French Composer Maurice Ravel, famous for Pavanne pour une infante defunte, the ballet Daphnis et Chloe, and Bolero.
French composer and pianistMaurice Ravel is known especially for the subtlety, richness and poignancy of his music. His works, primarily piano, chamber-music and orchestral works, have become repertoire staples.
Joseph-Maurice Ravel was born on March 7, 1875, in Ciboure, France. He studies in Conservatoire de Paris. He was known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental music. Along with Claude Debussy, he was one of the most prominent figures associated with Impressionist music.
Ravel's piano compositions, especially his orchestrations, as in Daphnis et Chloe and his arrangements of Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, are notable for their effective use of tonal color and variety of sound.
1785 - Alessandro Francesco Tommaso Antonio Manzoni, Italian poet, novelist and philosopher. He is famous for the novel The Betrothed (orig. Italian: I promessi sposi) (1827), generally ranked among the masterpieces of world literature. The novel is also a symbol of the Italian Risorgimento, both for its patriotic message and because it was a fundamental milestone in the development of the modern, unified Italian language.
Manzoni contributed to the stabilization of the modern Italian
language and helped to ensure linguistic unity throughout Italy. He was
an influential proponent of Liberal Catholicism in Italy. Considered Manzoni's noblest monument was Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem, written to honour his memory.
1792 - Sir John Herschel (born John Frederick William Herschel, 1st Baronet), KH FRS, English polymath, mathematician, astronomer, chemist, inventor, experimental photographer who invented the blueprint; he also did botanical work. Herschel originated the use of the Julian day system in astronomy. He named seven moons of Saturn and four moons of Uranus—the seventh planet, discovered by his father William Herschel. He made many contributions to the science of photography, and investigated colour blindness and the chemical power of ultraviolet rays. His Preliminary Discourse (1831), which advocated an inductive approach to scientific experiment and theory-building, was an important contribution to the philosophy of science. His greatest influences were William Herschel (father) and Caroline Herschel (aunt).
1872 - Piet Mondrian (born Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan, after 1906, Piet Mondrian), Dutch painter and theoretician regarded as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century and whose art always remained rooted in nature. He is known for being one of the pioneers of 20th-century abstract art,
as he changed his artistic direction from figurative painting to an increasingly abstract style, until he reached a point where his artistic
vocabulary was reduced to simple geometric elements. Mondrian's art was highly utopian and was concerned with a search for universal values and aesthetics. He proclaimed in 1914: "Art is higher than reality and has no direct relation to reality. To approach the spiritual in art, one will make as little use as possible of reality, because reality is opposed to the spiritual. We find ourselves in the presence of an abstract art. Art should be above reality, otherwise it would have no value for man." (Deconstructing Mondrian: The Story Behind the Iconic Design. Uploaded by Wall Street Journal. Accessed March 7 2018. Piet Mondrian: A Life in 10 Snippets. Art in School. Accessed March 7, 2020.)
1875 -Maurice Ravel (born Joseph Maurice Ravel), French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. Ravel developed a style of great clarity and incorporating elements of modernism, baroque, neoclassicism and, in his later works, jazz. He liked to experiment with musical form, as in his best-known work, Boléro (1928), in which repetition takes the place of development. Among his works to enter the repertoire are pieces for piano, chamber music, two piano concertos, ballet music, two operas and eight song cycles; he wrote no symphonies or church music. Many of his works exist in two versions: first, a piano score and later an orchestration. Some of his piano music, such as Gaspard de la nuit, is exceptionally difficult to play, and his complex orchestral works such as Daphnis et Chloé require skilful balance in performance. Ravel was among the first composers to recognise the potential of recording to bring their music to a wider public. (Here's an amazing flash mob of Ravel's Bolero. Societat Musical D'algemesi in Spain. Accessed March 7, 2015.)
1960- Ivan Lendl, Czech-American professional tennis player. He was world No. 1 for 270 weeks and won 94 singles titles. At the majors he won eight titles and was runner-up a record 11 times. He also won seven year-end championships. Lendl pioneered a new style of tennis; his game was built around his forehand, hit hard with heavy topspin, and his success is cited as a primary influence in popularizing the currently common playing style of aggressive baseline power tennis. After retirement, he became a tennis coach for multiple players. He has helped Andy Murray win three major titles and reach the No. 1 ranking.
Leftie:
Composer Maurice Ravel
Deaths: 322 B.C.E. - Aristotle, Philosopher 1999 - Stanley Kubrick, Film director
More birthdays and historical events, March 7 - On This Day
Features:
To the tune of Ravel's Bolero, I'm featuring the famous and most spectacular ice skaters Torvill & Dean perform their routine during the 1984 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (inc Medals & Anthem). World Figure Skating Championships in Ottawa, Canada, March 1984.
YouTube, uploaded by Spader Holic. Accessed March 7, 2018.)
Historical Events
1530 - The 12-day siege of Alamo ends, leaving only six of 155 men alive.
1897 - Johannes Brahms attends his last concert and hears his symphony No. 4 being conducted by Hans Richter.
Maurice Ravel's Shéhérazade for solo voice and orchestra is first performed in Paris, May 17, 1904. It is a song cycle for soprano (or tenor) solo and orchestra, after three poems by Tristan Klingsor: "Asie," "La flûte enchantée," and "L'indifférent," written in 1903. The performance was at the Société Nationale, Paris, with Jeanne Hatto and the orchestra conducted by Alfred Cortot.
Pietro Mascagni's famous and most successful opera, Cavalleria Rusticana, is first performed in Costanzi Theater, Rome, also on the same day, May 17 (1890).
Michèle Losier - Shéhérazade, I. Asie (Ravel)
Cavalleria Rusticana - Mascagni (opera completa) - Noto (SR) 31/08/2013
Video Credit:
Sheherazade by Ravel. YouTube uploaded by Bellerophon. Accessed 17 May 2016.
