Born Today March 2: Leo XIII

1810-1903

Pope Leo XIII was born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci on this day in Carpineto Romano, a small province that was near Rome.  He was the sixth of seven sons born into family with minor aristocratic ties.  He lived at home with his family until 1818, when left with a brother to study at a Jesuit College.  There he remained until 1824.  He had a real fondness and talent for the Latin language, and was composing poems in that language by the age of 11.  In 1824, his mother died suddenly,  and his father subsequently  wanted all his children close to him as a result.  His kids stayed with him in Rome and entered the Collegium Romanum.  In 1829, his brother Guiseppe decided to go into the Jesuit order, while Vincenzo opted for secular clergy.  He would then go on to study law and diplomacy.  In 1834, he gave a student presentation that was widely attended and this gained him the attention of the Vatican itself.  In 1836, he received his doctorate in theology and also doctorates in both civil and Canon Law. By early 1837, during a deadly cholera outbreak in Rome, Pope Gregory XVI appointed him as personal prelate, and this was before Vincenzo was ordained as a priest.  In December of that same year, he was ordained by the Vicar of Rome.  He celebrated his first mass with his brother Guiseppe. He was first appointed a provincial administrator of Benevento by the Pope, where he would take on the Mafia and other organized crime elements there.  He would become Bishop and Archbishop at very early age, and would serve the Holy See both domestically and abroad.  He was crowned Pope the 3rd of March 1878.  In regards to film, he became the very first Pope to appear in film and that came in 1896 with the short Leone XIII; it is one of only 4 films ever listed as having been filmed completely in and produced by the Holy See to this day.  It still exists and has been restored.  From then on, he was featured in several newsreel short "documentary" films right up until the time of his death; most of them date from the year 1898.  The last film to feature the Pope came in 1903 (one of 3 from that year) that reported on his death:  La mort du pape Léon XIII, it was a Pathé Freres (of France) production.  Leo XIII died on the 20th of July in 1903 at the age of 93; this made him the longest lived Pope so far.  At the time, he was also the second longest reigning Pope of all time (that has since gone to 3rd, after the the reign of Pope John Paul II).  He was initially interred in St. Peter's Basilica, as expected; however in 1924 he was re-interred in St. John Lateran, his cathedral church as Bishop of Rome.  As with all historical figures featured here, follow the links for more in depth lifetime information.

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Enclyclopedia.com

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Born Today March 1: Frédéric Chopin

