My resident (Didn't know you resided here did you John?) Music Expert John Klaus sent me an e-mail yesterday that today (February 29th) would be Gioachino Rossini's 55th birthday. He was born in 1792.
As a kid I used to listen to a radio show which used his William Tell Overture as theme music. As an adult I have enjoyed his Barber of Seville. As you may wish to read more about him go here, here and here. As an interesting (to me) side note he died on November 13, 1868. I was born on November 13. Do I feel a psychic connection? Nah, not really.
So I got an e-mail from John: He writes:
Happy birthday to all those folks who can only celebrate every four years--if that! Poor ol' Rossini lost out in 1800.
BTW, you should listen to "Italian in Algiers" sometime. It's so much funnier than any sitcom on TV that it's not even in the same class. Embarrassingly Eurocentric by today's standards, but funny nonetheless.
If you can find it, listen to Respighi's "Suite Rossiniana" as well. It's based on themes from Rossini's later works, pieces he called "Sins of My Old Age."
Ya gotta admire a guy who worked his butt off for about 20 years, made tons of money, got famous, and then retired to Paris where (as a widower) he married a trophy wife and held salon for the last 30 years of his life.
I still like the two stories I told you in Iowa City about Rossini and turkeys:
1. "I only cried twice in my life: once when my mother died, and the other when I was on a picnic on Lake Como and a truffled turkey fell overboard."
2. "The turkey is a very disappointing bird. It's too bog for one and not big enough for two."
Rossini was a famous gourmand--certainly WAY beyond a gourmet, even if Turnedos Rossini is named for him. He was also a genuinely funny man. Bach could be a practical joker, and at other times was too dour for his own good, but Rossini could've been a stand-up comic. Problem is for some that many of his best jokes are written in music.
Stendahl wrote a brilliant biography of him.
But that brings up Leap Day. Once every 4 years February 29 is problematic for those born on that day.
An English law of 1256 decreed that in leap years, the leap day and the day before are to be reckoned as one day for the purpose of calculating when a full year has passed. Thus, in England and Wales a person born on February 29 legally reaches the age of 18 or 21 on February 28 of the relevant year.
There is a tradition that women may make a proposal of marriage to men only in leap years, further restricted in some cases to only February 29. There is a tradition that in 1288 the Scottish parliament under Queen Margaret legislated that any woman could propose in Leap Year; few parliament records of that time exist, and none concern February 29.
Another component of this tradition was that if the man rejects the proposal, he should soften the blow by providing a kiss, one pound currency, and a pair of gloves (some later sources say a silk gown). There were similar notions in France and Switzerland.
1904 - Jimmy Dorsey
1916 - Dinah Shore
1972 - Antonio Sabàto, Jr.,
1976 - Emma Barton,
Are among those born on February 29. Happy Birthday to all of you. By the way it is Feb RU ary....not Feb U ary. One of those little things that bothers my OCD. Hugs, ARTYAL, j
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