Cavalleria Rusticana. by Mascagni. YouTube uploaded by Giacomo Mazzoni. Accessed 17 May 2018.
Resources:
Myers RH. Ravel: Life and Works. Thomas Yoseloff, New York, 1960.
Sadie, Stanley, Ed. (1994). The Grove Concise Dictionary of Music, Ne wUpdated Edition. London: Macmillan Publishers.
(c) May 2016. Updated May 18, 2018. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.
Pictures at an Exhibition by Russian composer Mussorgsky
"Pictures from an Exhibition" – A Remembrance of Viktor Hartmann is a suite in 10 movements composed for piano by Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky in 1874. It is considered his best and most famous piano composition. It is known for its various orchestrations and arrangements by other composers, the most famous of which is Maurice Ravel's most performed and recorded arrangement.
Pictures at an Exhibition: Promenade (part 1)
Valery Gergiev with The Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra play "Pictures at an Exhibition" Promenade (part 1) by Modest Mussorgsky.
Brief biography of English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams,
his life, influence and list of major works - symphonies, tone poems, sacred
music and operas. His work is much a part of great English music began by Elgar. He is mainly famous for Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis.
Ralph
Vaughan Williams is best known for his deep love of the English countryside,
English history, art and literature, all expressed in his music. With his
affinity in English folk music, his roots surfaced, having been the
great-nephew of the naturalist Charles Darwin. He was about seven, when the
latter published his treatise on evolution, The Origin of Species.
Brief Biography
Ralph Vaughan
Williams was born in Down Ampney on December 12, 1872, son of a clergy, and his
mother related to Darwin.
When his father died, the family moved to Surrey.
1802 - Charles Auguste de Bériot, Belgian violinist and composer. Bériot lived with the opera singer Maria Malibran and had a child (Charles-Wilfrid de Bériot, a piano professor who taught Maurice Ravel and Enrique Granados amongst other) with her in 1833. They were married in 1836 when Malibran obtained an annulment of her previous marriage. De Bériot composed a great amount of violin music including ten concertos. His pioneering violin technique and Romantic style of composition make his concertos and etudes an important stepping stone for the serious violin student wishing to gain a firm foundation before studying the major concertos of the Romantic era. His most popular concertos are No. 9 in A minor Op. 104 and No. 7 in G major Op. 76. (Here, beautifully interpreted by Bernard Chevalier, De Beriot's Violin Concerto #9 Op. 104 in A minor. Accessed February 20, 2019. Charles Auguste de Bériot: Violin Concerto No. 2 in B minor, Op. 32. Uploaded by Johann Rufinatscha. Accessed February 20, 2020. Artists: Philippe Quint, Violin.
Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra. Kirk Trevor, Conductor.)
1924 - Gloria Laura Vanderbilt, American clothing designer and entrepreneur, artist, author, actress, socialite.She was a member of the Vanderbilt family of New York and the mother of CNN television anchor Anderson Cooper. During the 1930s, she was the subject of a high-profile child custody trial in which her mother, Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt, and her paternal aunt, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, each sought custody of her and control over her trust fund. Called the "trial of the century" by the press, the court proceedings were the subject of wide press coverage due to the wealth and prominence of the
involved parties, and the scandalous evidence presented to support Whitney's claim that Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt was an unfit parent. As an adult in the 1970s, Vanderbilt launched a line of fashions, perfumes, and household goods bearing her name. She was particularly noted as an early developer of designer blue jeans.
1925 - Robert Bernard Altman, American film director, screenwriter, and producer. A five-time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Director and an enduring figure from the New Hollywood era, Altman was considered a "maverick" in making films with a highly naturalistic but stylized and satirical aesthetic, unlike most Hollywood films. He is consistently ranked as one of the
greatest and most influential filmmakers in American cinema. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized Altman's body of work with an Academy Honorary Award. He never won a competitive Oscar despite seven nominations. His films MASH, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, and Nashville have been selected for the United States National Film Registry.
1927 - Sidney Poitier, KBE, Bahamian-American actor and film director. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor, the first black actor to win that award, and was nominated a second time. In addition, he was nominated six times for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Award (BAFTA) for Best Foreign Actor, winning each once. From 1997 to 2007, he served as the Bahamian Ambassador to Japan. Poitier also received critical acclaim for A Raisin in the Sun and A Patch of Blue. Poitier continued to break ground in three successful 1967 films, each dealing with issues of race and race relations: To Sir, with Love; Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, and In the Heat of the Night, making him the top box-office star of that year. He received nominations for the Golden Globes and BAFTAs for the latter film, but not for the Oscars, likely due to vote splitting between his roles. After twice reprising his Virgil Tibbs character from In the Heat of the Night and acting in a variety of other films, Poiter turned to acting/directing with the action-comedies. (In the Heat of the Night (1967) Movie. Accessed February 20, 2018. Note: I consider this movie an absolute classic film about the horror as well as absurdity of racial attitudes. Sidney Poitier is excellent as Virgil Tibbs, the more experienced African-American police detective, whilst Rod Steiger's performance is superb as the weary, frustrated police chief of a small town struggling to cope with a murder he can't solve without accepting reluctant help from the more experienced officer, Tibbs. As their respect for each other begin and develop, there is awesome chemistry between them.)
1937 - Nancy Sue Wilson, American Jazz singer. She was notable for her single "(You Don't Know) How Glad I Am" and her version of the standard "Guess Who I Saw Today". Wilson recorded more than 70 albums and won three Grammy Awards for her
work. She was labeled a singer of blues, jazz, R&B, pop, and soul; a "consummate actress"; and "the complete entertainer". The title she preferred, however, was "song stylist". She received many nicknames including "Sweet Nancy", "The Baby", "Fancy Miss Nancy" and "The Girl With the Honey-Coated Voice".
