April 26 Dateline

Birthdays

121 C.E. - Marcus Aurelius (Latin: Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus), Roman Emperor from 161 to 180 and a stoic philosopher. He was the last of the rulers known as the Five Good Emperors (a term coined some 13 centuries later by Niccolò Machiavelli), and the last emperor of the Pax Romana, an age of relative peace and stability for the Roman Empire. He served as Roman consul in 140, 145, and 161.

1711 - David Hume, Scottish enlightenment philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist. He is best known today for his highly influential system of philosophical empiricism, scepticism, and naturalism.

1812 - Alfred Krupp (Alfried Felix Alwyn Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach), German industrialist, a competitor in Olympic yacht races and a member of the Krupp family, prominent in German industry since the early 19th century. 

1812 - Friedrich Adolf Ferdinand (Freiherr von Flotow), German composer,  chiefly remembered for his opera Martha, a romantic comic opera in four acts set to a German libretto by Friedrich Wilhelm Riese and basedon a story by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges. It was popular in the 19th century and the early part of the 20th. (Jonas Kaufmann; "Ach! so fromm"; Martha; Friedrich von Flotow. With Marco Armiliato, conducting the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. 2007. Uploaded by liederoperagreats. Accessed April 26, 2017.)

1888 - Anita Loos (born Corinne Anita Loos), American screenwriter, playwright and author. In 1912, she became the first-ever female staff scriptwriter in Hollywood, when D.W. Griffith put her on the payroll at Triangle Film Corporation. She is best known for her 1925 comic novel, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, as well as her 1951 Broadway adaptation of Colette’s novella Gigi.

1889 - Ludwig Wittgenstein (Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein), Austrian-British philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. He taught at the University of Cambridge. During his entire life only one book of his philosophy was published, the relatively slim 75-page Logisch-Philosophische Abhandlung (Logical-Philosophical Treatise) (1921) which appeared, together with an English translation, in 1922 under the Latin title Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. His only other published works were an article, "Some Remarks on Logical Form" (1929), a book review, and a children's dictionary. His voluminous manuscripts were edited and published posthumously. The first and best-known of this posthumous series is the 1953 book Philosophical Investigations.

1900 - Charles Francis Richter, American seismologist and physicist. He is most famous as the creator of the Richter magnitude scale, which, until the development of the moment magnitude scale in 1979, quantified the size of earthquakes. Inspired by Kiyoo Wadati's 1928 paper on shallow and deep earthquakes, Richter first used the scale in 1935 after developing it in collaboration with Beno Gutenberg. The quote "logarithmic plots are a device of the devil" is attributed to Richter.
 

1933 - Carol Creighton Burnett (born April 26, 1933) is an American stage, TV, and film actress, comedian, singer, and writer. She is best known for her groundbreaking comedy variety show, The Carol Burnett Show. She has also appeared on various talk shows and as a panelist on game shows. Burnett has written and narrated several memoirs, earning Grammy nominations for almost all of them, and a win for In Such Good Company: Eleven Years of Laughter, Mayhem, and Fun in the Sandbox. In 2005, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 2013, Burnett was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. In 2019, the Golden Globes named an award after her for career achievement in television, called the Carol Burnett Award, and Burnett its first awardee. 

Leftie:
Comedienne Carol Burnett

 

More birthdays and historical events today, 26 April - On This Day.

 

 

Feature: 

Symphony No. 1 by Jean Sibelius.  This symphony was first performed this day 26th April, 1899, in Helsinki.

Historical Events

1607 - Captain John Smith lands with colonists in Virginia, named for the Virgin Queen, Elizabeth I, establishing the first permanent settlement.  


1865 - John Wilkes Booth, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln's assassin, is found hiding in a barn and shot dead by the cavalry.

1899 - Jan Sibelius's Symphony No. 1 is first performed, in Helsinki.

April 25 Dateline

ANZAC DAY / Remembrance Day

 

"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old; Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. We will remember them." ~ The Ode of Remembrance.  The verse, which became the League Ode, was already used in association with commemoration services in Australia in 1921. 

 

Birthdays

1599 - Oliver Cromwell, English Lord, general and statesman who led the Parliament of England's armies against King Charles I during the English Civil War and ruled the British Isles as Lord Protector from 1653 until his death in 1658. He acted simultaneously as head of state and head of government of the new republican commonwealth.

1917 - Ella Fitzgerald, African-American jazz singer sometimes referred to as the First Lady of Song, Queen of Jazz, and Lady Ella. Her accolades included fourteen Grammy Awards, the National Medal of Arts, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, intonation, and a "horn-like" improvisational ability, particularly in her scat singing. Her musical collaborations with Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and The Ink Spots were some of her most notable acts outside of her solo career. These partnerships produced some of her best-known songs such as "Dream a Little Dream of Me", "Cheek to Cheek", "Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall", "These Foolish Things Remind Me of You", and  "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)". (E. Fitzgerald - These Foolish Things Remind Me of You. uploaded by Praguedive. Accessed April 25, 2011.)