1810-1849

Frédéric François Chopin (birth name Fryderyk Franzcisek) was born on this day in Zelazowa Wola, Poland--then part of the Russian Empire.  The region that he was born in, had been established by Napoleon and his father was from the Lorraine region of France.  His mother was a Polish Countess.  His baptismal record (under the Latinized name of Fridericus Franciscus) states that his birthday was actually the 22nd of February, but his family always strictly maintained that he was, in fact, born on March 1st.  He was the second of 4 children and the only son of the couple.  Six months after his birth, the family relocated to Warsaw.  Both of his parents were musically inclined, with his father proficient on both the flute and violin, and his mother on piano.  In fact, she gave lessons on that instrument.  So, he was exposed to music from the time of his birth.  In 1816, he began formal training on the piano with musician Wojciech Zywny.  Young Frédéric, along with his older sister studied with him, until 1821.  He and his sister would frequently play duets together.  His talent on the instrument, however, far out-shown hers, and he was quickly declared a child prodigy, though he was always predisposed to illnesses, even as a very young boy, he showed great energy in the field of music.  By 1817, he had already begun to give public performances and had composed his first piece of music.  The earliest surviving musical composition of his dates from 1821.  In 1823, he began attending the Warsaw Lyceum, where studied under musician Wilhelm Würfel on the organ.  Leaving in 1826, he then began a three year stint at the Warsaw Conservatory under Silesian composer Józef Elsner.  During this time, he came to the attention of Tsar Alexander I, who invited him to play before him on a trip to Warsaw--this earned Chopin his first real success.  Between 1824 and 1828, family retreats to various locals in Poland exposed him to Polish folk music.  During this time, his parents ran a boarding house; through this, he was exposed to a whole set of young Polish men from various walks of life, some of which would go on to be life-long friends of his.  In 1828, he made his first trip to Berlin, delighting in the music scene there and regularly attending opera.  When back in Warsaw, he was able to attend of performance of composer Paganini, who performed his own music on the violin.  By the spring of 1830, he had become a well known composer in his own right.  In the fall of 1830, he and a friend became stranded in Austria, while traveling to Italy, when an uprising broke out; as a result of this, Chopin headed for France. It would be here that his compositions would become internationally known and would make him world famous.  He also won the admiration of several of his well known fellow composers.  By 1842, his health was in serious decline; and though, his official cause of death at the young age of 39 was Pulmonary Tuberculosis, he is thought to have suffered a lifelong problem with temporal lobe epilepsy, among other illnesses; his actual cause of death is still hotly debated.  He did during this time, however, manage a tour of England and Scotland in 1848; giving his last public performance in London's Guildhall.  He returned to Paris, where he succumbed to illness on the 17th of October 1849.  His funeral was held on the 30 of October with an over-flow crowd of more than 3,000 (many from foreign countries) in Paris.  Upon his request, Mozart's Requiem was performed. He is buried in Pére Lachaise.  In regards to film, his compositions have be used in literally hundreds of soundtracks; but the first film to feature his work actually was a late silent film featuring a  pressed vinyl disc or record showing his name printed on it; the disc spins on a record player.  The film Disque 957, was a short (6 minutes) and was directed by French film artist and feminist Germain Dulac.  The first film to actually feature his music in sound, came in 1929 with another short (10 minutes) Trixie Friganza in My Bag o' Trix, featuring vaudevillian Trixie Friganza, utilizing Vitaphone sound on a Western Electric Apparatus.  The first full length film to feature his music also came in 1929 with Side Street, featuring the The Moore Brothers.  The first film in the 1930's to feature his compositions was a Basil Rathbone film entitled The Bishop Murder Case (1930).  The latest feature of  his work will come in the Canadian pilot for the horror television series The Fantasmagori this year. 

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Born Today February 28: Ferdinand Gottschalk

1858-1944

English stage and film actor Ferdinand Gottschalk was born on this day in London, England.  Although he was born and died in London, he spent a great deal of his days on the live stage in North America; principally in Canada and New York.  He made his stage debut in Toronto in 1887.  He quickly developed a penchant to fill roles of standard characters, and became one of the first character actors in film.  He made his film debut in 1917 in the comedy/drama Please Help Emily.  A man ever of the stage, as he was also a playwright and a producer, he only made 3 films in the silent era.  Along with the above mentioned film, the other two were:  My Wife (1918) and Zaza (1923).  All three of them were based on plays and all were U.S. productions.  He would not appear in another film until 1930, when he appeared in a talking short.  From there, he had a proliferation of work in film as the steady character actor all through out the decades of the 1930's.  He retired from acting in 1938 at the age of 80.  After this, he returned to his native country, where is died on 10 November 1944, at the age of 86.

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Born Today February 27: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

