“Character, like a photograph, develops in darkness.” — Yousuf Karsh
Yousuf Karsh was born on this day in Mardin, Ottoman Turkey in 1908. Today is the 104th anniversary of his birth.
Karsh was a child during the Armenian genocide and his family was forced to flee from village to villiage. His sister died of starvation. In 1924 his parents sent him to Sherbrooke, Quebec to live with his uncle, George Nakash who worked as photographer. Karsh showed interested in the art and his uncle arranged an apprenticeship with John Garo, a portrait photographer living in Boston.
After his apprenticeship he returned to Canada and worked in a studio near Parliament Hill in Ottawa. The Prime Minister discovered his work and arranged sittings with visiting dignitaries.
Karsh photographed Winston Churchill when the Britt came to give a speech to the Canadian House of commons in 1941. It became the most reproduced photographic print in history.
Winston Churchill’s “Sinews of Peace” address originated the term “Iron Curtain.” (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
He went on to photograph 51 of the 100 most notable people of the century in the International Who’s Who (2000).
He died in Boston, Massachusetts, USA in July of 2002 at the age of 93.
Karsh : Créateur d’images (Photo credit: mstcweb)
His art has been celebrated on Canadian postage stamps and in 2009 Ottawa hosted a Festival Karsh .
Yousuf Karsh – Hepburn (Photo credit: Père Ubu)
Photo of Humphrey Bogart by Yousuf Karsh, 1946 (“Yousuf Karsh collection” at the Library and Archives Canada). According to image information the copyright has expired. Title: Humphrey Bogart, actor Year: 1946 Size: 19.75 x 16 inches Source:National Archives of Canada http://www.collectionscanada.ca/ Reference number: PA-212506 Restrictions on use/reproduction: Nil Copyright: Expired on December 31, 1996 Credit: Yousuf Karsh / Library and Archives Canada / PA-212506 Creator: Karsh, Yousuf, 1908- (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Marx Brothers by Yousuf Karsh, 1948 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Nederlands: Paul Robeson in 1938; foto Yousuf Karsh; National Archives of Canada/PA-209022/Copyright: Expired (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
H. G. Wells in 1943. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Martha Graham, dancer and choreographer Deutsch: Martha Graham 1948 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Written By: Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett, Frank Capra, Jo Swerling, Philip Van Doren Stern and Michael Wilson. From the 1939 short story “The Greatest Gift” by Philip Van Doren Stern.
Date Released: 1946
Why: ZuZu is the epitome of Christmas innocence.
Pros: Sweet, innocent, adorable.
Cons: Unrealistic. (But come on, she’s only 5!)
Shining Moment: When George realizes that he really IS better off alive then not… he reaches into to his pocket and finds the petals to ZuZu’s flower. He understands that he is back in the real world with his real family waiting for him at home. And no matter what other trouble might befall him, he has that love, and the love of his friends to rely on.
Least Shining Moment: (She really should have buttoned that coat.)
Iconic screen shot from the movie It’s a Wonderful Life. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Karolyn Grimes, the actress who played ZuZu in the movie, remembers making the movie 60+ years ago. She remembers Jimmy Stewart lifting her up for endless takes and gently setting her down each time after some one yelled “CUT”. She remembers Frank Capra squatting down to give her a direction. She only had 6 minutes of screen time in the movie, but it has stayed with her for a lifetime.
… A lifetime that hasn’t always been so wonderful, frankly. Her mother died when Karolyn was 14, her father passed a year later, she went to a an unhappy “bad” home from there. But she got out and went to college and had a family and career as a medical technologist. But then her first husband died in a hunting accident. Her son committed suicide. Her second husband died of cancer. And she lost her life savings in the economic down turn in 2001.
“You have a choice,” she says. “You can drown in your sorrows, be the grumpy old Mr. Potter and be hurt and be in pain … but I think you need to put that behind you because, my gosh, life is a wonderful gift.” [Today Entertainment]
So instead of turning bitter she remains upbeat. She wrote a cookbook, “ZuZu Bailey’s It’s a Wonderful Life Cookbook” and does personal appearances (especially around the holidays.)