1947 - Peter Lawrence Strauss, American television and film actor, known for his roles in several television miniseries. He is five-time Golden Globe Awards nominee. He won an Emmy Award for his role on the 1979 made-for-television movie The Jericho Mile, and he starred in a television remake of the classic film Angel on My Shoulder in 1980. He played Abel Roznovski in the miniseries Kane & Abel based on Jeffrey Archer's book. His other noted television miniseries credits include starring roles in Rich Man, Poor Man, its sequel Rich Man, Poor Man Book II, and Masada. Strauss played Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. in the 1977 TV movie Young Joe, the Forgotten Kennedy. In 1973, he portrayed Stephen Linder, Mary Richards' suave younger boyfriend in The Mary Tyler Moore Show fourth-season episode, "Angels in the Snow."
1966 - Cynthia "Cindy" Ann Crawford, American model, actress and businesswoman. Her years of success at modeling made her an international celebrity that have led to roles in television and film as well as other business ventures. During the 1980s and 1990s, Crawford was among the most popular supermodels and a ubiquitous presence on magazine covers, runways, and in fashion campaigns.
Leftie:
Musician Kurt Cobain
More birthdays and historical events, February 20 - On This Day
1472 - Christian I, King of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, pawns the isles of Orkney and Shetland to James III of Scotland in lieu of a royal dowry for his daughter Princess Margaret.
1724 - George F. Handel's opera Julius Caesar is first performed at King's Theatre, London.(Two excerpts from Julius Caesar exquisitely performed by Dame Janet Baker. Produced in 1984: British production of Handel's Giulio Cesare (Julius
Ceasar), starring the magnificent voice of mezzo soprano Janet Baker.
The Chorus & Orchestra of the English National Opera is conducted by
the legendary Charles Mackerras.
Scene 1. "Empio diro, tu sei" ("Tyrant, avoid my sight!")
Scene 2."Va tacito e nascosto" ("How silently, how slyly"). Uploaded by GreatPerformers1. Accessed February 20, 2015.)
French composer Germaine (Marcelle) Tailleferre (April 19, 1892 – November 7, 1983) was the only female member of ‘Les Six’, a group of French composers influenced by Erie Satie and by Jean Cocteau’s anti-Romantic aesthetic. She wrote operas, ballets, instrumental music and film scores.
Tailleferre was born in Parc-Sait-Maur near Paris. Despite her father’s opposition, she entered Paris Conservatoire in 1904. She studied with Maurice Ravel and Charles Koechlin. Her former tutor was Sautereau-Meyer.
Aside from being a composer, she was a piano prodigy who began to compose at age 5. She had an amazing memory and won numerous prizes.Her numerous works include the opera Il etait un petit navire (1951), and the ballet Le marchand d'oiseaux (1923).
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.
French composers Gabriel Fauré and Jules Massenet share the same birthday.
Gabriel Urbain Fauré (12 May 1845 - 4 November 1924), was born in Pamiers. He was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher.
One of the foremost French composers of his day, his musical style influenced many 20th century composers. Among his best-known works are his Nocturnes for piano, the songs "Après un rêve" and "Clare de lune." He studied with Saint-Saens. His own pupils included Maurice Ravel, Enesco, and Nadia Boulanger.
His musical style influenced many 20th century composers. His harmonic and melodic language affected how harmony was later taught. Here's Faure Requiem Op.48 / Durufle Requiem Op.9
Gabriel Fauré (Composer), Robert Shaw (Conductor), Atlanta Symphony Orchestra & Chorus (Orchestra), Judith Blegen (Soprano), James Morris (Baritone) | Format: Audio CD. Accesed May 12, 2015. Sheku Kaneh-Mason playsFauré: Après un rêve for cello & piano. Accessed Mary 12, 2018.)
Jules Massenet (May 12, 1842 - August 13, 1912), French opera composer and teacher, is born in Montaud.
His two most frequently staged operas are Manon and Werther. He also composed oratorios, ballets, orchestral works, incidental music, piano pieces, songs and other music. He is best-known for his opera Thais, with that poignant and heartwarming "Meditation de Thais." French composer of the Romantic era, his compositions were very popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and he was one of the greatest melodists of his time.
Apart from his best known operas, Manon and Werther, his works were rarely performed, however since the mid-1970 his operas such as Thais, have been revived. Like many prominent French composers of the period, Massenet became a
professor at the Conservatoire. He taught composition there from 1878
until 1896, when he resigned after the death of the director, Ambroise
Thomas. Among his students were Gustave Charpentier, Ernest Chausson, Reynaldo Hahn and Gabriel Pierné. (Antonio Pappano introduces the music of Werther (The Royal Opera). Accessed May 12, 2018. The great Luciano Pavarotti singing Massenet's Pourquoi Me Reveiller. From the 1986 25th anniversary concert at M.S.G. with Emerson Buckley conducting. Uploaded by uncjim. Accessed May12, 2019.)
A simple description of a program music: it refers to music that portrays
specifically what the composer wants to communicate to the listener or
audience. It tells stories with the voices of instruments.
1. An American in Paris (1928), by George Gershwin
An American reacts to the atmosphere of Paris, France. It even includes
taxi horns. One of his best-known compositions, George Gershwin's An American in Paris
is a jazz-influenced symphonic poem he composed in 1928. It is inspired
by the time he had spent in Paris in the 1920s, evoking the sights and
energy of the the city.
2. Carnival of the Animals (1886), by Camille Saint-Saëns
The Carnival of the Animals (Le carnaval des animaux)
is a short piece of music, around 25 minutes, known as the "grand
zoological fantasy," as the French composer Camille Saint Saens called
it. It depicts a parade of animals, portrayed with a wonderful humour.