1940 - Al Pacino (born Alfredo James Pacino), American actor and filmmaker. He has received many awards and nominations, including an Academy Award, two Tony Awards, and two Primetime Emmy Awards. He is one of the few performers to have received the Triple Crown of Acting. He has also been honored with the AFI Life Achievement Award, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, and the National Medal of Arts. Wide acclaim and recognition came with his breakthrough role as Michael Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather, for which he received his first Oscar nomination, and he would reprise the role in the sequels The Godfather Part II and The Godfather Part III. Pacino received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actor for Serpico, The Godfather Part II, Dog Day Afternoon, and ...And Justice for All, ultimately winning it for playing a blind military veteran in Scent of a Woman. Pacino has acted in several productions for HBO, winning a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries. (Scent of a Woman: The Tango. Youtube, Uploaded by Universal Pictures. Accessed April 25, 2014.)

1945 - Bjorn Ulvaeus (born Björn Kristian Ulvaeus), Swedish songwriter, producer, a member of the Swedish musical group ABBA, and co-composer of the musicals Chess, Kristina från Duvemåla, and Mamma Mia!. He co-produced the film Mamma Mia! with fellow ABBA member and close friend Benny Andersson.

1969 - Renee Sellweger (born Renée Kathleen Zellweger), American actress and film producer. She has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, and two BAFTA Awards. Zellweger was one of the world's highest-paid actresses by 2007 and was named Hasty Pudding Theatricals' Woman of the Year in 2009. For her portrayals of Bridget Jones in the romantic comedy Bridget Jones's Diary and Roxie Hart in the musical crime drama Chicago, Zellweger garnered consecutive nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for playing a loquacious farmer in the epic drama Cold Mountain. Her other notable films include White Oleander, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, Cinderella Man, Miss Potter, and Bridget Jones's Baby. In 2019, Zellweger starred in her first major television role in the Netflix anthology series What/If and garnered critical acclaim for her portrayal of Judy Garland in the biopic Judy, winning the Academy Award for Best Actress. (Miss Potter (2006) [Full movie](High definition], YouTube, uploaded byThe Film Archiver. Accessed April 25 2020.)

Leftie:
None known
 

More birthdays and historical events today, 25 April - On This Day.

 

Feature:  
Giacomo Puccini's opera Turandot 

Below is the famous "Nessun dorma" from Turandot most famously interpreted by the late tenor Luciano Pavarotti. YouTube, uploaded by noé èon. Accessed April 25, 2018.



Turandot Links: 

Puccini: Turandot. Montserrat Caballé - Luciano Pavarotti. Chailly 1977.  YouTube, uploaded by ENCOREPAPAGENO. Accessed April 25, 2017. Artists: Montserrat Caballé. Calaf: Luciano Pavarotti. Liù: Leona Mitchell. Timur: Giorgio Tozzi. L'imperatore: Raymond Manton. Ping: Dale Duesing. Pang: Rémy Corazza. Pong: Joseph Frank. Un Mandarino: Aldo Bramante. Tre Principesse: Pamela South, Carol Vaness, Gwendolyn Jones. Conductor: Riccardo Chailly. San Francisco. November 4, 1977.

Turandot. An Opera by Giacomo Puccini.  The Opera 101. Accessed April 25, 2017.

Historical Events

1859 - The construction of the Suez Canal in Egypt begins. The 101-mile-long (162.5 km) artifical canal allows ship access from the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean via the Red Sea, rather than having to sail around Africa's Cape of Good Hope.

1881 - Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta Patience is first staged, in London.

April 24 Dateline

Birthdays

1580 - Saint Vincent de Paul, French Catholic priest who dedicated himself to serving the poor, renowned for his compassion, humility, and generosity. In 1622 Vincent was appointed a chaplain to the galleys. After working for some time in Paris among imprisoned galley slaves, he returned to be the superior of what is now known as the Congregation of the Mission, or the "Vincentians" (in France known as "Lazaristes"). Vincent was zealous in conducting retreats for clergy at a time when there was great laxity, abuse, and ignorance among them. He was a pioneer in clerical training and was instrumental in establishing seminaries, and founder of the Congregation of the Mission and Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul. Saint Vincent de Paul has a charity named after him by Blessed Frédéric Ozanam. Vincent was canonized in 1737 and is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion.

1743 - Edmund Cartwright, FSA, English Inventor. He graduated from Oxford University very early and went on to invent the power loom, a wool combing machine. It was first built in 1785, and which was refined over the next 47 years until a design by Kenworthy and Bullough made the operation completely automatic. Married to local Elizabeth McMac at 19, he was the brother of Major John Cartwright, a political reformer and radical, and George Cartwright, explorer of Labrador.

