 1931 - John Le Carre (David John Moore Cornwell), better known by his pen name John le Carré, British author of espionage novels. During the 1950s and 1960s, he worked for both the Security Service (MI5) and the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). His third novel, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963), became an international best-seller and remains one of his best-known works. Following the success of this novel, he left MI6 to become a full-time author. His books include The Looking Glass War, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Smiley's People, The Little Drummer Girl, The Night Manager, The Tailor of Panama, The Constant Gardener, A Most Wanted Man and Our Kind of Traitor,  all of which have been adapted for film or television. 

 
1932 - Robert Reed (born John Robert Rietz Jr.), American actor. He played Kenneth Preston on the legal drama The Defenders from 1961 to 1965 alongside E. G. Marshall, and is best known for his role as the father Mike Brady, opposite Florence Henderson's role as Carol Brady, on the ABC sitcom The Brady Bunch, which aired from 1969 to 1974. He later reprised his role of Mike Brady on several of the reunion programs. In 1976, he earned two Primetime Emmy Award nominations for his guest-starring role in a two-part episode of Medical Center and for his work on the miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man. The following year, Reed earned a third Emmy nomination for his role in the miniseries Roots.

Lefties:
None known

 

More birthdays and historical events, October 19 - On This Day

 

Historical Events

1781 - The American Revolutionary War ends as Major General Lord Charles Cornwallis surrenders to George Washington at Yorktown, Virginia.

1845 - Richard Wagner's opera Tannhauser is first performed, in Dresden.

October 18 Dateline

Birthdays

1697 - Canaletto (born Giovanni Antonio Canal), Italian painter of city views or vedute, of Venice, Rome, and London. He also painted imaginary views (referred to as capricci), although the demarcation in his works between the real and the imaginary is never quite clearcut. He was further an important printmaker using the etching technique. In the period from 1746 to 1756 he worked in England where he painted many views of London and other sites including Warwick Castle and Alnwick Castle. He was highly successful in England, thanks to the British merchant and connoisseur Joseph "Consul" Smith, whose large collection of Canaletto's works was sold to King George III in 1762. 

1706 - Baldassare Galuppi, Italian/Venetian opera composer, harpsichordist, and teacher. He belonged to a generation of composers, including Johann Adolph Hasse, Giovanni Battista Sammartini, and C. P. E. Bach, whose works are emblematic of the prevailing galant music that developed in Europe throughout the 18th century. He achieved international success, spending periods of his career in Vienna, London and Saint Petersburg, but his main base remained Venice, where he held a succession of leading appointments. Galuppi's name persists in the English poet Robert Browning's 1855 poem "A Toccata of Galuppi's", Poetry Foundation. (Here's a heartwarming Galuppi sonata, Sonata No. 5 in C, beautifully performed by Vadim Chaimovich. Accessed October 18, 2020)

1859 - Henri-Louis Bergson, French philosopher influential in the tradition of continental philosophy, especially during the first half of the 20th century until the Second World War. Bergson is known for his arguments that processes of immediate experience and intuition are more significant than abstract rationalism and science for understanding reality.  He was awarded the 1927 Nobel Prize in Literature "in recognition of his rich and vitalizing ideas and the brilliant skill with which they have been presented". In 1930 France awarded him its highest honour, the Grand-Croix de la Legion d'honneur.

1919 - Pierre Elliott Trudeau (Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau), PC CC CH QC FRSC  or by the initials PET, Canadian politician, the 15th prime minister of Canada and leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, between 1968 and 1984, with a brief period as Leader of the Opposition, from 1979 to 1980. His tenure of 15 years and 164 days makes him Canada's third longest-serving Prime Minister, behind William Lyon Mackenzie King and John A. Macdonald.

1927 - George C. Scott, American actor, director, and producer. He was best known for his stage work, as well as his portrayals of the prosecutor Claude Dancer in Anatomy of a Murder, General Buck Turgidson in Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove, General George S. Patton in the film Patton, and Ebenezer Scrooge in Clive Donner's film A Christmas Carol. He was the first actor to refuse the Academy Award for Best Actor (for Patton in 1970), having warned the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences months in advance that he would do so on philosophical grounds if he won. Scott believed that every dramatic performance was unique and could not be compared to others.

1948 - Ntozake Shange (born Paulette Linda Williams), American playwright and poet, As a Black feminist, she addressed issues relating to race and Black power. She is best known for her Obie Award-winning play, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf. She also penned novels including Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo, Liliane, and Betsey Brown, about an African-American girl runaway from home. Among Shange's honors and awards were fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and Lila Wallace Reader's Digest Fund, and a Pushcart Prize. In April 2016, Barnard College announced it had acquired Shange's archive.

 
1956 - Martina Navratilova, Czechoslovak-born American former professional tennis player and coach. In 2005, Tennis magazine selected her as the greatest female tennis player for the years 1975 through 2005 and she is considered one of the best female tennis players of all time.

 
1960 - Jean-Claude Van Damme (born Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg), Belgian actor and retired martial artist best known for his martial arts action films. His most popular projects include Bloodsport, Cyborg, Kickboxer, Lionheart, Death Warrant, Double Impact, Universal Soldier, Nowhere to Run, Hard Target, Timecop, Street Fighter, Sudden Death, The Quest, Maximum Risk, JCVD), Jean-Claude van Johnson (2016–2017 series), and The Bouncer.

1961 - Wynton Learson Marsalis, American trumpeter, composer, teacher, and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. He has promoted classical and jazz music, often to young audiences. Marsalis has won at least nine Grammy Awards, and his Blood on the Fields was the first jazz composition to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music. He is the only musician to win a Grammy Award in jazz and classical during the same year. (Wynton Marsalis Tribute to Louis Armstrong. YouTube, getgs. Accessed October 18, 2020. The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra ft. Wynton Marsalis (Live) | JAZZ NIGHT IN AMERICA. YouTube, uploaded by Jazz Night in America. Accessed October 18, 2022.)

Leftie:
Tennis champion player Martina Navratilova

 

 

More birthdays and historical events, October 18 - On This Day

Historical Events

1851 - Herman Melville's Moby Dick, one of the greatest literary works in English language, is published by Richard Bentley of London.

1860 - British troops destroy the Emperor's Summer Palace in Peking (Beijing), China.