It is a musical suite of 14 movements, written for private performance
by an ad hoc ensemble of two pianos and other instruments. (Refer to February 26 video.)
3. Four Seasons (c. 1725), by Antonio Vivaldi
Antonio Vivaldi's most famous Four Seasons
includes four concerti representing the four seasons: Summer, Spring,
Autumn and Winter. This music is his most recorded and performed
compositions. It was first played by the talented orphans of
the Conservatorio dell' Ospedale della Pietà in 18th-century Venice, for
which Vivaldi wrote instrumental music and oratorios.
4. On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring (1912), by Frederick Delius On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring
is a tone poem, a lovely scene, composed by Delius and first performed
in Leipzig on October 23, 1913. The orchestral strings produce an
atmosphere of a warm spring day, and a cuckoo still away a lovely mood
through the woodwind. The piece opens with a slow three-bar sequence.
Its first theme is an exchange of cuckoo calls, first for oboe, then for
divided strings. The second theme is scored for first violins, taken
from a Norwegian folk song, "In Ola Valley," which was brought to his
attention by Percy Grainger, Australian composer and folk-arranger. The
clarinet returns with the cuckoo before the piece finishes in a
pastoral fashion. The music has such a pastoral beauty and serenity in the air. (Delius 'On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring' - Felix Slatkin conducts. YouTube, uploaded by adam28xx. Accessed August 22, 2020)
1784 - Karl Thomas Mozart, the second son, and the elder of the two surviving sons, of Wolfgang and Constanze Mozart. He became a gifted pianist, but before he finished his schooling, however, he left for Livorno in 1797 to begin his apprenticeship with a trading firm.
1866 - H.G. Wells, English writer, famous for producing classics of science fiction, with extraordinary insights into the future. His famous works include The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, War of the Worlds, The Shape of Things to Come and The Island of Dr Moreau.
1874 - Gustav Holst (born Gustavus Theodore von Holst), English composer, famous for his orchestral suite "The Planets", and whose daughter, Imogen Holst, his biographer, is also a composer. He composed across a range of genres, although none
achieved comparable success. His distinctive compositional style was the product of many influences, Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss being most crucial early in his development. The subsequent inspiration of the English folksong revival of the early 20th century, and the example of such rising modern composers as Maurice Ravel, led Holst to develop and refine an individual style.
1931 - Larry Martin Hagman, American actor, film director and producer, famous for TV series Dallas, playing ruthless oil baron J.R. Ewing and the befuddled astronaut Major Anthony "Tony" Nelson in the sitcom I Dream of Jeannie. His television appearances also included guest roles on dozens of shows spanning from the late 1950s until his death and a reprise of his signature role on the 2012 revival of Dallas.
1934 - Leonard Cohen, CC GOQ (born Leonard Norman Cohen), Canadian singer, songwriter, poet, and novelist. His work explored religion, politics, isolation, sexuality, and romantic relationships. Cohen was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. (Hallelujah, uploaded by LeonardCohen. Accessed September 21, 2018.)
1947 - Stephen Edwin King, American author. His books have sold more than 350 million copies,
and many have been adapted into films, television series, miniseries, and comic books. King has published 61 novels, including seven under the pen name Richard Bachman, and five non-fiction books. He has also written numerous 200 short stories published in book collections. King is multi-awarded. Some of his awards include: the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, awards for his contribution to literature for his entire bibliography, such as the 2004 World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement, and the 2007 Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America. He was awarded with a National Medal of Arts from the U.S. National Endowment for the Arts for his contributions to literature.
1950 - Bill Murray (born William James Murray), American actor, comedian, filmmaker, and writer. Known for his deadpan delivery, he first rose to fame on Saturday Night Live, a series of performances that earned him his first Emmy Award, and later starred in comedy films. He also co-directed Quick Change. Murray later starred in Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation, which earned him a Golden Globe and a British Academy Film Award, as well as an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. He received Golden Globe nominations for his roles in Ghostbusters, Rushmore, Hyde Park on Hudson, St. Vincent, and the HBO miniseries Olive Kitteridge, for which he later won his second Primetime Emmy Award. Murray received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2016.
Lefties:
None known
More birthdays and historical events, September 21 - On This Day
Historical Events
1880 - The International Mozart Foundation is established in Salzburg.
1937 - J.R.R. Tolkien's book The Hobbit is published. Its first print run is a 1,500 copies, but this acclaimed fantasy novel has now been published in more than 38 languages and sold more than 50 million copies.
Karol Maciej Korwin-Szymanowski (October 6, 1882 - March 28, 1937), was a polish composer and pianist. He was born in Tymoszówka, then part of Poland, now in present-day Ukraine. He studied music privately with his father before going to Gustav Neuhaus' Elizawetgrad School of Music from 1892, and from 1901, the State Conservatory in Warsaw, of which he was later director.
Szymanowski was influenced by the music of Richard Strauss, Max Reger, Alexander Scriabin and the impressionism of Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel. He also drew much influence from his countryman Frédéric Chopin and Polish folk music, and like Chopin he wrote a number of mazurkas for piano (the mazurka being a Polish folk dance).
1754 -Franz Anton Hoffmeister, German composer and music publisher, contemporary of Wolfgang Mozart. His publishing activities reached a peak in 1791 after Mozart passed on, but he appeared to have devoted more time to composition. Most of his operas were composed and staged during the early 1790s and this, combined with an apparent lack of business sense, led to his noticeable decline as a publisher.
1765 - Lady Emma Hamilton, (26 April 1765?; baptised 12 May), English model and actress, best remembered as the mistress of Lord Nelson and as the muse of the portrait artist George Romney.
