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Magical Forest

Magical Forest

Sometimes the snow is in the spirit, sometimes it’s outside your window…

Saint Saturninus

http://ucatholic.com/saints/saturninus/

Snowy Night, Dorcet, England

La Mulți Ani Romănia!

About friendship

CBCP News » Meaning of Advent

http://www.cbcpnews.com/cbcpnews/?p=68531

Natalie Wood – Hollywood Star Walk – Los Angeles Times

http://projects.latimes.com/hollywood/star-walk/natalie-wood/

Au fost descoperite două fotografii inedite cu Mihai Eminescu – Vocea Transilvaniei

http://www.voceatransilvaniei.ro/au-fost-descoperite-doua-fotografii-inedite-cu-mihai-eminescu/

Give Thanks for unknown blessings already on their way

Give Thanks for unknown blessings already on their way

Body presented to Russian diplomats

Body presented to Russian diplomats

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-34957224

Israel suspends EU role in peace talks

Israel suspends EU role in peace talks

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-34959807

Global rallies demand climate action

Global rallies demand climate action

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-34956825

Watch “Sebastian Stan -Venim din veacurile indepartate” on YouTube

Helen Sanders: The defender of homeless cats at Seal Beach

Share this cold moon, and its shimmering image with somebody who is homeless tonight: find the Mission!

Fear nothing. I-m here now

Hawaii.com

When lost ar sea…look and listen for the lighthouse

Ziua Bucovinei este azi

http://www.newsbucovina.ro/actualitate/146508/klaus-iohannis-de-ziua-bucovinei-bucovina-ocupa-un-loc-special-in-istoria-natiunii-noastre-si-in-constiinta-poporului-roman

Cum se joacă puterile lumii cu viețile, trecutul şi viitorul bilioanelor de oameni…Cum joacă puterile lumii “TĂRILE”, CUM ÎŞI INSUŞESC CEEA CE NU-I AL LOR…RUŞINE SĂ LE FIE ÎN VECII VECILOR!!!

great compositions/performances: CHARLES VALENTIN ALKAN – Estudio Op. 39 Nº 3 – Scherzo Diabolico Piano: Bernard Ringeissen

CHARLES VALENTIN ALKAN – Estudio Op. 39 Nº 3 – Scherzo Diabolico

Carlos Garcia

Published on Nov 24, 2015

CHARLES VALENTIN ALKAN

Estudio Op. 39 Nº 3

Scherzo Diabolico

Piano: Bernard Ringeissen

Fabulous rendition: Mozart Concerto D Minor K466 Freiburger Mozart-Orchester, Michael Erren,Valentina Lisitsa

Mozart Concerto D Minor K466 Freiburger Mozart-Orchester, Michael Erren,Valentina Lisitsa

ValentinaLisitsa

Published on Aug 15, 2012

Filmed live May 20, 2012, Freiburg im Breisgau ,Germany
Cadenzas by Mozart’s favorite student – and billiards pal, Jan Nepomuk Hummel 🙂
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Piano Concerto No. 20 (Mozart)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

 Neuer Markt in Vienna with Capuchin Church and Haus zur Mehlgrube on the right, painting by Bernardo Bellotto, 1760

The Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466, was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1785. The first performance took place at the Mehlgrube Casino in Vienna on February 11, 1785, with the composer as the soloist.^[1]

Background

A few days after the first performance, the composer’s father, Leopold, visiting in Vienna, wrote to his daughter Nannerl about her brother’s recent success: “[I heard] an excellent new piano concerto by Wolfgang, on which the copyist was still at work when we got there, and your brother didn’t even have time to play through the rondo because he had to oversee the copying operation.”^[1]

It is written in the key of D minor. Other works by the composer in that key include the Fantasia K. 397 for piano, Requiem, a Kyrie, the aria “Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen” from the opera The Magic Flute and parts of the opera Don Giovanni. It is the first of two piano concertos written in a minor key (No. 24 in C minor being the other).

The young Ludwig van Beethoven admired this concerto and kept it in his repertoire.^[1] A bass run from the first movement appears for comic effect in Variation 22 of the Diabelli Variations. Daniel Barenboim contends that this concerto was Joseph Stalin‘s favorite piece of music.^[2] Composers who wrote cadenzas for it include Beethoven (WoO 58), Charles-Valentin Alkan, Johannes Brahms (WoO 16), Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Ferruccio Busoni, and Clara Schumann.

