December 5 Dateline

Birthdays

1822 - Elizabeth Cabot Cary Agassiz (pseudonym, Actaea), American educator, naturalist, writer, and the co-founder and first president of Radcliffe College. A researcher of natural history, she was an author and illustrator of natural history texts as well as a co-author of natural history texts with her husband, Louis Agassiz, and her stepson Alexander Agassiz.  She accompanied her husband on his journey to Brazil in 1865-66 and on the Hassler expedition in 1871-72; of the second, she wrote an account for the Atlantic Monthly. She published A First Lesson in Natural History (Boston, 1859) and edited Geological Sketches (1866).

1830 - Christina Georgina Rossetti, English poet, a leading Victorian poet who wrote various romantic, devotional, and children's poems mainly for her simple but effective ballads, carols and sonnets. "Goblin Market" and "Remember" remain famous. She wrote the words of two Christmas carols well known in the UK: "In the Bleak Midwinter", later set by Gustav Holst and by Harold Darke, and "Love Came Down at Christmas", set by Harold Darke and by other composers.

 
1898 - Grace Moore, American operatic soprano and actress in musical theatre and film. She was nicknamed the "Tennessee Nightingale." Her films helped to popularize opera by bringing it to a larger audience. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in One Night of Love.  In 1947, Moore died in a plane crash at the age of 48. She published an autobiography in 1944 titled You're Only Human Once. In 1953, a film about her life was released titled So This Is Love starring Kathryn Grayson. (Grace Moore - One Night of Love. YouTube, uploaded by toltec48. Accessed December 5, 2020.)

1901 - Walt Elias Disney, American entrepreneur, animator, voice actor and film producer. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film producer, Disney holds the record for most Academy Awards earned by an individual, having won 22 Oscars from 59 nominations. He was presented with two Golden Globe Special Achievement Awards and an Emmy Award, among other honors. Several of his films are included in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. 

 
Leftie:
None known

 

Death:

Beloved composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart dies this day, 5th December 1791. 

 

More birthdays and historical events, December 5 - On This Day

Historical Events

1757 - At the Battle of Leuthen, Frederick the Great of Prussia wins his greatest victory of the Seven Years' War, with an army of some 35,000 troops against Austria's estimated 60,000-strong force.

1791 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, arguably considered the greatest composer, dies this day, aged 35. His last work, the Requiem in D, K626, was unfinished, and his student Franz Süssmayr completed it. This final masterpiece of Mozart was commissioned in mid 1791 by the Austrian count Franz Von Walsegg, as a tribute to the passing of his young wife Anna. Mozart began his final composition in Prague, suffering from an undetermined illness, which would eventually take his life unable to see the completion of his Magnum Opus. After Mozart's death, his student/understudy Franz Xaver Süssmayr, at the behest of Mozart's wife, Constanze Mozart, completed the missing parts of the Requiem. It was first performed on January 2, 1793, in a private concert for the benefit of Constanze Mozart.

Below is a video of Mozart's Requiem in D minor, K. 626. provided to YouTube by Universal Music Group Mozart: - 1. Introitus: Requiem · Anna Tomowa-Sintow · Wiener Singverein · Wiener Philharmoniker · Herbert von Karajan. To play entire playlist, the link is here.



1830 - Hector Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique is first performed, at the Paris Conservatoire.

 
1872 - The ship Mary Celeste is found adrift, one of the great mysteries of history. It was found without anyone aboard, having sailed from New York on November 7 of the year. There is some evidence of the crew leaving in a great hurry, abandoning their pipes and boots. Sir Conan Doyle would later explore the mystery and wrote about it in a short story that brought it to popular attention.

1989 - British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher survives her first leadership challenge, as disquiet among members of the Conservative Party over her anti-European stance increases.

Video Credit:  

Mozart Requiem in D minor, K.626. Provided to YouTube by Universal Music Group Mozart: Requiem In D Minor, K.626 - 1. Introitus: Requiem · Anna Tomowa-Sintow · Wiener Singverein · Wiener Philharmoniker · Herbert von Karajan. To play the entire Mozart Requiem, the link is here. Accessed December 5, 2019.

Resources:

1. Asiado, Tel. The World's Movers and Shapers. New Hampshire: Ore Mountain Publishing House (2005)
2. Britannica. www.britannica.com
3. Chambers Biographical Dictionary, 19th Ed. London: Chambers Harrap, 2011
4. Dateline. Sydney: Millennium House, (2006)
5. Grun, Bernard. The Timetables of History, New 3rd Revised Ed. Simon & Schuster/Touchstone (1991)
6. Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org


(c) June 2007. Updated December 5, 2023. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.

