March 6 Dateline

Birthdays

1475 - Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni or more commonly known as Michelangelo, Italian sculptor, painter, architect and poet of the High Renaissance period born in the Republic of Florence. He exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art. (Michelangelo Matter & Spirit, uploaded by Alvin T. Abrea. Accessed March 6, 2015. Michelangelo Biography, uploaded by Biographics. Accessed March 6, 2019.)

1619 - Cyrano de Bergerac, (6th of March is actually the date of his baptism, but often cited as his date of birth. At the time, it was usual for a baptism to take place within 3 days of birth and in Paris, with easy access to a priest, it would have been possible that it happened on the same day. However, the actual date remains unknown.), French Writer and Playwright. An innovative writer, his work was part of the libertine literature of the first half of the 17th Today he is best known as the inspiration for Edmond Rostand's most noted drama Cyrano de Bergerac, which, although it includes elements of his life, also contains invention and myth. Since the 1970s, there has been a resurgence in the study of Cyrano, demonstrated in the abundance of theses, essays, articles and biographies published in France and elsewhere.

1754 - Josepha Duschek, Czech soprano. She was an outstanding soprano of the Classical era, a contemorary and friend of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who wrote a few works for her to sing. Her name is most often given in its German version as above. In Czech her name was Josefína Dušková or Josepha Duschkova. She was a pupil of Frantisek Xavier Dusek, and married him on Oct 21, 1776. The Duseks occasionally visited Salzburg, the hometown of Josef's mother. In spring 1786 Mozart accompanied her at aprivate concert before the Viennese court, and the following year he wrote her the recitative and aria "Bella mia fiamma, addio" K528. In 1789 she sang at Mozart's concerts inDresden and Leipzig. She died January 8, 1824. (Biblio: M. Flothius:'Welche Arien sang Josepha Duschek am 26.Apr 1791?', MISM, xxxvii (1989), 81-2.)

1806 - Elizabeth Barrett Browning (née Moulton-Barrett), English poet of the Victorian era, popular in Britain and the United States during her lifetime. Her work had a major influence on prominent writers of the day, including the American poets Edgar Allan Poe and Emily Dickinson. She is remembered for such poems as "How Do I Love Thee?" (Sonnet 43, 1845) and Aurora Leigh (1856).

1926 - H.C. Robbins Landon (Howard Chandler Robbins Landon), American musicologist, journalist, historian and broadcaster, best known for his work in rediscovering huge neglected music by Joseph Haydn and in correcting misunderstandings about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. He co-founded the Haydn Society in 1949. He published his five-volume study, Haydn: Chronicle and Works. He and the society also recorded neglected works of Mozart, publishing five popular books about Mozart, and dispelling myths about the composer's life. He had written 28 books by 1996. Landon wrote regularly for music magazines and newspapers, especially the longest-established London paper, The Times. He was a popular broadcaster for the BBC on radio and television and was praised for his ability to enthuse general audiences with his chosen subject. From the 1970s, he was a sought-after lecturer and held appointments with colleges.

1928 - Gabriel García Márquez, Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo or Gabito throughout Latin America. Considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century and one of the best in the Spanish language, he was awarded the 1972 Neustadt International Prize for Literature and the 1982 Nobel Prize in Literataure. He is best known for his novels,  such as One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967), The Autumn of the Patriarch (1975), and Love in the Time of Cholera (1985). (Gabriel Garcia Marquez: A Literary Giant. Uploaded by Al Jazeera English. Accessed March 6, 2016.)

1930 - Lorin Maazel, (born Lorin Varencove Maazel), American conductor, violinist and composer. He began conducting at the age of eight. He had established a reputation in the concert halls of Europe by 1960 but, by comparison, his career in the U.S. progressed far more slowly. However, he would later be appointed music director of The Cleveland Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic, among other posts. Maazel was well-regarded in baton technique and possessed a photographic memory for scores. Described as mercurial and forbidding in rehearsal, he mellowed in old age. 

 

1944 - Dame Kiri Jeanette Claire Te Kanawa ( born Claire Mary Teresa Rawstron), New Zealand opera singer. She had a full lyric soprano voice, which has been described as "mellow yet vibrant, warm, ample and unforced". Te Kanawa had three top 40 albums in Australia in the mid-1980s. She is most famous for "O mio babbino" from Puccini's opera Gianni Schicchi. She has received accolades, singing a wide array of works in many languages dating from the 17th to the 20th centuries, and associated with the works of Mozart, Strauss, Verdi, Handel and Puccini. She rarely sang opera later in her career but frequently performed in concert and recital, gave masterclasses, and supported young opera singers in launching their careers. (Gramophone Lifetime Achievement Award 13/9/2017, KiriOnline - K.T. Kanawa. Accessed March 6, 2018).

1947 - Dick Fosbury (born Richard DouglasFosbry), American retired High jumper, inventor of the "Fosbury flop." , 1947) considered one of the most influential athletes in the history of track and field. Besides winning a gold medal at the 1968 Olympics, he revolutionized the high jump event with a "back-first" technique, now known as the Fosbury Flop, adopted by almost all high jumpers today. His method was to sprint diagonally towards the bar, then curve and leap backwards over the bar, which gave him a much lower center of mass in flight than traditional techniques.