1815 - Anthony Trollope, English Novelist of the Victorian era. Among his best-known works is a series of novels collectively known as the Chronicles of Barsetshire, which revolves around the imaginary county of Barsetshire. He also wrote novels on political, social, and gender issues. (Anthony Trollope. Uploaded by Audiopedia. Accessed April 24, 2015.)

1904 - Willem de Kooning, Painter, Dutch American abstract expressionist artist. He was born in Rotterdam and moved to the United States in 1926, becoming an American citizen in 1962. The following year, he married painter Elaine Fried. In the years after World War II, de Kooning painted in a style that came to be referred to as abstract expressionism or "action painting", and was part of a group of artists that came to be known as the New York School. (Willem de Kooning: A Collection of 169 Works. Uploaded by LearnFromMasters. Accessed April 24, 2019. )

1905 - Robert Penn Warren, American poet, novelist, and literary critic and was one of the founders of New Criticism. He was also a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. He founded the literary journal The Southern Review with Cleanth Brooks in 1935. He received the 1947 Pulitzer Prize for the Novel for All the King's Men (1946) and the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1958 and 1979. He is the only person to have won Pulitzer Prizes for both fiction and poetry.

1934 - Shirley Maclaine (born Shirley MacLean Beaty), American actress, singer, author, activist, and former dancer. Known for her portrayals of quirky, headstrong, eccentric women, MacLaine is the recipient of numerous accolades including an Academy Award, two British Academy Film Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award. MacLaine made her film debut with Alfred Hitchcock's black comedy The Trouble With Harry, winning the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress. Her most prominent roles include: Around the World in 80 Days, Some Came Running, The Apartment, Irma la Douce, and Sweet Charity, among others. A six time Academy Award nominee, MacLaine won the Academy Award for Best Actress for the comedy-drama Terms of Endearment. A recipient of many honorary awards, she was awarded the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2012, Gala Tribute from the Film Society of Lincoln Center in 1995, and Kennedy Center Honor in 2013 for her contribution to American culture, through performing arts. In 1998, she was awarded the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award. Apart from acting, MacLaine has written numerous books regarding the subjects of metaphysics, spirituality, reincarnation as well as a best-selling memoir Out on a Limb. (Shirley Maclaine: Kicking Up Her Heels | The Hollywood Collection.  YouTube. Accessed April 24, 2019.)

1942 - Barbra Streisand (born Barbara Joan Streisand), American singer, actress, and filmmaker, one of the few entertainers who have been awarded an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Award (EGOT). She signed to Columbia Records and released her debut album, The Barbra Streisand Album. It won two Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year. Streisand has topped the US Billboard 200 chart with 11 albums—a record for a woman—including People, The Way We Were, and Guilty. She has attained five number-one singles on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. In films, she starred in the critically acclaimed Funny Girl, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. Her other films include Hello, Dolly!, The Owl and the Pussycat, The Way We Were, Funny Lady, Yentl, among others. For her film A Star Is Born, she won her second Academy Award, composing music for the love theme "Evergreen", the first woman to be honored as a composer. With Yentl, Streisand became the first woman to write, produce, direct, and star in a major studio film. The film won an Oscar for Best Score and a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Musical. Streisand also received the Golden Globe Award for Best Director, becoming the first (and for 37 years, the only) woman to win that award. 

 

1996 - Ashleigh "Ash" Barty, Australian retired professional tennis player and former cricketer. She is the second Australian WTA singles No. 1 after fellow Indigenous Australian Evonne Goolagong Cawley. She has also been a top 10 player in doubles, having achieved a career-high ranking of No. 5 in the world. Barty is a three-time Grand Slam singles champion, and is the reigning champion at Wimbledon and the Australian Open (2021). She is also a Grand Slam doubles champion, having won the 2018 US Open with CoCo Vandeweghe. In total, Barty has won 15 singles titles and 12 doubles titles on the WTA Tour. (January 30, 2022 update.)

Leftie:
Actress Shirley Maclaine
 

More birthdays and historical events today, 24 April - On This Day.


Featuring Haydn's oratorio The Seasons

♪ Die Jahreszeiten / The Seasons, Hob. XXI:3 (1799-1801) oratorio by Joseph Haydn is in four parts. Text is by Gottfried van Swieten.

Link to a performance in English: Haydn's The Season.  Gabrieli Consort & Players, Wrocław Baroque Orchestra, National Forum of Music Choir, Paul McCreesh.  Soloists:  Carolyn Sampson, soprano. Jeremy Ovenden, tenor.  Andrew Foster-Williams, bass-baritone. (YouTube, Uploaded by E.V. Accessed April 24, 2018)


Below's video is performed in German.
Performing Artists: Hanne - Dorothea Röschmann, soprano. Lukas - Michael Schade, tenor.  Simon -  Floriam Boesch, baritone.  Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor. Ernst Raffelsberger, chorus master. Wiener Philharmoniker, conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt.

Historical Events

1184 B.C.E. - Greeks storm the city of Troy by hiding inside the Trojan Horse.

1801 - Joseph Haydn's oratorio The Seasons is first performed in Vienna.