MAY 12
EDWARD LEAR (May 12, 1812)
May 12 is the birthday of English artist, illustrator, musician, naturalist, nonsense poet and master of limericks EDWARD LEAR (1812-1888).
\"There was an Old Man of Whitehaven,
Who danced a quadrille with a raven;
But they said, "It's absurd
To encourage this bird!"
So they smashed that Old Man of Whitehaven."
Lear " is known mostly for his literary nonsense in poetry and prose and especially his limericks, a form he popularised.
His principal areas of work as an artist were threefold: as a draughtsman employed to make illustrations of birds and animals, making coloured drawings during his journeys (which he reworked later, sometimes as plates for his travel books) and as a minor illustrator of Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poems.
As an author, he is known principally for his popular nonsense collections of poems, songs, short stories, botanical drawings, recipes and alphabets. He also composed and published twelve musical settings of Tennyson's poetry." (Wikipedia)
DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI (May 12, 1828)
May 12 is the birthday of Pre-Raphaelite poet and painter DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI (1828-1882).
"The blessed damozel lean'd out
From the gold bar of Heaven;
Her eyes were deeper than the depth
Of waters still'd at even;
She had three lilies in her hand,
And the stars in her hair were seven."
Rossetti "was an English poet, illustrator, painter, translator, and member of the Rossetti family. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848 with William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais. Rossetti inspired the next generation of artists and writers, William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones in particular. His work also influenced the European Symbolists and was a major precursor of the Aesthetic movement.
Rossetti's art was characterised by its sensuality and its medieval revivalism. His early poetry was influenced by John Keats and William Blake. His later poetry was characterised by the complex interlinking of thought and feeling"
How Sir Galahad, Sir Bors And Sir Percival Were Fed With The Sanc Grael, But Sir Percival's Sister Died By The Way
Blessed Beatrice
The Blessed Damozel
JULES MASSENET (May 12, 1842)
May 12 is the birthday of French composer JULES MASSENET (1842-1912). His colorful, lush and opulent music is the visual equivalent of the paintings of Gustave Moreau. Enjoy this excerpt from Massenet's CENDRILLON, or "Cinderella" with Joyce DiDonato in the title role.
"I have departed from this planet and I have left behind my poor earthly ones with their occupations which are as many as they are useless; at last I am living in the scintillating splendor of the stars, each of which used to seem to me as large as millions of suns." - Jules Massenet
GABRIEL FAURÉ (May 12, 1845)
May 12 is the birthday of French composer GABRIEL FAURÉ (1845-1922).
"For me, art, and especially music, exist to elevate us as far as possible above everyday existence."
Fauré "was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th-century composers. Among his best-known works are his Pavane, Requiem, Sicilienne, nocturnes for piano and the songs "Après un rêve" and "Clair de lune". Although his best-known and most accessible compositions are generally his earlier ones, Fauré composed many of his most highly regarded works in his later years, in a more harmonically and melodically complex style." (Wikipedia)
IRVING BERLIN (May 12, 1888)
May 12 is the birthday of Belarussian-American composer and lyricist IRVING BERLIN (1888-1889).
“Got no checkbooks, got no banks. Still I'd like to express my thanks - I've got the sun in the mornin' and the moon at night.”
Berlin "wrote hundreds of songs, many becoming major hits, which made him famous before he turned thirty. During his 60-year career he wrote an estimated 1,500 songs, including the scores for 20 original Broadway shows and 15 original Hollywood films, with his songs nominated eight times for Academy Awards Many songs became popular themes and anthems, including 'Alexander's Ragtime Band,' 'Easter Parade,' 'Puttin' on the Ritz,' 'Cheek to Cheek,' 'White Christmas,' 'Happy Holiday,' 'Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better),' and 'There's No Business Like Show Business.' His Broadway musical and 1943 film This Is the Army, with Ronald Reagan, had Kate Smith singing Berlin's 'God Bless America' which was first performed in 1938."
PAUL NASH (May 12, 1889)
May 12 is the birthday of British painter PAUL NASH (1889-1946).
Nash "was a British surrealist painter and war artist, as well as a photographer, writer and designer of applied art. Nash was among the most important landscape artists of the first half of the twentieth century. He played a key role in the development of Modernism in English art ... After the war Nash continued to focus on landscape painting, originally in a formalized, decorative style but, throughout the 1930s, in an increasingly abstract and surreal manner. In his paintings he often placed everyday objects into a landscape to give them a new identity and symbolism.
During World War II, although sick with the asthmatic condition that would kill him, he produced two series of anthropomorphic depictions of aircraft, before producing a number of landscapes rich in symbolism with an intense mystical quality. These have perhaps become among the best known works from the period." (Wikipedia)