December 4 Dateline

Birthdays

1660 -  André Campra (baptised baptized 4 December 1660), French composer and conductor. He was one of the leading French opera composers in the period between Jean-Baptiste Lully and Jean-Philippe Rameau. He wrote several tragédies en musique and opéra-ballets  that were extremely well received. He also wrote three books of cantatas as well as religious music, including a requiem. (The Paris Boys Choir - REQUIEM - André Campra - Petits Chanteurs de Sainte-Croix - PRODIGES. Les Petits Chanteurs de Sainte-Croix de Neuilly - The Paris Boys Choir Orchestre baroque Le Collège de Musique Sacrée. Accessed December 4, 2019.  Campra: Requiem [Messe des Morts]. YoutTube. John Eliot Gardiner. Soli & The MonteverdiChoir. English Baroque Soloists. Accessed December 4, 2020.)

1795 - Thomas Carlyle,  Scottish historian, satirical writer, translator, philosopher, mathematician, and teacher. He is considered one of the most important social commentators of his time, with certain acclaim in the Victorian era. In his famous work On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and The Heroic in History, he argued that the key role in history lies in the actions of the "Great Man", claiming that "the history of the world is but the biography of great men". A respected historian, his 1837 book The French Revolution: A History was the inspiration for Charles Dickens' 1859 novel A Tale of Two Cities. Carlyle's 1836 Sartor Resartus is a notable philosophical novel.  A great polemicist, Carlyle coined the term "the dismal science" for economics, in his essay "Occasional Discourse on the Negro Question", which remains controversial. He also wrote articles for the Edinburgh Encyclopædia. Once a Christian, Carlyle lost his faith while attending the University of Edinburgh, later adopting a form of deism.  In mathematics, he is known for the Carlyle circle, a method used in quadratic equations and for developing ruler-and-compass constructions of regular polygons.

1866 - Wassily Kandinsky, Russian painter and art theorist and one of the leading figures in Blaue Reiter. One of the most important 20th-century artists, he is credited with painting the first modern abstract art works.

1875 - Rainer Maria Rilke (René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke), Bohemian-Austrian poet and novelist. He is "widely recognized as one of the most lyrically intense German-language poets". He wrote both verse and highly lyrical prose. (Letter To A Young Poet (Pt 1) by Rainier Maria Rilke and Love Song read by A Poetry Channel. Accessed December 4, 2021. Poems by R.M. Rilke in Audiobooks - here, uploaded by Good Audio Books. Accessed December 4, 2016. Rilke On the Beauty and Difficulty of Solitude by Rainer Maria Rilke. YouTube, uploaded by That You Are Here. Accessed December 4, 2021.)

1949 - Jeff Leon Bridges,  American actor, singer, and producer. He comes from a prominent acting family and appeared on the TV series Sea Hunt with his father, Lloyd Bridges, and brother, Beau Bridges. Jeff Bridges has won numerous accolades, including Academy Award nominatons, and the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as an alcoholic singer in the 2009 film Crazy Heart. He also starred in commercially successful films. As an author, Bridges wrote The Dude and the Zen Master with Bernie Glassman. As a photographer, he published many of his photographs online and in a book entitled Pictures: Photographs by Jeff Bridges. He received an Infinity Award for his photos from the International Center of Photography in New York, and a follow-up book, Jeff Bridges: Pictures Volume Two was published in 2019. Bridges also narrated the documentary Lost in La Mancha. Among others, he narrated the documentaries National Geographic's Lewis & Clark: Great Journey West, IMAX), He voiced the character Big Z in the animated picture Surf's Up. He also hosted VH1's Top 100 Greatest Albums of Rock and Roll series in 2001. In 2016, he narrated Dream Big.

Leftie:
Author Thomas Carlyle

More birthdays and historical events, December 4 - On This Day

Historical Events

1154 - Cardinal Nicholas Breakspear is elected Pope Adrian IV, the first and only Englishman to have headed the Roman Catholic Church.

1845 - Piano Concerto in A minor by Robert Schumann premieres, performed by his wife Clara Schumann, in Dresden. It was dedicated to their friend, Ferdinand Hiller, who conducted from manuscript. (Here's one favourite interpretation, played by Martha Argerich - link, also embedded in Schumann's brief biography.)