“I’m that little girl and I stand for something those people love,” she says. “… For some reason or other, that little girl embodies the image, or maybe the power to make them happy.” [Ibid]
At one appearance, as Grimes analyzes the movie with the crowd, she asks them if they think ZuZu sees her father, George, hide the petals he can’t paste back on the flower? She thinks ZuZu is on to him.
“I think what Frank Capra is trying to say is she knows her father isn’t perfect,” she said. [Ibid]
And that speaks to LIFE and Christmas too. It isn’t perfect. And it doesn’t have to be, but it can still be WONDERFUL if you let it.
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Some Christmas seasons you can’t swing a candy cane without hitting a showing of It’s a Wonderful Life on television. Sadly this wonderfully done movie has become part of the forced sentiment I like to call “Christmas Sausage” (That’s stuff YOU HAVE TO DO!!! to fulfill some one’s requirement of the Holiday) But this year, thankfully, it looks like the movie is only on once. So catch ZuZu, George, Mary, Uncle Billy and the rest of the gang at 8:00 pm Christmas Eve on NBC.
“I’ve always wondered, what am I going to do that’s important with these stupid jokes that I tell,” —Ray Romano
Raymond Albert Romano was born on this day in Queens, New York, USA in 1957. He is 55 years old.
Son of a piano teacher and a real estate agent/engineer, Romano and his brothers grew up in the Forest Hills area of Queens. The Romano boys attended Our Lady Queen of Martyrs until high school. Ray went to Archbishop Molloy High School before transferring to Hillcrest High School from which he graduated in 1975. He briefly attended Queens College as an Accounting major before dropping out to start his stand up comedian career.
After working for years in stand up he made the move to TV. His first gigs came in the form of guest roles on Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist, Cosby, The Nanny and Becker.
In 1996 he got his big break, the starring role in a national television comedy, Everybody Loves Raymond. The show, which drew loosely from Romano’s real-life Italian American family stories, won 2 Emmy Awards and Romano won an Outstanding Lead Actor Emmy in 2002. It ran for nine seasons.
The five principal characters during an argument. Episode: “The Can Opener” (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Romano voiced the part of Manfred, the depressed Wooly Mammoth in Ice Age in 2002 (a role he would revise in countless sequels.) He played the local hardware store guy who runs against the former President of the United States for mayor of Mooseport in Welcome to Mooseport in 2004.
More guest spots followed, both on television and on the big screen.
In 2009 he joined Andre Braugher and Scott Bakula for the comedy-drama series Men of a Certain Age.Romano played Joe Tranelli, he is also one of the shows creators. While the show only lasted two years it garnered critical acclaim for both its writing and acting.
[Image courtesy: Men of Certain Age/ TNT]
Currently you can catch Romano on Parenthood. He is Hank Rizzoli, Sarah’s new boss at a photography studio.
Samuel Alexander Mudd was born on this day in Charles County, Maryland, USA in 1833. Today is the 179th anniversary of his birth.
Mudd grew up on a tobacco plantation about 30 miles southeast of Washington DC. He was the fourth of ten children . He was home schooled until age 15 when he went to St. John’s boarding school in Frederick, MD. He went to college at Georgetown in Washington, and graduated from the University of Maryland, Baltimore having studied medicine with an emphasis on dysentery. In 1856 he returned to Charles County and began a family with his long time sweetheart Sarah “Frankie” Dyer. Mudd’s father gave the couple a 218 acre tobacco farm called St. Catherine’s. He supplemented his income as a doctor with the sale of tobacco from the farm. (He grew the tobacco with the help of five slaves.)
Dr. Mudd’s House (Photo credit: jimmywayne)
When the Civil War began Maryland was a border state. If Washington, with its large number of Union soldiers had not be located in its southern border along the Potomac River the state may have voted to succeed from the Union. When Maryland abolished slavery in 1864 ( a year after the Emancipation Proclamation) Mudd could no longer effectively run his farm. He began looking for a buyer and was introduced to a young, dashing, actor in the market for some property. That actor’s name was John Wilkes Booth.
Booth and Mudd met in November at St. Mary’s Catholic Church to discuss the purchase. Booth stayed overnight at the farm before returning to Washington. Unbeknownst to Mudd, Booth wasn’t interested in real estate at all, but was scouting out an escape path from the Nation’s Capital. The actor was planning on kidnapping President Lincoln to bring him to Richmond (the capital of the Confederacy). He would ransom Lincoln for a large number of Confederate POWS.
