Today's the Day

[cloughie]

Ruthless political caricaturist, possibly most famous for his images of John Major with his underpants worn over his trousers:



... and very generous with his venom:

He’s morphed Blair with Prince Philip!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

February 27th

Today the great Welsh priest and poet of the early 17th Century, George Herbert is celebrated in the Anglican liturgy - a skilled lutenist, too, he set many of his own verses to Music, and his biographer Isaac Walton (of The Compleat Angler) described how even in his final days, he would always make time to rise from his sick bed to play.

And it's World NGO Day; internationally promoted to encourage people "celebrate, commemorate, and collaborate" (with) Non-Governmental Organisations.

Also on this Date: the three Roman Emperors Theodosius, Gratian, and Valentinian announce the Edict of Thessalonica, in which all Roman Citizens are urged to convert to Trinitarian Christianity (380); the first Russian ambassador is received in London by Mary I (1557); William Byrd becomes Organist and Choirmaster at Lincoln Cathedral (1563); Lord Byron gives his maiden speech in the House of Lords, defending Luddite acts of sabotage (1812); Beethoven's 8th Symphony is premiered in Vienna, with the composer conducting (1814); Abraham Lincoln gives his "Cooper Union" speech, which not only ensures his nomination as the Republican candidate in the presidential elections, but gains him wide support (1860); Russian Troops open fire on unarmed Polish protesters demonstrating against Russian occupation of their homeland (1861); a meeting of various Trades Unions and left-wing groups agree to work together to ensure labour voice in parliament, thus beginning the Labour Party (1900); Harry Harbord "Breaker" Morant is executed by Firing Squad after his court martial for the summary execution of nine Prisoners of War (1902); Siegmund Freud and Carl Jung meet for the first time in Vienna (1907); Holst's The Planets is given its first public performance (1919); the International Working Union of Socialists is formed in Vienna, and Mussolini's Fascists riot in Florence (1921); the US Senate upholds the 19th Amendment - women have the right to vote (1922); the Reichstag is gutted by an arson attack (1933); the US Supreme Court rules that Sit-Down Strikes consitute an act of trespass, and are therefore illegal (1939); The Rosenstrasse protest, the only mass demonstration against the the Third Reich policy towards Jews is held in Germany, when non-Jewish wives and relatives of 1,800 Jewish men are mass-arrested - the protests continue into March, and end only when the men are released (1943); the 22nd Amendment, limiting Presidential terms to a maximum of two, is ratified (1951); the Italian Government asks for international aid to prevent the Tower of Pisa from falling over (1964); respected news anchor, Walter Cronkite presents a scathing report from Vietnam in which he completely reverses his former support for the War (1968); President Bush I declares that "Kuwait is liberated" (1991); Boris Nemtov, an opponent of President Putin, is shot dead on the Great Moskvoretsky Bridge in Moscow (2015).

Birthdays today include: Constantine the Great (272); Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1805); Ellen Terry (1847); Charles Hubert Hastings Parry (1848); Bertha Pappenheim (1859); Lotte Lehmann (1888); David Sarnoff (1891); Marian Anderson (1897); John Steinbeck (1902); Lawrence Durrell (1912); Irwin Shaw (1913); Roman Haubenstock-Ramati (1919); Dexter Gordon (1923); Rene Clemencic (1928); Joanne Woodward (1930); Elizabeth Taylor (1932); Mirella Freni (1935); Jake Thackray (1938); Paddy Ashdown (1941); Gidon Kremer (1947); Julia Neuberger (1950); Steve Harley (1951); Gavin Esler (1953); and Timothy Spall (1957).

Last Days for: John Evelyn (1706); Alexander Porfir'yevich Borodin (1887); Louis Vuitton (1892); Ivan Pavlov (1936); Bill Everett (1973); John Dickson Carr (1977); Ray Ellington (1985); Joan Greenwood (1987); Konrad Lorenz (1989); Lilian Gish (1993); Spike Milligan (2002); John Lanchbery (2003); Linda Smith (2006); Van Cliburn (2013); and Leonard Nimmoy (2015).

