Breathing Curiosity
Miguel de Cervantes, born Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, September 29?, 1547, in Alcalá de Henares, Spain, is the novelist, playwright, and poet, the creator of Don Quixote (1605, 1615) and the most important and celebrated figure in Spanish literature. His novel Don Quixote has been translated, in full or in part, into more than 60… Continue reading Miguel de Cervantes *IX 29 1547 — The Life You Give
Pedro Almodóvar, born Pedro Mercedes Almodóvar Caballero, September 25, 1949, in Calzada de Calatrava, Spain, is the filmmaker known for colourful melodramatic films that often feature sexual themes.As a young man, Almodóvar moved to Madrid with the hopes of attending the Spanish national film school, but it had recently been closed under dictator Francisco Franco’s… Continue reading Pedro Almodóvar *IX 25 1949 — The Life You Give
Dmitri Shostakovich, born Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, on September 12 [September 25, New Style], 1906, in St. Petersburg, Russia, is the composer renowned particularly for his 15 symphonies, numerous chamber works, and concerti, many of them written under the pressures of government-imposed standards of Soviet art.Shostakovich was the son of an engineer. He entered the Petrograd… Continue reading Dmitri Shostakovich *IX 25 1906 — The Life You Give
Glenn Gould, born Glenn Herbert Gold, September 25, 1932, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is the pianist known for his contrapuntal clarity and brilliant, if often unorthodox, performances.Gould studied piano from the age of 3, began composing at 5, and entered the Royal Conservatory of Music of Toronto at 10, earning its associate degree in 1946.… Continue reading Glenn Gould *IX 25 1932 — The Life You Give
Ray Charles, born Ray Charles Robinson, September 23, 1930, in Albany, Georgia, U.S.A., is the pianist, singer, composer, bandleader, and leading entertainer billed as “the Genius” who was credited with the early development of soul music, a style based on a melding of gospel, rhythm and blues, and jazz music.When Charles was an infant his… Continue reading Ray Charles *IX 23 1930 — The Life You Give
Leonard Cohen, born Leonard Norman Cohen, September 21, 1934, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, is the singer-songwriter whose spare songs carried an existential bite and established him as one of the most distinctive voices of 1970s pop music.Already established as a poet and novelist (his first book of poems, Let Us Compare Mythologies, was published in… Continue reading Leonard Cohen *IX 21 1934 — The Life You Give
Vladimir Horowitz, born September 18 [Old Style], 1903, in Berdichev, Russia [now in Ukraine], is the virtuoso pianist in the Romantic tradition who was celebrated for his flawless technique and an almost orchestral quality of tone. Horowitz’s performances of works by Franz Liszt, Sergey Rachmaninoff, Frédéric Chopin, Aleksandr Scriabin, Domenico Scarlatti, and Sergey Prokofiev were… Continue reading Vladimir Horowitz *IX 18 1903 / The Life You Give
Francesca Caccini, also called Francesca Signorini, Francesca Signorini-Malaspina, or Francesca Raffaelli, byname La Cecchina, born September 18, 1587, in Florence, Italy, is the composer and singer who was one of only a handful of women in 17th-century Europe whose compositions were published. The most significant of her compositions—published and unpublished—were produced during her employment at… Continue reading Francesca Caccini *IX 18 1587 — The Life You Give
Jessye Norman, born Jessye Mae Norman on September 15, 1945, in Augusta, Georgia, U.S.A., is the operatic soprano, one of the finest of her day, who also enjoyed a successful concert career.Norman was reared in a musical family. Both her mother and grandmother were pianists and her father sang in church, as did the young… Continue reading Jessye Norman *IX 15 1945 — The Life You Give
Arnold Schoenberg, born Arnold Franz Walter Schönberg, September 13, 1874 in Vienna, Austria, is the composer who created new methods of musical composition involving atonality, namely serialism and the 12-tone row. He was also one of the most-influential teachers of the 20th century; among his most-significant pupils were Alban Berg and Anton Webern.Schoenberg’s father, Samuel,… Continue reading Arnold Schönberg *IX 13 1874 — The Life You Give