Portrait of John Wilkes Booth (1838–1865) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Mudd and Booth met again shortly before Christmas 1964, this time in Washington. They met John Surratt and Louis Weichmann for drinks.
Before Booth could pull off his ill-advised and grandiose plan Lee surrendered at Appomatox, Virginia and the War was over. Booth was furious. He altered his plan and decided to kill the president instead of kidnapping him. Booth shot Lincoln in the head five days after Lee surrendered. The President and Ms. Lincoln were watching a play, Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, DC. After shooting Lincoln at point-blank range he jumped down from the Presidential Box to the stage to escape. He broke his leg in the fall but managed to get out the stage door and onto his horse and escape the city.
English: Interior of Ford’s Theatre, Washington, D.C., where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. The presidential box is towards the right. The theatre is still in operation and the stage is set up for a current stage play (i.e., it is not set up as it was when Lincoln was shot). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
About four o’clock on the morning following the Lincoln assassination two men on horseback arrived at the Mudd farm near Bryantown. The men, it turned out, were John Wilkes Booth–in severe pain with a badly fractured leg that he received from his fall to the stage after shooting the President–and David Herold. Mudd welcomed the men into his house, first placing Booth on his sofa, then later carrying him upstairs to a bed where he dressed the limb.
After daybreak, Mudd made arrangements with a nearby carpenter to construct a pair of crutches for Booth and tried, unsuccessfully, to secure a carriage for his two visitors. Booth (after having shaved off his moustache in Mudd’s home) and Herold left later on the fifteenth, after Mudd pointed the route to their next destination, Parson Wilmer’s. [UMKC.edu]
Military investigators followed Booth’s trail to the Mudd farm and Dr. Mudd admitted to having seen a patient, but claimed…”‘I never saw either of the parties before, nor can I conceive who sent them to my house.” [Historynet.com] When Lt. Lovett, the lead investigator on the Mudd end of the trail returned again to the farm Sarah “brought down from upstairs a boot that had been cut off the visitor’s leg three days earlier.” [Ibid.] Booth’s initials were in the boot’s cuff, but Mudd still denied knowing who it was.
Booth’s boot, found at the Mudd’s farm . [Image courtesy UMKC.edu]
During the trail Mudd’s lie about not recognizing Booth, compounded by his not coming forward about “suspicions … aroused by a broken-legged visitor who, during his brief stay the Mudd farm, shaved off his moustache” [Ibid] stained his character far more deeply than the circumstantial evidence of witnesses who claimed he knew of the conspiracy.
Defense Attorney Thomas Ewing argued to the Commission that it is no crime to fix a broken leg, even if it were the leg of a presidential assassin and even if the doctor knew it was the leg of a presidential assassin. [Ibid}
Mudd was convicted by a Military Commission and sentenced to life in prison.
English: Broadside advertising reward for capture of Lincoln assassination conspirators, illustrated with photographic prints of John H. Surratt, John Wilkes Booth, and David E. Herold. Français : Avis de recherche avec prime de 100.000 $ pour la capture de John Wilkes Booth, le meurtrier du président Abraham Lincoln, et deux de ses complices, David Edgar Herold et John Harrison Surratt. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
He, and the other conspirators who escaped the noose were sent to Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas 70 miles west of Key West, Florida. He tried to escape once, but was quickly discovered. He and other prisoners were transferred to “the dungeon” a ground-level gunroom. They were let out six days a week to work, but were forced to stay inside the dungeon on Sundays and holidays. He wore leg irons while outside the cell.
Dr. Mudd as he appeared when working in the carpenter’s shop in the prison at Fort Jefferson. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
.
In 1867, an outbreak of yellow fever overtook the Dry Tortugas, claiming the lives of fellow conspirator and inmate Michael O’Lauglin, as well as the prison doctor. Mudd assumed the role as the new prison doctor. [Ibid]
Mudd was pardoned in March of 1869 by President Andrew Johnson. The Doctor returned to his Maryland farm and his wife (they had 4 more children.) He had always been interested in politics and in 1877 he ran (unsuccessfully) for the Maryland House Delegates. In 1880 his farm was destroyed by a fire. and by 1883, at just 49 years old, Mudd was dead of pneumonia.