And the Radio 3 schedules for the morning of Thursday, 27th February, 1969 were:

Overture (the Genome has an attack of the vapours and doesn't give details beyond "Musici" and details of the performers Isaac Stern/PO/Ormandy, and Boston Pops Orchestra/Fiedler
Morning Concert (ditto - LSO/Kertesz; LSO/Goosens; BPO/Bohm
This Week's Composer: Dvorak
Showcase: (no repertoire litsed - RLPO/Groves; RCAOpera Orch/Pretre; Benny Goodman/ColumbiaSO/The Composer (ooh - guess what!); ROHCGO/Patane; CSO/Morton Gould
Music Making: Chamber Music and lieder

[Boilk]

Ah, Fra Angelico: his work has inspired a number of musical pieces. Which is your favourite one, I wonder?

My favourite piece (to date) inspired by Fra Angelico is a recently encountered piece called (probably not coincidentally) simply Fra Angelico. Spiritual Minimalism (before Taverner and Part) meets ad libitum aleatory, courtesy of the American mystic composer Alan Hovhaness and the old Unicorn record label. Rather powerful stuff in its directness...for the 1960s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nWwtxb629I

[Pabmusic]

...Holst's The Planets is given its first public performance (1919)...

On February 27th 1914, Mr A. C. Boult gave his first professional performance, at West Kirby on the Wirral, conducting 40 members of the Liverpool and Halle Orchestras, led by Arthur Caterall. The programme included the prelude to Die Meistersinger, the Schumann piano concerto, the 2nd Brandenburg Concerto, the first British performance of Wolf's Italian Serenade, and the first performance of The Banks of Green Willow by George Butterworth.

On February 27th 2010, Mr Pabmusic gave his last performance, in Crewe. The programme included Kalinnikov's 1st Symphony, Nicolai's overture to The Merry Wives of Windsor, Strauss's Emperor Waltz and The Banks of Green Willow.

[johncorrigan]

Last Days for: Lilian Gish (1993);

Some great names in there today, ferney, but whenever I read or hear of Ms Gish, I can't help but recall that great bit of rhyming slang, as in 'I'm just nipping to the loo for a quick Lilian!'

[gurnemanz]

On February 27th 1914, Mr A. C. Boult gave his first professional performance, at West Kirby on the Wirral, conducting 40 members of the Liverpool and Halle Orchestras, led by Arthur Caterall. The programme included the prelude to Die Meistersinger, the Schumann piano concerto, the 2nd Brandenburg Concerto, the first British performance of Wolf's Italian Serenade, and the first performance of The Banks of Green Willow by George Butterworth.

On February 27th 2010, Mr Pabmusic gave his last performance, in Crewe. The programme included Kalinnikov's 1st Symphony, Nicolai's overture to The Merry Wives of Windsor, Strauss's Emperor Waltz and The Banks of Green Willow.

Thanks for those reminiscences. Strauss's Emperor Waltz reminds me of my first ever classical concert, aged 19 - a 1968 Prom. A quite eclectic programme as I have just re-discovered.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

February 28th

Rare Disease Day - established by the European Organisation for Rare Diseases to raise awarensess of rare diseases, and to promote research into and improve access to treatment for individuals affected by rare diseases.

And in Finland, it's Kalevala Day; a National celebration of Finnish Art & Culture.

Also on this date: Cuauhtémoc, the last Aztec Tiatoani ("ruler") is executed on the orders of Conquistador, Hernan Cortes (1525); the Scottish National Covenant is signed in Edinburgh (1638); Henry Fielding's Tom Jones is first published (1749); Elias Lonnrot publishes the mediaeval Finnish epic poem, the Kalevala (1835); Vincent d'Indy's Wallenstein Trilogy, Op 12 is premiered in Paris (1888); the Siege of Ladysmith, in the Second Boer War (1900); using the Reichstag Fire as an excuse, German President Hindenbburg bans free speech, and Chancellor Hitler bans the German Communist Party - pacifiest Carl von Ossietzky, who had written against anti-semiticism, is arrested and held in Spandau Prison (1933); Crick and Watson tell selected people that they have discovered the chemical structure of DNA (1953); the first colour televisions go on sale in the United States (1954); Olof Palme, Prime Minister of Sweden, is shot dead in Stockholm (1986); the First Gulf War ends (1991); and Pope Benedict XVI becomes the first incumbant for 600 years to resign from office (2013).

