Celebration Day
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Édith Piaf *XII 19 1915 — The Life You Give
Edith Piaf, born Edith Giovanna Gassion, on December 19, 1915, in Paris, France, is the singer and actress whose interpretation of the chanson, or French ballad, made her internationally famous. Among her trademark songs were “Non, je ne regrette rien” (“No, I Don’t Regret Anything”) and “La Vie en rose” (literally “Life in Pink”. The…
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Iolanta (Tchaikovsky) premiered today in 1892
Princess Iolanta, the King’s daughter, has been blind from birth, and lives in a castle in isolated splendour. She has never been allowed to know that she is different from other people, or even that she is a princess. Her friends bring her flowers and sing her to sleep. Almeric, the King’s armour bearer, announces…
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The Life You Give: Ludwig van Beethoven *1770
Ludwig van Beethoven, born on December 17, 1770, in Bonn, Germany, was a composer, and the predominant musical figure in the transitional period between the Classical and Romantic eras. Widely regarded as the greatest composer who ever lived, Ludwig van Beethoven dominates a period of musical history as no one else before or since. Rooted…
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Made some cornbread for today — have some black tea, or black coffee, too
Blueberry-Basil-Cornbread Black Coffee — Corsica blend from La Colombe Black Tea — Chiang Rai (cultivated May 2018, Ruby 18, Doi Mae Salong), in Gaiwan
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Wozzeck (Berg) premiered today in 1925
Wozzeck, opera in three acts by Austrian composer Alban Berg, who also wrote its German libretto, deriving the story from the unfinished play Woyzeck (the discrepancy in spelling was the result of a misreading of the manuscript) by Georg Büchner. The opera premiered in Berlin on December 14, 1925. Of all rule-breaking avant-garde operas, it…
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Hector Berlioz *XII 11 1803 — The Life You Give
Hector Berlioz, born December 11, 1803, in La Côte-Saint-André, France, was a composer, critic, and conductor of the Romantic period, known largely for his Symphonie fantastique (1830), the choral symphony Roméo et Juliette (1839), and the dramatic piece La Damnation de Faust (1846). His last years were marked by fame abroad and hostility at home.…
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Big Mama Thornton *XII 11 1926 — The Life You Give
Big Mama Thornton, born Willie Mae Thornton, Dec. 11, 1926, in Montgomery, Alabama, U.S.A., is the singer and songwriter who performed in the tradition of classic blues singers such as Bessie Smith and Memphis Minnie. Her work inspired imitation by Elvis Presley and Janis Joplin, who recorded popular cover versions of Thornton’s “Hound Dog” and…
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Carlos Gardel *XII 11 1890 — La Vida que Das
Carlos Gardel, December 11, 1890, in Toulouse, France, is the singer and actor, celebrated throughout Latin America for his espousal of tango music. Some uncertainty exists concerning Gardel’s early life. While most sources indicate that he was born in France, Gardel occasionally cited Tacuarembó, Uruguay, as his birthplace. However, he was certainly in Buenos Aires…
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Olivier Messiaen *XII 10 1908 — The Life You Give
Olivier Messiaen, born Olivier-Eugène-Prosper-Charles Messiaen, Dec. 10, 1908, Avignon, France, is the influential composer, organist, and teacher noted for his use of mystical and religious themes. As a composer he developed a highly personal style noted for its rhythmic complexity, rich tonal colour, and unique harmonic language. Messiaen was the son of Pierre Messiaen, who…
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César Franck *XII 10 1822 — The Life You Give
César Franck, born César-auguste Franck, Dec. 10, 1822, Liège, Neth.—died Nov. 8, 1890, Paris, France), Belgian-French Romantic composer and organist who was the chief figure in a movement to give French music an emotional engagement, technical solidity, and seriousness comparable to that of German composers. Franck was born of a Walloon father and a mother…
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Emily Dickinson *XII 10 1830 — The Life You Give
Emily Dickinson, born Emily Elizabeth Dickinson, December 10, 1830, in Amherst, Massachusetts, U.S.A., is the lyric poet who lived in seclusion, and commanded a singular brilliance of style and integrity of vision. With Walt Whitman, Dickinson is widely considered to be one of the two leading 19th-century American poets. Only 10 of Emily Dickinson’s nearly…
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Ray Schulman *XII 8 1949 — The Life You Give
Ray Shulman, born Raymond 8 December 1949) is the multi-instrumentalist, and the youngest of three brothers in progressive rock band Gentle Giant. Formed at the dawn of the progressive rock era, Gentle Giant seemed poised for a time in the mid-’70s to break out of their cult-band status, but they somehow never made the jump.…
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Jim Morrison *XII 8 1943 — The Life You Give
Jim Morrison, born James Douglas Morrison, December 8, 1943, in Melbourne, Florida, U.S.A., is the singer and songwriter who was the charismatic front man of the psychedelic rock group the Doors. Morrison’s father was a naval officer (ultimately an admiral), and the family moved frequently, though it settled down in the Washington, D.C., suburb of…
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The Life You Give: Jean Sibelius *1865
Jean Sibelius was born in Hämeenlinna, Finland, on 8th December 1865, the second of three children. His father died when ‘Janne’ was only two. Although the language spoken at home was Swedish, Janne attended Hämeenlinna’s pioneering Finnish-speaking grammar school. Music was encouraged at home, and before long Janne was improvising and composing pieces of his…
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Tom Waits *XII 7 1949 — The Life You Give
Tom Waits, born Thomas Alan Waits, December 7, 1949, in Pomona, California, U.S.A., is the singer-songwriter and actor whose gritty, sometimes romantic depictions of the lives of the urban underclass won him a loyal if limited following and the admiration of critics and prominent musicians who performed and recorded his songs. Born into a middle-class…
Sila Blume 