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Lincoln’s death brought on a media circus the likes of which we are only all too familiar with in 2012. But then, when the nation need to be healed from its bloody civil war a swift and definitive trial was essential. Yellow journalism was in full swing. Certainly some of the men (and possible the one woman) on trial were guilty … but what do you think? Did was Dr. Mudd innocent or guilty?
I think you have to pay for love with bitter tears. — Edith Piaf
Edith Piaf (Photo credit: tsweden)
Édith Giovanna Gassion was born on this day in Belleville, Paris, France in 1915. Today is the 97tj ammoversary of her birth.
Her mother was a cafe singer and her father was a street acrobat. She was abandoned by her parents to the care of her maternal grandmother, then was taken to her father’s mother. Her paternal grandmother ran a brothel and Édith grew up amongst the prostitutes. She was blinded as a result of meningitis at three but recovered by seven (supposedly because the “prostitutes pooled money to send her on a pilgrimage honoring Sainte Thérèse de Lisieux, which … resulted in a miraculous healing.”[geni.com] by 14 she was performing with her father on the streets of France. “Piaf’s songs and singing style seemed to reflect the tragedies of her own difficult life.” [Encyclopedia Britannica]
Français : Edith Piaf enfant (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
She left her father’s act and performed on her own singing in the streets for years before being discovered by a nightclub owner. She changed her last name to Piaf (and became known as “the little sparrow.” ) She switched to ballads.
She entertained French POWS during WWII, and gained world wide fame after the war with such songs as Non, je ne regrette rien and La Vie en rose by touring extensively.
Her throaty, expressive voice, combined with her fragile appearance and a dramatic tight spotlight on her face and hands, made her concerts memorable. [Answers.com]
She died of liver cancer at age 47 in 1963.
English: Bust of Edith Piaf in Celebrity Alley in Kielce (Poland) Česky: Busta Edith Piaf v polských Kielcích (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Français : Centrage sur le visage de Steven Spielberg (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Steven Allan Spielberg was born on this day in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA in 1946. He is 66 years old.
Spielberg grew up in Haddon Township, New Jersey and Scottsdale, Arizona. He made 8mm films that he charged his friends a quarter a piece to see, his sister sold popcorn. He’d do special effects train wrecks using his model trains. He earned the photography merit badge in Boy Scouts producing an 8mm movie called “The Last Gunfight. (Spielberg went on to become an Eagle Scout.)
While attending California State University, Long Beach he took an unpaid internship at Universal Studios. When studio VP Sid Sheinberg saw his 26 minute, silent film Amblin’ he offered Spielberg a seven-year contract with Universal Television. Thus making Spielberg the youngest director to be signed to a long-term deal with a major motion picture studio. He left Cal State, Long Beach to take the gig, but eventually finished his degree in 2002.
At Universal Television he directed episodes of Marcus Welby, MD, Rod Sterling’s Night Gallery, The Name of the Game, The Psychiatrist,Columbo and TV movies.
His first feature film was The Sugarland Expresswith Goldie Hawn (1974). Sugarland Expresswas a good first effort, and the critics liked it, but it got tepid reaction at the box office.
[Image courtesy: Wikimedia]
In 1975 he made everybody afraid to get into the water with Jaws. Based on a Peter Benchley novel Jaws had that mix of small town life invaded by something big and ominous — in this case a great white shark named “Bruce” — that became a Spielberg hallmark. Jaws starred Roy Scheider as the mild-mannered sheriff, Marty Brody, Richard Dreyfuss as smart, hyper Matt Hooper and Robert Shaw as crusty Quint. Jaws was the highest-grossing film of all time until Star Wars knocked it off the top of the list.
He revisited the theme of an earlier, student, film, Firelight, to make his third film, Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Firelight had a budged of $500 and, with tickets that cost $1 each and the film made a profit of exactly $1. The budget and profit for Close Encounters was considerably larger. He wore both writing and directing hats on Close Encounters.
World wide adventure came calling with Indiana Jones in 1981 in Raiders of the Lost Ark, the first [and best] of the Indiana Jones series.