Movements

The concerto is scored for solo piano, flute, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani and strings. As is typical with concertos, it is in three movements:

1. Allegro (in D minor)
2. Romanze (in B-flat major)
3. Allegro assai (in D minor, ending in D major)

The first movement starts off the concerto in the dark tonic key of D minor with the strings restlessly but quietly building up to a full forte. The theme is quickly taken up by the piano soloist and developed throughout the long movement. A slightly brighter mood exists in the second theme, but it never becomes jubilant. The timpani further heighten the tension in the coda before the cadenza. The movement ends on a quiet note.

The ‘Romanze’ second movement is a five-part rondo (ABACA)^[3] with a coda. The beginning features a solo piano playing the flamboyant and charming main B-flat major melody without accompaniment. This lyrical, passionate, tender and romantic melody, played at a relatively dainty tempo, paints a picture of peace and a sense of harmony between the piano and the orchestra, and has also inspired its title ‘Romanze’. Halfway through, the piece moves on to the second episode (part C), where the beautiful melody is replaced with a turbulent, agitated and ominous theme in the relative minor key of G minor, which greatly contrasts the peaceful mood at the starting of the movement. Finally, we are greeted once again with the aforeheard melody which returns as the movement is nearing the end. The piece ends with an ascending arpeggio that is light and delicate, gradually until it becomes a faint whisper.

The final movement, a rondo, begins with the solo piano rippling upward in the home key before the full orchestra replies with a furious section. (This piano “rippling” is known as the Mannheim Rocket and is a string of eighth notes (d-f-a-d-f) followed by a quarter note (a). A second melody is touched upon by the piano where the mood is still dark but strangely restless. A contrasting cheerful melody in F major ushers in not soon after, introduced by the orchestra before the solo piano rounds off the lively theme. A series of sharp piano chords snaps the bright melody and then begin passages in D minor on solo piano again, taken up by full orchestra. Several modulations of the second theme (in A minor and G minor) follow. Thereafter follows the same format as above, with a momentary pause for introducing the customary cadenza. After the cadenza, the mood clears considerably and the bright happy melody is taken up this time by the winds. The solo piano repeats the theme before a full orchestral passage develops the passage, thereby rounding up the concerto with a jubilant D major finish.

In other media

The second movement (minus the more tumultuous C part of the rondo) plays in the final scene and during the end credits of the 1984 movie Amadeus. The melody begins right before Antonio Salieri tells the priest sent to hear his confession that he is the patron saint of mediocrities. In the final shot of the film, Salieri announces, “Mediocrities everywhere, I absolve you.” Right before the screen fades to black, Mozart’s laugh is heard. At this point, the piano concerto picks up in volume, continuing through the end of the credits.

The first movement was also played in the ballet scene in Series 1 Episode 8 of the television series Mr. Robot.

great compositions/performances: Borodin – In the Steppes of Central Asia (1880), played on period instruments (conductor Jos van Immerseel and the Anima Eterna Orchestra)

Borodin – In the Steppes of Central Asia (1880), played on period instruments

musicanth

Uploaded on May 26, 2011

In the Steppes of Central Asia (1880)

A “musical tableau” for orchestra by Russian composer and chemist Alexander Borodin (1833-1887), a member of the group of composers known as The Five, or the Mighty Handful. The work was originally intended to celebrate the silver anniversary of the reign of Czar Alexander II, who had expanded the domain of Imperial Russia eastward into Central Asia. The celebration never came to fruition due to the assassination of the Czar; instead the piece was premiered in a concert in 1880 by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and the orchestra of the Russian Opera. Borodin dedicated it to Franz Liszt.

This recording was made by conductor Jos van Immerseel and the Anima Eterna Orchestra, which plays on period instruments.

• Music

  • “Dans les steppes de l’Asie centrale” by Anima Eterna / Jos van Immerseel (eMusic)

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In the Steppes of Central Asia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

 

Three main themes from the composition

	In the Steppes of Central Asia (7:38)  Menu    0:00   Courtesy of Musopen
Problems playing this file? See media help.

