Happy Birthday
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Rebecca Clarke *VIII 27 1886 — The Life You Give
Rebecca Helferich Clarke, born on August 27 1886, is the classical composer and violist, internationally renowned as a viola virtuoso who also became one of the first female professional orchestral players in London. In many respects, Rebecca Clarke had a troubled childhood. Her father maintained a strict sense of Victorian morals and could be quite…
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Jorge Luis Borges *VII 24 1899 — The Life You Give
Jorge Luis Borges, born Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo, August 24, 1899, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, is the poet, essayist, and short-story writer whose works became classics of 20th-century world literature. Borges was reared in the then-shabby Palermo district of Buenos Aires, the setting of some of his works. His family, which had been…
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Stephen Fry *VIII 24 1957 — The Life You Give
Stephen Fry (born August 24, 1957, London, England) is a British actor, comedian, author, screenwriter, and director, known especially for his virtuosic command and comical manipulation of the English language—in both speech and writing. He is especially admired for his ability to desacralize even the most serious or taboo of topics. Fry spent most of…
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Claude Debussy *VIII 22 1862 / The Life You Give
Claude Debussy, born Achille-Claude Debussy, on August 22, 1862, in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France, is the composer whose works were a seminal force in the music of the 20th century. He developed a highly original system of harmony and musical structure that expressed in many respects the ideals to which the Impressionist and Symbolist painters and writers…
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Lili Boulanger *VIII 21 1893 / The Life You Give
Lili Boulanger was born on August 21, 1893 in Paris, France, to a musical family. Her mother, father, and sister Nadia were all trained composers or performers. When her father, Ernest, was only 20, he won the Prix de Rome. This coveted prize, which provided a year’s study in Rome, was the greatest recognition a…
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Robert Plant *VIII 20 1948 / The Life You Give
Robert Plant, born Robert Anthony Plant, on August 20, 1948, in West Bromwich, Staffordshire, England, is the singer-songwriter best known as the lead singer for the rock band Led Zeppelin. Plant’s dynamic vocal range and flamboyant stage presence has distinguished him as a popular and influential rock and roll front man. Since the dissolution of…
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Antonio Salieri *VIII 18 1750 / The Life You Give
Antonio Salieri, born Aug. 18, 1750, in Legnago, Republic of Venice [Italy], is the composer whose operas were acclaimed throughout Europe in the late 18th century. At the age of 16, Salieri was taken to Vienna by F.L. Gassmann, the imperial court composer and music director (Hofkapellmeister), and was introduced to Emperor Joseph II. During…
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Alfred Hitchcock *VIII 13 1899 — The Life You Give
Alfred Hitchcock, born August 13, 1899, London, England, is the motion-picture director whose suspenseful films and television programs won immense popularity and critical acclaim over a long and tremendously productive career. His films are marked by a macabre sense of humour and a somewhat bleak view of the human condition. Hitchcock grew up in London’s…
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Ian Anderson *VIII 10 1947 — The Life You Give
Born Ian Scott Anderson, August 10 1947 in Dunfermline, Scotland, Anderson was interested in music from a young age, gaining influence from his father James’ record collection of big band and jazz, as well as early rock & roll by Elvis Presley. The Anderson family later relocated to Blackpool where Ian finished his studies. In…
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Cécile Chaminade *VIII 8 1857 — The Life You Give
Cécile Chaminade, born Aug. 8, 1857, in Paris, France, is the composer and pianist known chiefly for her piano music, which she performed on numerous concert tours, particularly in England. Chaminade’s earliest music studies were with her mother, a pianist and singer. Because her father forbade her enrollment in a conservatory, Chaminade studied composition privately…
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Lucille Ball *VIII 6 1911 — The Life You Give
Lucille Ball, born August 6, 1911, in Jamestown, New York, is the radio and motion-picture actress and longtime comedy star of American television, best remembered for her classic television comedy series “I Love Lucy”. Ball determined at an early age to become an actress and left high school at age 15 to enroll in a…
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James Baldwin *VIII 2 1924 — The Life You Give
James Baldwin, born James Arthur Baldwin on August 2 1924 in New York, New York, is the essayist, novelist, and playwright whose eloquence and passion on the subject of race in the United States of America made him an important voice, particularly in the late 1950s and early 1960s, in the United States and, later,…
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Ernst Jandl *VIII 1 1932 — Das Leben, das Du Gibst / The Life You Give
A biography in English is at the bottom Der österreichische Schriftsteller zählt zu den renommiertesten Repräsentanten der experimentellen Lyrik. Er hat sich vor allen Dingen einen Namen durch seine witzigen Sprachexperimente gemacht. Diesbezüglich ist seine Lyrik zu nennen, die durch die ausgesuchte Klangqualität an die dadaistische Strömung erinnern. Kennzeichnend für sein Schaffen waren die Experimente…
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Kate Bush *VII 30 1958 — The Life You Give
Throughout the entirety of a one-of-a-kind creative journey, Kate Bush has achieved the rare feat of making innovative, fearlessly experimental work that’s also wildly successful. From the start, Bush’s music was ambitious and strange, and her mélange of art rock, pop hooks, theatrical twists, fantastical vocal performances, and complex musicianship resulted in hits. She became…
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Jenny Holzer *VII 29 1950 — The Life You Give
Jenny Holzer was born in 1950 in Gallipolis, Ohio. She received a BFA in printmaking and painting from Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, in 1972, and an MFA in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, in 1977. Holzer then moved to New York and enrolled in the Independent Study Program at the Whitney…
Sila Blume 