Then he came home for another small town meets alien film with E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. [Spielberg fans are generally split on this one with some voting it as their favorite and others dismissing it as over sentimental and saccharine. I’m on team saccharine. Discuss.]
He did two segments of the Twilight Zone movie (no, not the Vampire one with Edward Cullen) and a couple of TV shows before making the wonderful The Color Purple. Based on the Alice Walker novel, the film was nominated for eleven Academy Awards — but not for directing — however, it didn’t win any Oscars.
[Image courtesy: Wikimedia]
Empire of the Sun is a war movie and is set in almost the same time frame at the Indiana Jones flicks, but it couldn’t be more different. Based on the J.G. Ballard novel and with a screen play by Tom Stoppard this move starred John Malkovich, Miranda Richardson, Nigel Havers and a young Christian Bale (in one of his first roles for film.) Empire of the Sun did well with the critics, although it did not do as well at the box office as some of Spielberg’s more action packed films. It (along with Color Purple) marked a transition point for the film maker. From here on out he had the chutzpah to make a full-fledged drama. [Empire is my #1 favorite Spielberg film. It is beautifully filmed, has amazing performances, and a wonderful score, go put it on you Netflix queue right now.]
He closed out the 1980s with the third installment in his Raider’s series — this time with Sean Connery along for the ride with Harrison Ford; and an under appreciated movie about daredevil pilots who put out forest fires, Always. Spielberg teamed up with Richard Dreyfus again for Always, and it’s Audrey Hepburn’s last role.
Hook, a spin on the Peter Pan story came in 1991, followed by Jurassic Park. Both seem like a perfect fit for this director who revels in letting his inner child come out on the screen. Jurassic Park has DINOSAURS! What’s not to like? [Well if you’ve read the book, you might cite a the lack of character or plot development, which Michael Crichton taut novel had in spades. The movie relied more on special effects and product placement than writing. — Seemed to work though, they made a LOT of money and squeeze out a couple of sequels.]
[Image courtesy: Wikimedia]
Schindler’s List is another of his best movies. It won Spielberg his first Academy Award for Best Director (it also won for Best Film). He found a very human way to tell a very inhumane story. Like Empire of the Sun it is a WWII drama, and it also takes place largely in a concentration camp. But Schindler’s Listis in the European theater and it encompasses a larger scope. Amazing acting, story, sets, and it is largely done in black and white. [It is my other favorite of Spielberg, and needless to say, you ought to put it on your queue.]
After another dance with dinos in The Lost World: Jurassic Park, he returned to drama with Amistad. Amistad tells the true story of an uprising that took place on the slave ship La Amistad and the legal battle that followed. Look for Anthony Hopkins as [my guy] John Quincy Adams. Amistad lacked box office appeal, but did well critically.
Saving Private Ryan showed yet another side to WWII, this time from the US soldier’s point of view. It was a big box office hit. and Spielberg won his second Academy Award as Best Director. Wonderful acting, especially from his lead, Tom Hanks, again a great story line, and beautifully shot. [A bit too realistic in the graphic depiction of the battle scenes for me, but still a great movie. Queue it.]
2001 brought A.I. Artificial Intelligence, which was started on Stanley Kubrick’s watch. 2002 gave us Minority Report based on the Philip K. Dick novel. Both are nearish future sci-fi stories. Catch Me If You Can goes back in time (a little) to tell the story of a con artist played by Leonardo DiCaprio and the cop that chases him, Tom Hanks. Hanks stars again in The Terminalas kind-hearted Eastern European traveller stuck in an airport when his country experiences a coupe. [All of them deserve a spot in your queue. As does…]
[Image courtesy: Wikimedia]
Spielberg’s reboot of War of the Worlds is creepy good with a capital C. The director joined forces again with Tom Cruise for this blockbuster, and it pulled in the big bucks — but it was also a darn good movie.
[It seems odd to me that I have seen SO many Spielberg movies, and yet after the 2005 War of the Worlds I haven’t seen any! How did that happen? I want to see Munich; War Horse; and definitely Lincoln. Any body up for a movie night?]
“Music should strike fire from the heart of man, and bring tears from the eyes of woman.” —Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was born on this day in Vienna, Austria in 1770. Today is the 242nd anniversary of his birth.