1820 -Florence Nightingale, OM, RRC, DSt, English social reformer and statistician, and the founder of
modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during the Crimean War, in which she organised care for wounded soldiers at Constantinople. She gave nursing a favourable reputation and became an icon of Victorian culture, especially in the persona of "The Lady with the Lamp" making rounds of wounded soldiers at night. (Florence Nightingale - The Lady with the Lamp. YouTube, uploaded by Biographics. Accessed May 12, 2021.)
1828 - Gabriel Dante Rossetti (also called Dante Gabriel Rossetti), British poet, painter and translator. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848 with William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais (Dante Gabriel Rossetti Life & Works. Uploaded by Literature Forever. Accessed May 12, 2017. Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1828 1882 Painter & Poet. Uploaded by Antony D.I. Barnard. Accesed May 12, 2019. Antony D.I. Barnard. )
1842 - Jules (Émile Frédéric) Massenet, French composer of the Romantic era best known for his operas, Manon and Werther, and famous for "Thais Meditation," from his opera Thais. He wrote more than thirty operas. Aside from his two most frequently staged Manon and Werther, he also composed oratorios, ballets, orchestral works, incidental music, piano pieces, songs and other music. He wrote more than forty stage works in a wide variety of styles, from opéra-comique to grand-scale depictions of classical myths, romantic comedies, lyric dramas, as well as oratorios, cantatas and ballets. Massenet had a good sense of the theatre and of what would succeed with the Parisian public. Despite some miscalculations, he
produced a series of successes that made him the leading composer of opera in France in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Although critics do not rank him among the handful of outstanding operatic geniuses such as Mozart, Verdi and Wagner, his operas are now widely accepted. (Antonio Pappano introduces the music of Werther (The Royal Opera). YouTube, uploaded by Royal Opera House. Accessed May 12, 2021.)
1845 - Gabriel (Urbain) Faure, French composer, organist, pianist and teacher, popular with his own Requiem. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation. Among his best-known works are his Pavane, Requiem, Sicilienne, nocturnes for piano and the songs. Although his best-known and most accessible compositions are generally his earlier ones, Fauré composed many of his most highly regarded works in his later years, in a more harmonically and melodically complex style. (Gabriel FAURE': Pavane, Op. 50 - Paintings By "CLAUDE MONET". YouTube, uploaded by andrewgrummanJC. Accessed May 12, 2020.)
1903 - Sir Lennox Berkeley, English composer, In 1927, he went to Paris to study music with Nadia Boulanger, and there became acquainted with Francis Poulenc, Igor Stravinsky, Darius Milhaud, Arthur Honegger and Albert Roussel. Berkeley studied with Maurice Ravel, often cited as a key influence in Berkeley's technical development as a composer. He was Professor of Composition in the Royal Academy of Music. 1954 saw the premiere of his first opera, Nelson, at Sadler's Wells premiered in 1954. He was knighted in 1974.
1907 - Katharine Hepburn (bornKatharine Houghton Hepburn), American actress who was a leading lady in Hollywood for more than 60 years. She appeared in a range of genres, from screwball comedy to literary drama, and she received a record (for any gender) four Academy Awards for Lead Acting Performances, plus eight further nominations. In 1999, Hepburn was named by the American Film Institute the greatest female star of Classic Hollywood Cinema. She was known for her fierce independence and spirited personality.(Top 10 Katherine Hepburn performance. Updated by MsMojo. Accessed May 12, 2019.)
1928 - Burt Freeman Bacharach, American composer, songwriter, pianist, and record producer. He has composed hundreds of pop songs from the late 1950s through the 1980s, many in collaboration with lyricist Hal David. A six-time Grammy Award winner and three-time Academy Award winner, Bacharach's songs have been recorded by more than
1,000 different artists. He was one of the most important composers of 20th-century popular music. (Burt Bacharach Documentary - His Life and His Music. Uploaded by Brill Videos. Accessed May 13, 2019.)
More birthdays and historical events today, May 12 - On This Day.
Features: 1. OperaThais's 'Meditation' by Jules Massenet. Classic FM M-Tel Radio Symphony Orchestra 13 March 2006. NDK Sofia. Maxim Vengerov, Violin. Conductor: Luciano Di Martino (YouTube, uploaded by The Classicalmusicfan. Accessed 12 May 2018.)
2. Gabriel Rossetti's poem "Sudden Light" set to lovely music by Australian composer and pianist Sally Whitwell, performed by Nicole Thomson, soprano and Rachel Scott, cello.
Sudden Light
I have been here before,
But when or how I cannot tell:
I know the grass beyond the door,
The sweet keen smell,
The sighing sound, the lights around the shore.
You have been mine before,—
How long ago I may not know:
But just when at that swallow's soar
Your neck turned so,
Some veil did fall,—I knew it all of yore.
Has this been thus before?
And shall not thus time's eddying flight
Still with our lives our love restore
In death's despite,
And day and night yield one delight once more?
1908 - Wireless Radio Broadcasting is patented by Nathan B. Stubblefield.
1926 - Dmitri Shostakovich's First Symphony premieres in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). The composer wrote the piece at the age of 19 as his conservatory graduation project.
1771 - Sir Walter Scott, Scottish poet and novelist (A brief profile, YouTube, uploaded from World Thought Leaders / Top Influencers. Accessed 15 August 2018.) Here is one of Sir Walter Scott's famous works: The Lady of the Lake, YoutTube, uploaded by Eric Masters. Accessed 15 August 2018.)
1772 - Johann Nepomuk Maelzel, German engineer, showman, and inventor. He is best known for manufacturing a metronome and several music automatons, and displaying a fraudulent chess machine. He worked with Beethoven to compose a piece.
1769 - Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, French emperor, statesman and military leader who rose to prominence during
the French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the
French Revolutionary Wars. He was the first Emperor of France as Napoleon I
from 1804 until 1814 and again in 1815 during the Hundred Days. He revolutionised military organization and training, sponsored the Napoleonic Code, reorganized education and established the long-lived Concordat with the papacy. (Napoleon's Masterpiece: Austerlitz 1805. Uploaded by Epic History TV. Accessed August 15, 2019.