1980 -  Shaun Francis Evans, English actor, best known for playing as young Endeavour Morse in the ITV drama series Endeavour.

Leftie:
Artist Michelangelo

Deaths:
1836 - Davy Crockett, American Frontiersman
1888 - Louisa May Alcott, Writer
2016 - Nancy Reagan, former U.S. First Lady

More birthdays and historical events, March 6 - On This Day

FEATURES:  ARTIST MICHELANGELO  (March 6, 1475 to February 18, 1564)

Michelangelo Art Documentary. Artist and Man. Biography Film. Video uploaded by artandfilm21. Accessed March 6, 2018. 

Historical Events

1836 - The 12-day siege of Alamo ends, leaving only six of 155 men alive.

1831 - Vincenzo Bellini's opera La Sonnambula is first performed in Milan. 

1853 - Giuseppe Verdi's opera La Traviata is first staged in Venice. 

March 5 Dateline

Birthdays

1133 - Henry II, King of England. Born at Le Mans in France. Also known as Henry Curtmantle, Henry FitzEmpress or Henry Plantagenet, King of England from 1154 until his death in 1189. He was the first king of the House of Plantagenet. King Louis VII of France made him Duke of Normandy in 1150. He became Count of Anjou and Maine upon the death of his father, Count Geoffrey V, in 1151. His marriage in 1152 to Eleanor of Aquitaine, whose marriage to Louis VII had recently been annulled, made him Duke of Aquitaine. He became Count of Nantes by treaty in 1185. Before he was 40 he controlled England, large parts of Wales, the eastern half of Ireland and the western half of France; an area that was later called the Angevin Empire. Henry also partially controlled Scotland, Wales and the Duchy of Brittany. He fathered four sons, including two who go on to rule: Richard I and John.

1817 - Austen Henry Layard, English traveller, archaeologist, cuneiformist, art historian, politician and diplomat. Best known as the excavator of Nimrud and of Nineveh, where he uncovered a large proportion of the Assyrian palace reliefs known, and in 1851 the library of Ashurbanipal.

1870 - Frank Norris Jr., American novelist and journalist during the Progressive Era, whose fiction was predominantly in the naturalist genre. His notable works include McTeague (1899), The Octopus: A Story of California (1901), and The Pit (1903).

1887 - Heitor Villa-lobos, Brazilian composer, conductor, cellist, pianist, and guitarist described as "the single most significant creative figure in 20th-century Brazilian art music", often considered the best-known South American composer of all time. He wrote numerous orchestral, chamber, instrumental and vocal works, totaling over 2000 works by his death in 1959.

1908 - Sir Reginald Carey "Rex" Harrison (born Reginald Carey Harrison), English actor of stage and screen. Harrison began his career on the stage in 1924. He made his West End debut in 1936 appearing in the Terence Rattigan play French Without Tears, in what was his breakthrough role. He won his first Tony Award for his performance as Henry VIII in the play Anne of the Thousand Days in 1949. He won his second Tony for the role of Professor Henry Higgins in the stage production of My Fair Lady in 1957. In addition to his stage career, Harrison also appeared in numerous films. In June 1989, Harrison was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. In 1975, Harrison released his first autobiography. His second, A Damned Serious Business: My Life in Comedy, was published posthumously in 1991.

 

1948 - Elaine Jill Paige OBE (née Bickerstaff) English singer and actress, best known for her work in musical theatre. Her appearance in the 1968 production of Hair marked her West End debut. For her role as Eva Perón in the first production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita in 1978, she won the Laurence Olivier Award for Performance of the Year in a musical. She originated the role of Grizabella in Cats and had a Top 10 hit with "Memory", a song from the show. In 1985, Paige released "I Know Him So Well" with Barbara Dickson from the musical Chess, which remains the biggest-selling record by a female duo. She appeared in The King and I from 2000 to 2001, and six years later she returned to the West End stage in The Drowsy Chaperone. (Elaine Paige, Barbara Dickson - I Know Him So Well "From CHESS" (Official Video). YouTube, uploaded by ChessVEVO. Accessed March 5, 2017. Elaine Paige Performs 'Memory' - Royal Albert Hall | Cats the Musical. Uploaded by Cats the Musical. Accessed Marcy 5, 2020.)

1958 - Andy Gibb (born Andrew Roy Gibb), English singer and songwriter. He was the younger brother of the Bee Gees: Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb. Gibb came to international prominence in the late 1970s with six singles that reached the Top 10 in the United States, starting with "I Just Want to Be Your Everything" (1977), followed by three other top 20 singles. Gibb's success was brief due to drug addiction and depression. He died five days after his 30th birthday while attempting a comeback.

Lefties:
Actor Rex Harrison
Singer Andy Gibb

 

More birthdays and historical events, March 5 - On This Day

 

Featuring:  Villa-Lobos' Bachianas Basileiras Suite No. 4.

Historical Events

1940 - Members of the Soviet Politburo, including Joseph Stalin, sign the order to kill 25, 700 Polish "nationalists."  The Nazis, blamed for the massacres at the end of World War II, later discover the first of the mass graves at Katyn. The U.S.S.R. finally admits to the murders in 1990.

1946 - Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister, delivers the speech that warns of the Soviet Union threat that poses to the West. His speech popularizes the term "iron curtain" and signals the beginning of the Cold War.