1807-1882

Legendary poet and writer Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born on this day in Portland, Maine (then part of Massachusetts).  His father was a prominent lawyer and his maternal grandfather was a revolutionary war veteran and had served as a member of Congress.  He was the second of eight children.  At the age of six he was enrolled in the private Portland Academy, where he was reported to be an excellent student and a fast learner of Latin.  His mother encouraged his passion for reading, steering him toward works of literature.  His first poem was published in 1820, when he was only 13 years of age.  By the age of 15 he enrolled in Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine.  It was here that he met life-long friend and fellow literary writer Nathaniel Hawthorne.  After a time, he got involved with politics on campus, enrolling in the Peucinian Society, a group of students with Federalist ideals.  Between this time and the time of his graduation, he wrote and submitted poems to magazines and newspapers for publication.  By the time of his graduation in 1825, he had managed to get some 40 of them published.  He graduated 4th in his class, had been elected to the fraternity Phi Beta Kappa; as well, he gave the commencement address at the graduation ceremony.  After his graduation, he embarked on a learning tour of Europe.  While there, he learned Spanish, Portuguese, French and German with very little formal study.  He returned to his Alma mater to teach in 1829; while teaching there, he translated works from Spanish, French and Italian; with his first book publication coming in 1833, which was a manuscript of Jorge Manrique's work, a medieval Spanish poet, whom he translated into English.  He also published a travel book during this time.  Longfellow married for the first time in 1833, and in 1834 he was offered a job at Harvard.  By this time, he had published several works of fiction and non-fiction.  The job a Harvard was a professorship of modern languages, and a stipulation for the job was that he should spend a year abroad studying before assuming the professorship.  He returned to Europe and made a broad study of various Germanic languages, that included German proper, Dutch, Danish, Swedish and Icelandic, with the addition of Finnish (which is a non-Indo-European language).  While he was there, his wife died of complications from a miscarriage.  He returned to the United State in 1836, to take up his teaching duties at Harvard, taking up residence in Cambridge.  He married for a second time in 1843, the marriage would produce 6 children.  Though, his second wife would die tragically in 1861, after an accident that caused her dress to catch fire.  He is said to have never fully recovered from her death.  He did, however, continue to write and translate throughout the remainder of his life.  Such was the reach of his popularity in readers of literature, that his work first appeared in a motion picture scenario before the turn of the 20th century.  The first film to feature his work came in 1897 with The Village Blacksmith.  The next film to use his work for a film scenario came in 1903 with Hiawatha, which is unfortunately a lost film, though stills still exist.  Dozens of films (most of them shorts and based on his poem "Hiawatha") were produced from his work during the silent era; the last of which was a partial silent:  Evangeline (1929) based on his poem of the same name.  The first film produced after the introduction of talkies based on work came in 1936 with The White Angel.  The most recent film to utilized his work for a film concept came in 2011 with the short Snowflakes--a 2 minute audio-visual film based on his poem of the same name. Longfellow died, surrounded by his family, after a brief, but severe, bout of peritonitis in Cambridge, Massachusetts on March 24.  He was 75 years old. He is buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery, along with his two wives.

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Leave Virtual Flowers @ Find A Grave (note: the site gives the wrong information as to his place of burial, he is not buried, even in part, at Westminster Abbey in the UK.)