1785 - Thomas De Quincey, English essayist, best known for Confessions of an English Opium-Eater. Many scholars suggest that in publishing this work De Quincey inaugurated the tradition of addiction literature in the West.
1875 - Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, English composer and conductor of mixed race; his mother was an English woman and his father was a Sierra Leone Creole physician. He was referred to by white New York musicians as the "African Mahler" when he had three tours of the United States in the early 1900s. He was best known for his three cantatas on the epic poem, Song of Hiawatha by American Henry W. Longfellow. He premiered the first section in 1898, when he was 22. He married an Englishwoman, Jessie Walmisley, and both their children had musical careers. Their son Hiawatha adapted his father's music for a variety of performances. Their daughter Avril Coleridge-Taylor became a composer-conductor.
1890 - Jacques Ibert (born Jacques François Antoine Marie Ibert), French composer of classical music and former director of the Academy of Rome. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire and won its top prize, the Prix de Rome at his first attempt, despite studies interrupted by his service in World War I.
His final musical appointment was in charge of the Paris Opera and the Opéra-Comique.
1912 - Dame Wendy Hiller, English film and stage actress, with varied acting career that spanned nearly sixty years. She acted as Russian Princess Dragomiroff in Murder on the Orient Express film (1974), the version with Albert Finney as the Hercule Poirot. The movie is based on Agatha Christie's famous detective novel 1934 of the same name.
1925 - Aldo Ciccolini, Italian-French pianist, a celebrated interpreter and advocate of the piano music of the French composers Camille Saint-Saëns, Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy, Charles-Valentin Alkan and Erik Satie. He was known for playing the music of the Spanish composers Isaac Albéniz, Enrique Granados, and Manuel de Falla, as well as of Franz Liszt.
1928 - Nicolas Roeg CBE, BSC (born Nicolas Jack Roeg),English film director and cinematographer. Making his directorial debut 23 years after his entry into the
film business, Roeg quickly became known for an idiosyncratic visual and
narrative style, characterized by the use of disjointed and
disorienting editing. He is considered a highly influential filmmaker, with directors Steven Soderbergh, Christopher Nolan, and Danny Boyle. In 1999, the British Film Institute acknowledged Roeg's importance in the British film industry by respectively naming Don't Look Now and Performance the 8th and 48th greatest British films of all time in its Top 100 British films poll.
1950 - Anne, Princess Royal, KG, KT, GCVO, GCStJ, QSO, CD is the second
child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of
Edinburgh. British equestrian. Princess Anne is known for her charitable work and is a patron of over 200 organisations. She is also known for her equestrian talents; she won two silver medals (1975) and one gold medal (1971) at the European Eventing Championships and she is the first member of the British royal family to have competed in the Olympic Games. She was married to Captain Mark Phillips
in 1973; divorced in 1992. They have two
children and four grandchildren. In 1992, within months of her divorce,
Anne married Commander (now Vice Admiral) Sir Timothy Laurence, whom she had met while he served as her mother's equerry between 1986 and 1989. Since 2012, she has held the rank of Admiral and Chief Commandant of Women in the Royal Navy. ('Princess Anne: The Daughter Who Should Be Queen' - 2020 Documentary. Updated by laduchesse. Accessed May 20, 2020. Princess Anne: The Real Story of the Hardest-Working Royal. Uploaded by The Royal Family Channel. Accessed August 15, 2025.)
1972 - Ben Affleck (bornBenjamin Géza Affleck-Boldt), American actor and filmmaker. His accolades include two Academy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards. Affleck gained wider recognition when he and childhood friend Matt Damon won the Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for writing Good Will Hunting, which they also starred in. He then established himself as a leading man in studio films.
Featuring: Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Composer
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (August 15, 1875 - September 1, 1912), was an English composer and conductor who was mixed-race, with an English mother, and father, a Sierra Leone Creole physician. He achieved such success that he was referred to by white New York musicians as the "African Mahler" the time when he had three tours of the United States in the early 1900s. He was best known for his three cantatas based on the epic poem, "Song of Hiawatha" by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Coleridge-Taylor premiered the first section in 1898, at the age of 22. He married an Englishwoman, Jessie Walmisley, and both their children had musical careers. Their son Hiawatha adapted his father's music for a variety of performances, and their daughter Avril Coleridge-Taylor also became a composer-conductor. (Further suggested listening: A Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Tribute. A short tribute to the English composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
(1875-1912) with contributions from his daughter, Avril Coleridge-Taylor
(recorded in 1974), and excerpts from Hiawatha's Wedding-Feast, The
Death of Minnehaha and the Violin Concerto, Op.80.)
Historical Events
1843 - Tivoli Gardens opens in Copenhagen, Denmark. It's one of the oldest amusement parks in the world.
1877 - The first sound recording is made when Thomas Edison says, "Mary had a little lamb" into his phonograph.
1888 - Louis Durey, composer and music critic, oldest member of French group of composers known as "Les Six". Strongly influenced by Debussy’s opera Pelléas et Mélisande, durey joined the Groupe des Six, the six young French composers under the influence of Satie and Cocteau, but later on took a divergent course that allowed increasing scope for his political affiliations. He was secretary general of the Fédération Musicale Populaire and later of the Association Française des Musiciens Progressistes. As a composer, he was primarily autodidact, in spite of a short educational period at the Schola Cantorum de Paris. From the beginning, choral music was of great importance in Durey's productivity. His L'Offrande Lyrique (1914) has been called the first piece of French twelve-tone music. The first of his works to gain recognition in the music world was for a piano duet titled Carillons. At a 1918 concert, this work attracted the interest of Maurice Ravel, who recommended him to his publisher. His works include stage music, orchestral, chamber, vocal & choral, and piano music. (Louis Durey - Sonatine for flute and piano op.25. (Daniela Dottori, flute - Luca Moscardi, piano. Uploaded by lucamadeus. Accessed May 27, 2018.)
