Celebration Day
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Rowan Atkinson *I 6 1955 — The Life You Give
Rowan Atkinson, born Rowan Sebastian Atkinson on born January 6 1955, in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, is the actor and comedian who delighted television and film audiences with his comic creation Mr. Bean. Atkinson, the son of wealthy Durham farmers, attended Durham Cathedral Choristers’ School. At the University of Newcastle upon Tyne he studied electrical…
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Alfred Brendel *I 5 1931 — The Life You Give
Alfred Brendel, born January 5, 1931, in Wiesenberg, Czechoslovakia [now Loučná nad Desnou, Czech Republic], is a pianist and writer whose recordings and international concert appearances secured his reputation. He is best known for his interpretations of Ludwig van Beethoven’s music, recording several cycles of the composer’s piano sonatas and concertos. Brendel studied the piano…
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Louis Braille *I 4 1809 — The Life You Give
Louis Braille, born January 4, 1809, in Coupvray, near Paris, France, is the educator who developed a system of printing and writing, called Braille, that is extensively used by the blind. Braille was himself blinded at the age of three in an accident that occurred while he was playing with tools in his father’s harness…
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J. R. R. Tolkien *I 3 1892 — The Life You Give
J. R. R. Tolkien, born John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, January 3, 1892, in Bloemfontein, South Africa, is the writer and scholar who achieved fame with his children’s book The Hobbit (1937) and his richly inventive epic fantasy The Lord of the Rings (1954–55). At age four Tolkien, with his mother and younger brother, settled near…
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Enrique Jorrín *XII 25 1926 — The Life You Give
Enrique Jorrín, born in Candelaria, Pinar del Rio, Cuba, on December 25, 1926, is the composer, violinist and band director, famous as the inventor of a style of Cuban dance music called cha-cha-chá. At an early age, his family moved to the El Cerro neighborhood of Havana, where Jorrín was to live for the rest…
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Giacomo Puccini *XII 22 1858 — The Life You Give
Giacomo Puccini, born Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini, December 22, 1858, in Lucca, Tuscany [Italy], is the composer, and one of the greatest exponents of operatic realism, who virtually brought the history of Italian opera to an end. His mature operas included La Bohème (1896), Tosca (1900), Madama Butterfly (1904), and Turandot (left…
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Frank Zappa *XII 21 1940 — The Life You Give
Frank Zappa, born Frank Vincent Zappa on December 21, 1940, in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A., was composer, guitarist, and satirist of the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s. Zappa was, in no apparent order, a first-rate cultural gadfly dedicated to upsetting American suburban complacency and puncturing the hypocrisy and pretensions of both the U.S. political establishment and the…
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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…
Sila Blume 