Born Today February 26: Victor Hugo

1802-1883

French Romantic writer Victor Marie Hugo was born on this day in Besançon, Doubs, France.  His parents held opposite belief patterns; his father was a "freethinking republican" whose hero was Napoleon and served in his army; his mother, on the other hand, was a devout Catholic who was a staunch royalist.  His godfather, who was a Napoleonic general with secret royalist allegiance (and possible lover of his mother), was executed by Napoleon in 1812 when Hugo was 10.  His early life saw him and his siblings living through some of the most politically turbulent times in Europe (actually the world), with Napoleon being declared emperor when Hugo was just two years of age; and with the Bourbon Monarchy being restored to power by the time he was 13.  Hugo displayed a fascination with poetry at a very early age. By 1822, he had published his first volume of poetry; this gained him a royal pension from King Louis XVIII.  This was followed by several more volumes in the years to come.  His first work of fiction came 1823 with a novel; by 1829 he had come out with The Last Day of a Condemned Man; a large work of fiction that would go on to be hugely influential on a whole host of writers.  By 1827 he had published successful plays; in the case of that year it was  Cromwell.  In 1830, he became abnormally famous for his time with his play Hernani staged to huge success across the European continent.  In 1831 one of the works that he is best known was published; the novel (translated) The Hunchback Of Notre Dame was an instant success and was immediately translated into several language; it also had the effect of shaming the city of Paris into restoring that great cathedral, as the book began to attract thousands of tourists every year.  1832 saw him venture into the world writing librettos for opera, in the this case, for no less a composer than Verdi!  In 1834, he published a short story based on true events--that of a condemned murderer who had been executed by the state; Hugo later made the observation, that the story had been the smallest seed from which his great Les Misérables would grow.  That great novel did not appear until 1862.  In 1843, Hugo suffered the worst lose of his life when his favored eldest daughter drowned after a boating accident at the age of 19 (she was also newly married, her husband perished trying to save her); those who knew him said that he never quite recovered from lose.  Laments of this lose were immortalized in poetry by him.  Also in the 1840's, he got involved with French politics.  He was a staunch Republican who wished to stand for a complete democratic form of government.  He fled the country for Belgium after Louis Napoleon sized power in France in 1851.  His exile would last until 1870. When back in France, he resumed his political activities; he would basically remain politically engaged for the remainder of his life. Given the enormity of his literary influence, it is hardly surprising that his works were used early on in the formation of narrative film. The first of these came in 1905 with the now famous Esmeralda, which was co-directed by Alice Guy, who is believed to be the very first female director. It would be 4 more years (as far as anyone knows) that the next film (one of many for the year !), based on his work would be released.  That film was Rigoletto, and was an Italian production.  The year 1909 would also see the first filming of Les Misérables, it would be broken into 3 separate releases and was probably the first trilogy in film (links for the films can be found here, here and here).  It is also no surprise that there was a proliferation of films made from his work during the silent era, given the well known nature of his work.  The two most well known, considered horror classics to this day, came in the 1920's.  The first of these was The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, which was directed by Wallace Worsely and starred Lon Chaney Sr., released in 1923.  The second was The Man Who Laughs, which came out in 1928, and was directed by the great Paul Leni and starred Conrad Veidt of The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari (1920) fame.  The first sound film to be made using his work was a short from 1929, The Bishop's Candlesticks, a Paramount production.  The last silent films to be made using his work, were produced in Japan in 1929 and 1931.  The first full length sound film to be produced was a whopping 4 hours and 41 minute version of Les Misérables in 1934.  The most recent released film of his work dates from last year, with the comedy French Movie.  Two additional films have been announced:  a television adaptation of Les Misérables, with no release date information; and The Hunchback, slated for release later this year.  Hugo died in Paris on the 22nd of May of pneumonia.  He was given a lavish state funeral and it is estimated that close to 1 million people (some estimates put it at 2 million!) turned out on the streets the day of his funeral.  In addition to being one literature's greatest and most prolific writers, he was also an avid artist, producing more than 4,000 drawings during his lifetime.  He is interred in a tomb in The Pantheon in Paris.

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Born Today February 25: Carlo Goldoni

1707-1793

Italian dramatist and librettist Carlo Osvaldo Goldoni was born on this day in the independent republic of Venice.  Through in his own biographical writing, he claimed that he was introduced to the theater by his grandfather; the grandfather in question actually died four years before his birth.  Goldoni's father was an apothecary.  Where ever his interest in the theater came from, it manifested itself at a very early age. Despite his parents attempts to dissuade the interest, Goldoni would only have puppets as toys and would only read plays.  His earliest education came when his father placed him under the tutelage of philosopher Caldini, but Goldoni soon ran away with a group of traveling players.  In 1723, he father had him placed in the Collegio Ghislieri in Pavia, a strict monastic school, this nonetheless gave him access to Greek and Latin plays.  While there, he began to write.  He was eventually expelled from the school for penning a poem ridiculing daughters of prominent Pavian families--the poem was considered libelous.  He then went on to study law, and eventually took a degree from the University of Modena.  After this, he did indeed, spend several years in the sole practice of law; but a summons from Venice saw him abruptly change careers to that of a playwright.  He supplemented his income by managing theaters.  He would go on to write some of Italy's most famous and beloved plays; most of them tinged with wit and stark honesty.  He wrote in both Italian and French, but also sprinkled a good deal of the Venetian language throughout his works.  After 1734, he also began to pen librettos for Italian opera.  In film terms, the first use of his writing for a scenario came in 1911, with the short Miranda, a French/Danish production.  The following year, the first film of his work in his native Italy came with another short, La locandiera.  The last film of his work made in the silent era came in 1929, with a full length treatment of that same play--again an Italian production. The first sound film produced from his work was also based on that play and came in 1944 (yet another Italian production).  The most recent film using his work for a screenplay came in 2011, with the Swedish Två herrars tjänare.  His works have been translated in many languages and have graced at great number of stages in great theaters.  Successful Broadway runs of his work have been staged. By the late 1750's he had gotten into a serious dispute with fellow Italian playwright Carlo Gozzi; disgusted with the whole situation, and with Gozzi's work supplanting his as "Italian theater," he moved to France, where he would spend the rest of his life.  Goldoni died on the 6th February in 1793 in Paris, just before his 86th birthday.  Details of his burial are unknown.  