The dynamic mezzo-soprano Tatiana Troyanos was born into a singing family; her Greek father was a tenor, and her German mother a soprano. Born in New York, Troyanos studied at the Juilliard School with Hans J. Heinz, while singing occasionally in the New York area (she was a member of the original chorus for the… Continue reading Tatiana Troyanos *IX 12 1938 — The Life You Give
Ask just about any rock drummer who their influences are and chances are Rush's Neil Peart will be high on the list. With his technically demanding, precise, and deeply complex rhythmic style, few rock drummers scaled the heights that Peart did both on record and on-stage as part of the renowned Canadian prog rock trio… Continue reading Neil Peart *IX 12 1952 — The Life You Give
Arvo Pärt, born September 11, 1935, in Paide, Estonia, is the composer who developed a style based on the slow modulation of sounds such as those produced by bells and pure voice tones, a technique reminiscent of the medieval Notre-Dame school and the sacred music of Eastern Orthodoxy; Pärt was a devout Orthodox Christian. His… Continue reading The Life You Give: Arvo Pärt *IX 11 1935
Theodor Adorno, born Theodor Ludwig Wiesengrund, on Sept. 11, 1903, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, is the philosopher who also wrote on sociology, psychology, and musicology.Adorno obtained a degree in philosophy from Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt in 1924. His early writings, which emphasize aesthetic development as important to historical evolution, reflect the influence of… Continue reading The Life You Give: Theodor Adorno *IX 11 1903
Antonín Dvořák, born Antonín Leopold Dvořák, September 8, 1841, in Nelahozeves, Bohemia, Austrian Empire [now in Czech Republic], is the first Bohemian composer to have achieved worldwide recognition, noted for turning folk material into 19th-century Romantic music.Dvořák was born, the first of nine children, in Nelahozeves, a Bohemian village on the Vltava River north of… Continue reading The Life You Give: Antonin Dvořák *IX 8 1841
Angela Gheorghiu, born Angela Burlacu on September 7, 1965, in Adjud, Romania, is an operatic lyric soprano noted for her powerful voice and commanding stage presence.Gheorghiu early realized her love of singing, and she was supported by her family in working toward a career in opera. She left home at age 14 to study at… Continue reading The Life You Give: Angela Gheorghiu *IX 7 1965
Roger Waters is Pink Floyd's grand conceptualist, the driving force behind such albums as Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, and The Wall. In the wake of Syd Barrett's departure, Waters emerged as a formidable songwriter, but it's this stretch of '70s albums -- each one nearly symphonic in its reach --… Continue reading Happy Birthday, Roger Waters! (IX 6 1943)
John Cage, born John Milton Cage, Jr., September 5, 1912, in Los Angeles, California, U.S.A., is the avant-garde composer whose inventive compositions and unorthodox ideas profoundly influenced mid-20th-century music.The son of an inventor, Cage briefly attended Pomona College and then traveled in Europe for a time. Returning to the United States in 1931, he studied… Continue reading The Life You Give: John Cage *IX 5 1912
Giacomo Meyerbeer, born Jakob Liebmann Meyer Beer, September 5, 1791, in Tasdorf, near Berlin, Germany, is the opera composer who established in Paris a vogue for spectacular romantic opera.Born of a wealthy Jewish family, Meyerbeer studied composition in Berlin and later at Darmstadt, where he formed a friendship with C.M. von Weber. His early German… Continue reading Robert the Devil, by Giacomo Meyerbeer *IX 5 1791 / TLYG
Anton Bruckner, born Josef Anton Bruckner, Sept. 4, 1824, in Ansfelden, Austria, is the composer of a number of highly original and monumental symphonies. He was also an organist and teacher who composed much sacred and secular choral music.Bruckner was the son of a village schoolmaster and organist in Upper Austria. He showed talent on… Continue reading The Life You Give: Anton Bruckner *IX 4 1824
Charlie Parker, born Charles Parker, Jr., also called Bird or Yardbird, on August 29, 1920, in Kansas City, Kansas, U.S.A., is the alto saxophonist, composer, and bandleader, a lyric artist generally considered the greatest jazz saxophonist. Parker was the principal stimulus of the modern jazz idiom known as bebop, and—together with Louis Armstrong and Ornette… Continue reading Charlie Parker *VIII 29 1920 / The Life You Give
Sila Blume 