1907 -Rachel Louise Carson, American marine biologist, writer, and conservationist whose book Silent Spring and other writings are credited with advancing the global environmental movement. Her widely praised 1951 bestseller The Sea Around Us won her a U.S. National Book Award, recognition as a gifted writer and financial security. Her next book, The Edge of the Sea, and the reissued version of her first book, Under the Sea Wind, were also bestsellers. Late in the 1950s, Carson turned her attention to conservation, especially problems she believed were caused by synthetic pesticides. The result was the book Silent Spring, which brought environmental concerns to an unprecedented share of the American people. Silent Spring inspired a grassroots environmental movement that led to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Carson was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Jimmy Carter. (The Life of Rachel Carson. Uploaded by hypnotik42. Accessed May 27, 2016.)
1923 - Henry Alfred Kissinger (born Heinz Alfred Kissinger), American politician, diplomat, and geopolitical consultant who served as United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under the presidential administrations of Richard Nixon instrument from the bones of a giant pike. Orpheus-like, he plays upon it and enchants the people. All listen and all weep, their hearts melted. Even Väinämäinen weeps and his tears 'bigger than cranberries' fall into the clear waters of the deep blue sea. A sea bird dives down to retrieve his tears - they have ripened into pearls. (YouTube, uploaded by Raul. Accessed 27 May 2018)
Lefties:
None known
More birthdays and historical events today, May 27 - On This Day
Historical Events
1703 - Peter the Great founds St. Petersburg, (later known as Leningrad), as the capital of Russia. 1937 - The newly completed Golden Gate Bridge connecting San Francisco and Marin County, California, is opened to pedestrians. The bridge becomes the symbol of San Francisco.
*Today, March 15, is known on the Roman calendar as the "Ides of March."
Birthdays
1835 - Eduard "Edi" Strauss, Austrian composer who, together with brothers Johann Strauss II and Josef Strauss made up the Strauss musical dynasty. He was the son of Johann Strauss I and Maria Anna Streim. The family dominated the Viennese light music world for decades, creating many waltzes and polkas for many Austrian nobility as well as dance-music enthusiasts around Europe. He was affectionately known in his family as 'Edi'. (Eduard Strauss - Carmen-Quadrille (The New Years Celebration From Vienna, 2012. Mariss Jansons conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Accessed March 15, 2017.)
1864 - Johan Halvorsen, Norwegian violinist, composer, and conductor. He conducted performances of over 30 operas and also wrote the incidental music
for more than 30 plays. Following his retirement from the theatre he had time to concentrate on the composition of his three symphonies and two well-known Norwegian rhapsodies. Halvorsen's compositions were a development of the national romantic tradition exemplified by Edvard Grieg. Halvorsen married Grieg's niece, and orchestrated some of his piano works, such as a funeral march which was played at Grieg's funeral. Five days after Halvorsen died, Grieg's cousin and widow Nina Grieg also died. His best known works today are the Bojarenes inntogsmarsj (Entry March of the Boyars) and Bergensiana, along with his Passacaglia and Sarabande, duos for violin and viola based on themes by George Frideric Handel. (Halvorsen Passacaglia Duo for Violin and Viola, played by Itzhak Perlman (violin) and Pinchas Zukerman (viola). Accessed March 15, 2020.)
1916 - Harry Haag James, American musician, jazz trumpeter, best known as a trumpet-playing band leader who led a big band
in his day. He broke up his band for a short period but shortly after he reorganized and was active again with his band from then until his death in 1983. He was especially known among musicians for his technical proficiency as well as his tone, and was influential on new trumpet players from the late 1930s into the 1940s. He was also an actor in a number of films that usually featured his band.
1918 - Richard David Ellmann, American literary critic and biographer of the Irish writers James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, and William Butler Yeats. He won the U.S. National Book Award for Nonfiction for James Joyce (1959), which is one of the most acclaimed literary biographies of the 20th century. Its 1982 revised edition was similarly recognised with the award of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. Ellmann was a liberal humanist, and his academic work focused on the major modernist writers of the twentieth century.
Lefties:
None known
More birthdays and historical events, March 15 - On This Day
Historical Events
44 B.C.E. - Julius Caesar is murdered, in Pompey's Theatre, in Rome, on the steps of the Roman Senate by a group of senators who feared he was planning to make himself king of Rome.
1770 - Wolfgang A. Mozart composed his first string quartet (String Quartet No.1 in G major, K.80) in an inn in Lodi, Lombardia, on the 15th of March 1770, at 7 in the evening during a stop on the way to Bologna. (Composed by Mozart in Lodi and the first 3 movements are dated March 15, 1770. The 4th movement was composed in Vienna in 1773. This was the Mozart family's first tour to Italy with his father Leopold in 1769 when the child prodigy was
13 yrs old... the first stop on the southward journey was at Lodi, where Wolfgang completed this first string quartet, K. 80/73f. After a few days in Parma, The Mozarts moved on to Bologna, a "centre for masters, artists and scholars", according to Leopold. Their letter from Count Leopold Anton von Firmian, then the ruling Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg introduced them to Count Pallavicini-Centurioni, a leading patron of the arts, who immediately arranged a concert for the local nobility in his palace. (W.A. Mozart's String Quartet No.1 in G major, K.80/73f performed by the Macedonian Philharmonie String Quartet. Concert on 16.02.2018 in Chamber Hall of Macedonian Philharmonie.
Artists: Anna Kondratenko (violin)
Bojan Ilkoski (violin)
Bojan Taleski (viola)
Maria Mihajlovska (violoncello). YouTube, uploaded by Anna Kondratenko. Accessed March 17, 2021.
