Bedřich Smetana, born March 2, 1824, in Leitomischl, Bohemia, Austrian Empire [now Litomyšl, Czech Republic], was composer of operas and symphonic poems, and founder of the Czech national school of music. He was the first truly important Bohemian nationalist composer.Smetana studied music under his father, an amateur violinist. He early took up piano under a… Continue reading The Life You Give: Bedřich Smetana *1824
Day: March 2, 2022
Coffee, clove, star anise, and cinnamon
Some sprouts from Brussels
Independence is in dependence
Everything begins in the mind I assert All is in the mind wanting to be But what of it if it does not feel contained by a body?
The Life You Give: Simon Estes *March 2 1938
One of just a few African-American male singers who has had a top-rank international operatic career, bass-baritone Simon Estes grew up in Iowa in a house without heat or indoor plumbing. He sang in church as a youth, but when he enrolled at the University of Iowa in the late '50s he had never heard… Continue reading The Life You Give: Simon Estes *March 2 1938