In the Steppes of Central Asia (Russian: В средней Азии, V srednyeĭ Azii, literally In Central Asia) is the common English title for a “musical tableau” (or symphonic poem) by Alexander Borodin, composed in 1880.

Background

The work was originally intended to be presented as one of several tableaux vivants to celebrate the silver anniversary of the reign of Alexander II of Russia, who had done much to expand the Russian Empire eastward. The intended production never occurred, but the work itself became, and has remained, a concert favorite ever since its first concert performance, on 8 April 1880 (Old style) in St. Petersburg by the orchestra of the Russian Opera under the conductorship of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.^[1] The work is dedicated to Franz Liszt.

Structure

This orchestral work idyllically depicts an interaction of Russians and Asians in the steppe lands of the Caucasus. A caravan of Central Asians is crossing the desert under the protection of Russian troops. The opening theme, representing the Russians, is heard first (see chart of themes); then we hear the strains of an ornamented eastern melody on English horn, representing the Asians. These two melodies eventually are combined contrapuntally. Amidst these two ethnic melodies is heard a “traveling” theme in pizzicato that represents the plodding hoofs of the horses and camels. At the end only the Russian theme is heard.

Instrumentation

The piece is scored for two Flutes, Oboe, Cor Anglais, two Clarinets, two Bassoons, four Horns in F, two Trumpets in F, two Trombones, Bass Trombone, Timpani and strings.

Somewhat unusually, the two scores available via the IMSLP link below show different tempo markings at the start. The Eulenberg score is marked “Allegretto con moto”, whereas the Russian Muzica score shows “Allegro con moto”.

Borodin also transcribed the piece for piano four hands.

Composer’s note

The composer provided the following description in a note to the score:

“In the silence of the monotonous steppes of Central Asia is heard the unfamiliar sound of a peaceful Russian song. From the distance we hear the approach of horses and camels and the bizarre and melancholy notes of an oriental melody. A caravan approaches, escorted by Russian soldiers, and continues safely on its way through the immense desert. It disappears slowly. The notes of the Russian and Asiatic melodies join in a common harmony, which dies away as the caravan disappears in the distance.”

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Note: Enjoy this incredibly beautiful Composition as much as I do!

 

great compositions/performances: Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3, in C minor, Op. 37, Daniel Barenboim / Dresden Staatskapelle 2007

Beethoven : Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37 Daniel Barenboim / Dresden Staatskapelle 2007

Adagio fukax2

Beethoven : Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 37 : Daniel Barenboim / Dresden Staatskapelle 2007
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Piano Concerto No. 3 (Beethoven)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

 Title page, first edition

The Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37, was composed by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1800 and was first performed on 5 April 1803, with the composer as soloist. The year for which the concerto was composed (1800) has however been questioned by contemporary musicologists.^[1] It was published in 1804. During that same performance, the Second Symphony and the oratorio Christ on the Mount of Olives were also premiered.^[2] The composition was dedicated to Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia. The first primary theme is reminiscent of that of Mozart’s 24th Piano Concerto.

Structure

The concerto is scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets in B-flat, 2 bassoons, 2 horns in E-flat, 2 trumpets in C, timpani, strings and piano soloist.

As is standard for Classical/Romantic-era concertos, the work is in three movements:

1. Allegro con brio
2. Largo
3. Rondo. Allegro

I. Allegro con brio

	First movement  Menu       0:00
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 Cadenza of the first movement

This movement is known to make forceful use of the theme (direct and indirect) throughout.

Orchestral exposition: In the orchestral exposition, the theme is introduced by the strings, and used throughout the movement. It is developed several times. In the third section (second subject), the clarinet and violin 1 introduce the second main theme, which is in the relative major key, E-flat major.

Second exposition: The piano enters with an ascending scale motif. The structure of the exposition in the piano solo is similar to that of the orchestral exposition.

Development: The piano enters, playing similar scales used in the beginning of the second exposition, this time in D major rather than C minor. The music is generally quiet.

Recapitulation: The orchestra restates the theme in fortissimo, with the wind instruments responding by building up a minor ninth chord as in the exposition. For the return of the second subject, Beethoven modulates to the tonic major, C major. A dark transition to the cadenza occurs, immediately switching from C major to C minor.

Cadenza: Beethoven wrote one cadenza for this movement. The cadenza Beethoven wrote is at times stormy and ends on a series of trills that calm down to pianissimo. Many other composers and pianists have written alternative cadenzas.