Honorary statue to Goldoni in his native Venice

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Born Today February 24: Wilhelm Grimm

1786-1859

Wilhelm Carl (sometimes Karl) Grimm was born on the day in Hanau, Hesse-Kassel, then part of the Holy Roman Empire. He is famous for being the younger of "The Brothers Grimm" of fairytale fame.  He and his older brother Jacob had been constantly in each other's company since school days, where they shared a bed and desk in a boarding situation.  Wilhelm entered the University of Marburg in 1803, one year after his brother; where again they shared a room.  There, he studied the law.  From then on, the two always lived under one roof and their library was common property.  Though the two were constantly together, they reportedly had opposite personalities.  Wilhelm had been a vivacious child, but suffered some type of long and severe illness while growing up--an ordeal that he never quite recovered from.  He had a deep love of music, an interest that his brother did not really share.  And while he had no interest in pursuing any wide range of investigations in life, he was a keen literary scholar and a consummate story teller.  He was also familiar with the various German dialects of the time.  He married at the age of 39 and he and his wife went on to have 4 children together. The collection that is so famous today as Grimm's Fairy Tales first appeared in 1812.  It was a book a collected tales from various parts of what is now Germany. The tales appeared very early in film, soon after to notion that actual narratives could be told through moving pictures.  Two films appeared in 1897.  Both were extremely early German films:  Rapunzel and Hänsel und Gretel.  In all 14 films utilizing the Tales as source material were produced in the silent era with formal credit in the films themselves.  The Grimm's tales entered into the world of animation in 1922 with Puss In Boots, an early Disney cartoon.  The first full sound live-action film to feature their work came in 1936 with the German produced Hans im Glück.  The most recent released production to feature their tales was from last year, which came in the form of a made-for-television film in Germany with Das singende, klingende Bäumchen, which aired on Christmas Day.  Two other films have been announced, with no release dates attached.  The first is a musical version of Snow White; and the second is Rose Red, also another take on the Snow White story.  Later in life, both he and his brother Jacob become professors at the University of Göttingen; they were part of the Göttingen Seven.  The group protested Ernst August, King Of Hanover, whom they claimed had violated the constitution.  As a consequence, all seven were fired.  Wilhelm passed away at the age of 73 on December 16 from a infection Berlin.  He preceded his older brother in death. The two are buried together (with other family members) in Alter Sankt-Matthäus-Kirchhof in Berlin.

Wikipedia

Brothers Grimm Wikipedia

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Born Today February 23: George Frideric Handel

1685-1759

Prolific composer George Frideric Handel (birth name: Georg Friedrich Händel) was born on this day in Halle an der Saale, Brandenburg-Prussia, then part of the Holy Roman Empire.  His father was a court barber and surgeon.  He attended the gymnasium in his home town.  It's headmaster was reported to have been a great musician.  If true, this would be his first introduction to musical form.  It is unclear how long his stayed at the school.  Handel apparently showed a very early talent for music, a trait that his father completely would not tolerate.  However, the elder Georg's attempts to stamp out the propensity only had the opposite effect on the young man.  His talent on the clavichord earned him patronage for a formal musical education.  After the death of his father in 1697 (for whom he composed a funeral ode), Handel entered University to obtain a liberal arts education--a promise that he had made to his father.  It was his father's wish that he become a lawyer, but the pull of music was far too great.  After a stint composing in his hometown, Handel left for Italy and then for London, a city that would become his adopted home.  In regards to early film, there is only one film in the silent era that features the music of Handel; but what an important film it is. The Last Days Of Pompeii (original title: Gli ultimi giorno di Pompei), which dates from 1913, is condered to be the first great epic film produced.  Upon it's debut, the film had an orchestra, with prescribed pieces of music assigned from various composers--it is not known if Handel's music was used or not (likely not), as the the list of music used does not seem to have survived.  When the film was restored and updated in the year 2000, with Handel's Water Music used in the DVD release score.  Kino Video currently has that release on DVD.  The first time Handel's music was actually used in a film upon it's original release was in 1934 with The House Of Rothschild.  The most recent use came last year in the documentary Tree Man.  In 1750, on his way home from a visit to his native Germany, Handel was seriously injured in a carriage accident in The Netherlands; injuries that he never completely recovered from.  He died on 14 April, 9 year later in 1759 in London.  He was given full state honours and his funeral attracted more than 3,000 mourners.  He is buried at Westminster Abbey.  He was 74 years of age at the time of his death.  To read more about his life and copious works of composition, follow the links below.