Birthdays include: Michel de Montaigne (1533); Berthold Auerbach (1812); John Tenniel (1820); Alfred von Schliefen (1833); Vyacheveslav Ivanov (1866); Geraldine Farrar (1882); Marcel Pagnol (1895); Linus Pauling (1901); Vincente Minelli (1903); Stephan Spender (1909); Peter Medawar and Zero Mostel (both 1915); Harry H Corbett (1925); Stanley Baker (1928); Peter Alliss (1931); and Robin Cook (1946).

Final Days for: Henry James (1916); Winifred Atwell (1983); Stephen Tennent (1987); and Dermot Morgan (1998).

And the Radio 3 morning schedules for Wednesday, 28th February, 1979 were:

Your Midweek Choice: Rossini String Sonata in C, (ASMF/Marriner); Mozart Sonata in D (Eschenbach & Frantz); Pleyel Sinf Conc; Grieg Sonata op 7 (De Larrocha); Glazunov Symphony #5 (MRSO/Fedoseyev).
This Week's Composer: Frank Bridge
Music for Organ by Hollins, Gigout, Bach, Franck, and Howells (Ronald Perrin)
3 Bachs: Sonatas for Oboe and/or Harpsichord by JC, JS, and CPE Bach (Neil Black & Christopher Herrick)
Concert: Bartok Vln Conc #2; Sibelius Symph #1 (Iona Brown/BBCSSO/Rattle) - with an interval talk by Robert Layton on Sibelius.

[Pabmusic]

Rare Disease Day - established by the European Organisation for Rare Diseases to raise awarensess of rare diseases, and to promote research into and improve access to treatment for individuals affected by rare diseases...

Intriguing. Is there a sub-committee that periodically re-considers diseases to assess whether they're now sufficiently common to be removed from the list?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Intriguing. Is there a sub-committee that periodically re-considers diseases to assess whether they're now sufficiently common to be removed from the list?

I hadn't heard of it before researching this entry (great publicity, huh?) - but I think that they wish to concentrate on diseases that are so rare that they cannot have the sort of mass awareness that such diseases as Cancer, AIDS, Dementia, Parkinson's etc have. A key word in their literature is "overlooked" - so those illnesses that get neglected by funding authorities because they simply don't know they exist (or, put cynically, there aren't enough cases to make voters make it an election issue).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare_Disease_Day

https://www.rarediseaseday.org/

[Pabmusic]

I hadn't heard of it before researching this entry (great publicity, huh?) - but I think that they wish to concentrate on diseases that are so rare that they cannot have the sort of mass awareness that such diseases as Cancer, AIDS, Dementia, Parkinson's etc have. A key word in their literature is "overlooked" - so those illnesses that get neglected by funding authorities because they simply don't know they exist (or, put cynically, there aren't enough cases to make voters make it an election issue).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare_Disease_Day

https://www.rarediseaseday.org/

Makes sense.

[Pulcinella]

I guess we have to wait a year for Leap Day news.

[Pabmusic]

I guess we have to wait a year for Leap Day news.

Poor Rossini.

[antongould]

I guess we have to wait a year for Leap Day news.

Alf Gover was born on 29 February .....

[greenilex]

Would it be shameful to ask Who He?

[Richard Tarleton]

Stanley Baker (1928)

Produced and starred in one of the great films, Zulu.....now generally referred to as a Michael Caine film (it was Caine's breakthrough role, "and introducing..." on the credits).

Baker died at the same age as his character in the film, Lt. John Chard, at 48, both of cancer.