He was the eldest of the three surviving Beethoven children. His father taught him the violin and clavier. The elder Beethoven was an alcoholic and a draconian teacher, “Beethoven was flogged, locked in the cellar” [Biography], beaten if he played a wrong note, and deprived of sleep so he could practice. The boy had his debut with a public performance in Cologne in March 1778. His father shaved a few years off his age so Ludwig’s talents made him seem more of a child prodigy.
Musically talented he was, but little Ludwig struggled at school. Math and spelling eluded him his entire life. “Music” he said “comes to me more readily than words.”
At 10 he left school and began to take lessons on the organ and in composition from Court Organist Christian Neefe. Neefe was a much better teacher than his father and he introduced the boy to a world outside the scope of music, including philosophy. By 12 he published his first musical piece, 9 Variations in C Minor for Piano.
When Beethoven was 14 Neefe recommended Beethoven as court organist for Maxcimmian Franz of Cologne.
“Ludwig van Beethoven was recognised as a child prodigy. He worked at the age of 13 as organist, pianist/harpsichordist and violist at the court in Bonn, and had published three early piano sonatas. This portrait in oils is the earliest authenticated likeness of Beethoven.” Circa 1782 (Wikimedia commons)
At 17 Prince Maximilian sent him to Vienna to meet Mozart, but returned home two weeks later upon hearing that his beloved mother (who he called his best friend) had become severely ill. Heartbroken, he stayed in Bonn for several years. He took over the care of his younger brothers — his father had sunk further into alcoholism and was no longer contributing to the family.
In 1790 he wrote a musical memorial in honor of the death of Emperor Joseph II.
For reasons that remain unclear, Beethoven’s composition was never performed … more than a century later, Johannes Brahms discovered that Beethoven had in fact composed a “beautiful and noble” piece of music entitled Cantata on the Death of Emperor Joseph II. It is now considered his earliest masterpiece. [Biography]
Here’s the Soprano aria with Judith Howarth and the Corydon Orchestra.
He went back to Vienna at 22 and studied with Haydn, Salieri and Albrechtsberger. His skills as a virtuoso pianist helped him win patrons among the Viennese aristocracy. His composing allowed him to highlight his piano playing skills. In 1795 he performed and published his Opus number 1, three piano trios.
In April of 1800 “Beethoven debuted his Symphony No. 1 in C major” [Biography]. As he matured as a composer he found fault with the symphony saying “In those days I did not know how to compose.” But when it came out Symphony No. 1was a hit. It…
established him as one of Europe’s most celebrated composers. As the new century progressed, Beethoven composed piece after piece that marked him as a masterful composer reaching his musical maturity. [Ibid]
Portrait of Ludwig van Beethoven (1803) by Christian Horneman [Image courtesy: Wikimedia Commons]
His Sonata quasis un fantasia (aka Moonlight Sonata) and the ballet The Creatures of Prometheuscame next. He was transitioning from Classical world to the Romantic world.
He followed the ballet with his Symphony No. 3, The “Eroica Symphony” which he originally wrote in Napoleon’s honor.
it was his grandest and most original work to date — so unlike anything heard before that through weeks of rehearsal, the musicians could not figure out how to play it. A prominent reviewer proclaimed Eroica, “one of the most original, most sublime, and most profound products that the entire genre of music has ever exhibited.” [Biography]
Here’s the first movement as played by New York Philharmonic, conducted by Leonard Bernstein.
By 26 Beethoven had begun to loose his hearing. He could not hear from the persistent ringing in his ears. He stopped attending social functions and moved to Heiligenstadt, a small town outside of Vienna.
He was depressed and angry over the fate life had handed him. He confessed in the Helligenstadt Testament that he considered suicide, but …
it was only my art that held me back. Ah, it seemed impossible to leave the world until I had brought forth all that I felt was within me. [Ibid]
Tenaciously he continued to compose, producing “an opera, six symphonies, four solo concerti, five string quartets, six string sonatas, seven piano sonatas, five sets of piano variations, four overtures, four trios, two sextets and seventy-two songs” [Ibid] in his heroic or Middle period.
Beethoven in 1814 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
He kept conversation books where friends would writing down what they were talking about to keep him in the loop, and he would respond orally (and sometimes would respond on paper.) He had about 400 of these books, but only 136 exist today.