1807 - Ludwig van Beethoven conducts the first performance of his Symphony No. 4 in Vienna, a concert given for his benefit. Below, Carlos Kleiber conducts Beethoven's Symphony No.4 with Concertgebouw Symphony Orchestra.
1596 - René Descartes, French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist. A native of the Kingdom of France, he spent about 20 years of
his life in the Dutch Republic after serving for a while in the Dutch States Army of Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange and the Stadtholder
of the United Provinces. His famous quote: "Cogito ergo sum." (I think; therefore I am.) Philosophy - Rene Descartes. Uploaded by The School of Life. Accessed October 28, 2015.
1732 -Franz Joseph Haydn, Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the piano trio. His
contributions to musical form have earned him the epithets "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet". Haydn spent much of his career as a court musician for the wealthy Esterházy family at their remote estate. Until the later part of his life, this isolated him from other composers and trends in music so that he was, as he put it, "forced to become original". Yet his music circulated widely, and for much of his career he was the most celebrated composer in Europe. He was a friend and mentor of Wolfgang A. Mozart, a tutor of Ludwig van Beethoven, and the older brother of composer Michael Haydn.
1872 - Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev (referred to outside Russia as Serge Diaghilev), Russian art promoter, art critic, patron, ballet impresario and founder of the Ballets Russes, from which many famous dancers and
choreographers would arise. He revitalised ballet by integrating the ideas of other art forms - music, painting, and drama - with those of the dance. From 1906 he lived in Paris, where in 1909 he founded the Ballets Russes. Then he toured Europe and the Americas with his ballet company; he produced three ballet masterpieces by Igor Stravinsky: The Firebird (1910), Petrushka (1911), and The Rite of Spring (1913). He collaborated with other composers, including: Ravel, Debussy, Satie, Falla and Prokofiev; and a close relationship with such artists as Picasso, Rouault and Bakst, and choreographers Fokine, Nizhinsky, Massin and Balanchine. 30 Interesting Facts about Diaghilev. Uploaded by Study Guides. Accessed March 31, 2018)
1914 - Octavio Paz, Mexican poet, diplomat, and critic, best known for The Other Mexico and The Bow and the Lyre. For his body of work, he was awarded the 1981 Miguel de Cervantes Prize, the 1982 Neustadt International Prize for Literature, and the 1990 Nobel Prize in Literature.
1922 - Richard Paul Kiley, American stage, film and television actor and singer, best known
for his "sonorous baritone" voice and distinguished theatrical career winning twice the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. He created the role of Don Quixote in the original 1965 production of the Broadway musical Man of La Mancha and was the first to sing and record "The Impossible Dream". In the 1953 hit musical Kismet, he played the Caliph in the original Broadway cast and was one of the quartet who sang "And This Is My Beloved". Kiley won four Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards during his 50-year career.
1934 - Shirley Mae Jones, American actress and singer. In her six decades in show business, she has starred as wholesome characters in a number of musical films, such as Oklahoma!, Carousel, and The Music Man. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for playing a vengeful prostitute in Elmer Gantry. She played the lead role of Shirley Partridge, the widowed mother of five children, in the musical situation-comedy television series The Partridge Family (1970–1974), which co-starred her real-life stepson, David Cassidy, son of Jack Cassidy. (Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel - 1956 - If I loved you duet. Beautiful Duet with Gordon MacRae and Shirely Jones. YouTube, uploaded by Anjaxo. Accessed March 30, 2021.)
1943 - Christopher Walken, (born Ronald Walken), American actor, who has appeared in more than 100 films and television programs, including Annie Hall, The Deer Hunter, A View to a Kill, Batman Returns, True Romance, Catch Me If You Can, Hairspray, and Irreplaceable You, among many others. He has received a number of awards and nominations, including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for The Deer Hunter. He was nominated for the same award and won BAFTA and Screen Actors Guild Awards for Catch Me If You Can. Walken has also played the lead in the Shakespeare plays Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and Coriolanus. Walken debuted as a film director and screenwriter with the 2001 short film Popcorn Shrimp. He also wrote and played the lead role in the 1995 play Him about his idol Elvis Presley.
1971 - Ewan Gordon McGregor, Scottish actor who has starred in various film and musical roles. Among many others, he has portrayed character roles in drama films, poet Christian in the musical film Moulin Rouge!, young Edward Bloom in Big Fish, "the ghost" in The Ghost Writer, Lumière in the live-action adaptation of the musical romantic fantasy Beauty and the Beast, the adult version in the fantasy comedy-drama Christopher Robin, and Black Mask in the superhero film Birds of Prey. McGregor won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or TV Film for his performance in the third season of FX anthology series Fargo, and received Golden Globe nominations for Best Actor – Musical or Comedy for both Moulin Rouge! and Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. McGregor has served as an ambassador for UNICEF UK since 2004. In 2013 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to drama and charity. In 2016 he received the BAFTA Britannia Humanitarian Award.
Lefties:
Actress Shirley Jones
More birthdays and historical events, March 31 - On This Day
Listen to Haydn's Hob III:49 - String Quartet Op. 50. 50 No. 6 in D major. YouTube, uploaded by ComposersbyNumbers. (Accessed March 31, 2017). Although famous for his orchestral works, Haydn was also the first master of the string quartet, a teacher of both Mozart (his young friend) and Beethoven, for a brief period.
Historical Events
1814 - Paris surrenders to Russian and Prussian forces, the first time the city ha been taken by foreign forces in 4 centuries. Deserted by most of his generals, Napoleon Bonaparte is forced to abdicate on April 6 and is taken into exile on Elba on April 20.
1889 - The Eiffel Tower is officially opened. Gustave Eiffel, its designer, climbs the 1710 stairs to unfurl the French flag from the third level.