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Official Site

Westminster Abbey

Biography.com

Britannica

Year 2000 Release List Of Composers

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Born Today February 22: P. J. C. Janssen

1824-1907

French astronomer and motion picture pioneer P. J. C. Janssen was born in Paris on this day in 1824.  His birth name was Pierre Jules César; he was variously known as Pierre Janssen or Jules Janssen during his lifetime.  Due to a childhood accident, he walked with a severe limp.  As a young man he went to work as a bank clerk; but science was his passion, so he enrolled in university to study physics and math, eventually graduating and becoming a professor of physics at an architectural university in Paris.  During his lifetime he discovered and invented a great number of important milestones in physics, astronomy and chemistry--and, inadvertently, moving pictures.  Though the British scientist Lockyer was independently on to many of the same observations at the same time, Janssen is credited with figuring out how to observe "Solar prominences" with a spectroscope without the aide of an eclipse.  Through being an enthusiastic observer of eclipses, he also was the first to observe a gaseous vapor that later proved to be a new element:  helium.  And he invented a device called a "photographic revolver;" the device allowed for 180 photographs to run for one frame per second.  This is technically the first moving picture devise (precursor of the projector).  He used this device to run photography of the transition of Venus in 1874 taken in Japan--this is basically the very first movie.  This makes Janssen the very first film director and cinematographer.  The documentary short is listed in film catalog as Passage de Venus (1874).  Janssen would also appear in two documentary shorts from the 1890's by The Lumiere Brothers.  The Photographical Congress Arrives At Lyon (1895), is one of the early shorts that remains quite well known to this day.  Additionally, Janssen appeared in Discussion de Monsieur Janssen et Monsieur Lagrange (1895).  In 1903 Janssen published the famous work Atlas de photographies solaries, which contained more than 6,000 photographs of the sun.  Janssen died on 23 December 1907 at the age of 83 in Meudon, Hauts-de-Seine, France.  He is buried in the historical Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris.  His grave is simply marked "J. Janssen."

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Film showing the Photographic Revolver

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Born Today February 21: Henri Meilhac

1831-1897

French dramatist and librettist Henri Meilhac was born on this day in Paris.  He got his start in writing at a young age, when he went to work writing free-lance works of fancy that he sold to various Parisian newspapers; he also began to write comedy skits for the vaudeville stage.  Somewhere around 1860, he made the acquaintance of fellow writer Ludovic Halévy--their writing collaboration would last for over 20 years.  While he is most famous for co-writing the libretto for Bizet's Carmen, he did work on other librettos and also wrote stage plays--all of which have provided source material for motion pictures.  The very first film to be produced from Carmen was a very early experimental sound film that was produced in 1907.  Carmen (1907) was a British film produced by Gaumont British Picture Corp. and used a sound mix called Chronophone.  The process involved synchronizing sound on vinyl with the action of the film.  It is a short film; lasting only 12 minutes. The first all silent film to use his writing for a scenario came in 1912 with the Italian produced Mam'selle Nitouche; that film was based on the libretto to the operetta of the same name.  In all 11 films using his solo and collaborative work were produced in the silent era. The last of these was the Ernst Lubitsch directed So This Is Paris (1926).  The first sound era film to use his work came in 1931 with the German production of Mam'selle Nitouche.  The latest filmed performance of his work, was in 2015 with The English National Opera's performance of Carmen.  Meilhac died in Paris on July 6 in 1897 at the age of 66.  He is buried in Paris' Montmartre cemetery.

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