Portrait Ludwig van Beethoven when composing the Missa Solemnis (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The symphony’s famous choral finale, with four vocal soloists and a chorus singing the words of Friedrich Schiller’s poem “Ode to Joy,” is perhaps the most famous piece of music in history. While connoisseurs delighted in the symphony’s contrapuntal and formal complexity, the masses found inspiration in the anthem-like vigor of the choral finale and the concluding invocation of “all humanity.” [Biography]
Beethoven died on March 26, 1827. He was 56 years old.
Here is the Kyrie Eleison from his Missa Solemnis performed by the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Sir Colin Davis conducting…
“If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more.” —Jane Austen
Jane Austen was born in the Steventon Rectory, Hampshire, England in 1775. Today is the 237th anniversary of her birth.
The second youngest of eight children, Jane was also the younger of two girls in the Austen family. As was the custom for a family of the Austen’s class and means, baby Jane was sent to live with a wet-nurse, Elizabeth Little, until she was 18-months old. She was very close to her sister Cassandra and the two girls, along with their cousin Jane Cooper, were sent to Mrs. Cawley’s school in Oxford when Jane was 7. The school moved to Southampton when measles broke out in Oxford. But Southampton proved no safer. Typhus broke out there and all three girls caught the disease. The girls came back to Steventon where they were home schooled for a year before going to school at Mrs. La Tournelles (aka Sarah Hacket) where the girls received instruction in spelling, needlework and French. But by 1786 she was back home, this time for good.
Jane never had any formal education again…From their experience of school we can gather that Jane and Cassandra had perhaps learned some social skills, had had the opportunity to read, take part in plays, learn some French and learn the piano. These were things that were all available at home anyway. [Janeaustensworld]
And the Austen home was an excellent place at which to be home schooled. Her father took in tutors and taught his own sons. He had an impressive library (which Jane had free access to) The older boys included her in their theatricals and charades and “even as a little girl Jane was encouraged to write” [jasa.net]
Austen’s immediate family tree. [Image courtesy: jasa.net]
Jane had six older brothers: James, George, Edward, Henry, Francis and Charles.
By 14 she was writing to entertain her friends and family, penning such comedies as Love and Freindship (sic) and the parody A History of England by a partial, prejudiced and ignorant Historian. She collected 29 of her stories into three bound books, now known as Juvenilia.
In 1793 she began to write longer works in the epistolary style. Lady Susan was one such novel in letters. She wrote Elinor and Marianne in the same style before she rewrote the work as a third person narrative and changed the title to Sense and Sensibility.
Jane Austen, Watercolour and pencil portrait by her sister Cassandra, 1810 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In 1801 Rev. Austen moved (with Mrs. Austen, Cassandra and Jane) to Bath. Jane’s productivity took a nose-dive. She was either too busy to write — with all the shopping and socializing in Bath — or too depressed to write. The Austens lived in Sydney Place, no.4…
which offered both an easy walk into town and handy access to Sydney Gardens, a great outdoor attraction at that time with regular gala nights featuring music and fireworks.[Seeking Jane Austen]
…until Mr. Austen died in 1804. By 1806 the ladies had left Bath for good, and moved Chawton in Southampton. As soon as they had settled in their new home she renewed her writing in earnest .
English: Back View of Jane Austen, Watercolor (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In 1811, Thomas Egerton, a military Library publishing house printed 750 copies Sense and Sensibility, largely on Austen’s dime. The book sold out of its first edition by 1813. And Austen eventually made 140 pounds on it. It appeared under the pseudonym “A Lady,” and Austen carefully guarded her anonymity .
Encouraged by this success, Jane Austen turned to revising First Impressions, a.k.a. Pride and Prejudice. She sold it in November 1812, and her “own darling child” (as she called it in a letter) was published in late January 1813. [Pemberley.com]
In May of 1814 her third novel, Mansfield Park was published. It sold out in six months.
