Tuesday, February 1, 2005

Spotlight
The eight-minute adagio of a previously unknown piano concerto by Ludwig van Beethoven, discovered at the British Museum, will get its world premiere today in Rotterdam. It is called, "Concerto in A for Piano," and was thought to have been written in the 1790s. (story)

Quote
"Music is the wine which inspires one to new generative processes, and I am Bacchus who presses out this glorious wine for mankind and makes them spiritually drunken." -- Beethoven

Word of the day
musicology -- the study of music and the history of music; a Dutch musicologist was able to orchestrate the outline of a newly-discovered Beethoven piece, based on his extensive study of the composer and his works. (© )

Today's News

• Alzheimer's disease -- early detection test soon available (story)
• King Gyanendra -- dismissed government in Nepal (story)
• First Amendment -- no big deal, according to students (story)

Today's History

• Supreme Court -- first convened, Chief Justice John Jay presiding (1790)
• "Battle Hymn of the Republic" -- Julia Ward Howe's poem first published (1862)
• La Boheme -- Puccini's opera premiered in Turin (1896)
• Space Shuttle Columbia-- disintegrated upon reentry over Texas, killing all seven astronauts onboard (2003)

Today's Birthdays

• Clark Gable -- Rhett Butler in Gone With the Wind (1901-1960)
• Langston Hughes -- writer who influenced the Harlem Renaissance (1902-1967)
• Boris Yeltsin -- former president of Russia (74)