Despite carefully guarding her name, word had begun to leak out. People knew who the “Lady” was…important people…like the Prince Regent. While she was writing Emma she was summoned to the palace and invited to dedicate her next novel to the Prince. Austen was less than thrilled to be given the honor, but couldn’t exactly refuse, so in wonderful Austen wit she flattered him as only she could…
TOHIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCE REGENT, THIS WORK IS,BY HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS’S PERMISSION,MOST REPECTFULLY DEDICATED,BY HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS’S DUTIFUL AND OBEDIENT HUMBLE SERVANT, THE AUTHOR
In 1815 she began working on Persuasion. By then her health had begun to deteriorate. She completed the first draft by 1816 and began The Brotherswhich later became Sanditon. Her condition rapidly worsened. In May her bother Henry took Jane to Winchester for treatment, but on July 18, 1817 at the age of 41 Jane Austen passed away. She was buried at Winchester Cathedral.
English: Jane Austen’s memorial gravestone in the nave of Winchester Cathedral (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Henry, with Cassandra’s help, got Persuasion and Northanger Abbey published in December of 1817. For the first time the author was listed as “Jane Austen.”
[It’s Second Character Saturday! Today’s character is Piglet. I’ll be going straight to the source and discussing the AA Milne Piglet with illustrations by Ernest Shepard— not the Disney-fied Piglet.]
“But Piglet is so small that he slips into a pocket, where it is very comfortable to feel him when you are not quite sure whether twice seven is twelve or twenty-two.”― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
Why: Piglet is shy, but brave. He reminds us that no matter how small and un-impowered we are… we are still big enough to stand up for what is right and face our fears.He is a role model for friendship.
In the stories he grounds the more popular (and more flighty) Pooh. He has a very strong relationship with Pooh, Eeyore and Christopher Robin. As readers (especial children) we relate to him because of his size and soft voice and WE want to be his friend too.
Piglet plants a haycorn plant.
Pros: Loyal, brave, innocent, earnest, creative, humble, good listener, hard worker.
Cons: Excitable, follower, gullible.
Pooh and Piglet on an adventure
Shining Moment: I love all the moments with Piglet in the books. I especially the quiet moments between Pooh and Piglet that just say “friendship” to me…
Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. “Pooh?” he whispered.
“Yes, Piglet?”
“Nothing,” said Piglet, taking Pooh’s hand. “I just wanted to be sure of you.”
“I don’t feel very much like Pooh today,” said Pooh.
“There there,” said Piglet. “I’ll bring you tea and honey until you do.”
“How do you spell ‘love’?” – Piglet
“You don’t spell it…you feel it.” – Pooh”
When you wake up in the morning, Pooh,” said Piglet at last, “what’s the first thing you say to yourself?”
“What’s for breakfast?” said Pooh. “What do you say, Piglet?”
“I say, I wonder what’s going to happen exciting today?” said Piglet.
Pooh nodded thoughtfully. “It’s the same thing,” he said.”
I love when he listens to Eeyore and does something to help him out of his funk.
He’s there for his friends and always willing to help. Despite his diminutive size he is brave enough to face great odds. He may be afraid of everything, but that doesn’t get in the way of his standing up for what is right, or standing next to a friend to face a challenge.
The Disney-fied version of my beloved porcine friend. [Image courtesy: render-graphiques.fr]
Least Shining Moment: I do not like what Disney did with Piglet. They turned his innocence into a cartoon. I was OK with that as a kid, but as I get older, and Disney keeps chugging out more and more Pooh related crap, I resent that they are forcing the Milne characters into cookie-cutter cartoons of themselves to sell more DVDs and plastic stuff. Piglet just gets squeekier and squeekier and the tender, brave, humble pig gets more and more diluted. SHAME.
In 1921, as a first-birthday present, Christopher Robin Milne received a small stuffed bear, which had been purchased at Harrods in London. Eeyore, Piglet, Kanga, and Tigger soon joined Winnie-the-Pooh as Christopher’s playmates and the inspiration for the children’s classics When We Were Very Young (1924), Winnie-the-Pooh (1926), Now We Are Six (1927), and The House at Pooh Corner (1928), written by his father, A.A. Milne, and illustrated by Ernest H. Shepard.
You can see just how small Piglet is compared to the other stuffed animals in this photo. [Image courtesy: The New York Public Library
Brought to the United States in 1947, the toys remained with the American publisher E.P. Dutton until 1987, when they were donated to The New York Public Library. [Treasures of The New York Public Library.]
Cover of Winnie-the-Pooh (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
One more image… Piglet dancing with delight. Keep that image in your heart today, OK?
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