Coda: Beethoven subverts the expectation of a return to the tonic at the end of the cadenza by prolonging the final trill and eventually arriving on a dominant seventh. The piano plays a series of arpeggios before the music settles into the home key of C minor. Then the music intensifies before a full tutti occurs, followed by the piano playing descending arpeggios, the ascending scale from the second exposition, and finally a resolute ending on C.

II. Largo

	Second movement  Menu       0:00     Third movement  Menu       0:00
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The second movement is in the key of E major, in this context a key relatively remote from the concerto’s opening key of C minor (another example being Brahms’s first symphony.). If the movement adhered to traditional form, its key would be E-flat major (the relative key) or A-flat major (the submediant key). The movement opens with the solo piano and the opening is marked with detailed pedalling instructions.

III. Rondo – Allegro

The finale is in sonata rondo form. The movement begins in C minor with an agitated theme played only by the piano. The movement ends with a C major coda marked presto.

First performance

The score was incomplete at its first performance. Beethoven’s friend, Ignaz von Seyfried, who turned the pages of the music for him that night, later wrote:^[2]

“I saw almost nothing but empty pages; at the most, on one page or another a few Egyptian hieroglyphs wholly unintelligible to me were scribbled down to serve as clues for him; for he played nearly all the solo part from memory since, as was so often the case, he had not had time to set it all down on paper.”

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The Jubilee Year of Mercy reminds us that God is waiting for us with open arms, just like the father of the prodigal son. — Pope Francis (@Pontifex) November 29, 2015

The Jubilee Year of Mercy reminds us that God is waiting for us with open arms, just like the father of the prodigal son.

— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) November 29, 2015

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Brooklyn Bridge painters at work on, 1915 — OnThisDay & Facts (@NotableHistory) November 29, 2015

Brooklyn Bridge painters at work on, 1915 pic.twitter.com/QBYUj3Gi68

— OnThisDay & Facts (@NotableHistory) November 29, 2015

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See Princess Charlotte in adorable new photos taken by the Duchess of Cambridge!— MSNBC (@MSNBC) November 29, 2015

See Princess Charlotte in adorable new photos taken by the Duchess of Cambridge! https://t.co/rd9wpRY6Ps (AP) pic.twitter.com/LkB6SZvTP2

— MSNBC (@MSNBC) November 29, 2015

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Questa è la verita?

Let’s Believe…The Sun will rise again!

Gingaşie…

great compositions/performances: Claude Debussy (1862-1918) – SIX ÉPIGRAPHES ANTIQUES

Claude Debussy (1862-1918) – SIX ÉPIGRAPHES ANTIQUES

Franz Bannwart

Published on Aug 25, 2013

Claude Debussy (1862-1918) – Six Épigraphes Antiques (transcrits pour piano à deux mains par l’auteur)

Krisztina Wajsza, Piano
Musik Akademie Basel, 17.08.2013

France 24 : Climate protesters clash with police in Paris

Climate protesters clash with police in Paris

http://f24.my/1Oo7441

France 24 :

How to make the Paris climate summit a success

http://f24.my/1RcOpZy

great compositions/performances: Luigi Rodolfo Boccherini: Quintet for Guitar No.4 ‘Fandango’ in D major, (G.448)

Luigi Rodolfo Boccherini: Quintet for Guitar No.4 ‘Fandango’ in D major, (G.448)

vivaldi369

Published on Jan 18, 2013

Álbum: Boccherini: Fandango, Sinfonie & La Musica Notturna Di Madrid
Interpretes del álbum: Jordi Savall, Rolf Lislevand, Bruno Cocset, Manfredo Kraemer, Pablo Valetti, José da Udaeta & Le Concert des Nations
Compositor: Luigi Rodolfo Boccherini
Genero: Clásico Español
Año: 2005
Movimientos: Pastorale-Allegro Maestoso-Grave Assai: Fandango

great compositions/performances: Edvard Grieg – Peer Gynt Suites – 1 and 2

Edvard Grieg – Peer Gynt Suites – 1 and 2

doffdoff

Published on May 5, 2013

Edvard Hagerup Grieg (1843 – 1907)
Peer Gynt Suites 1 and 2
Incidental music to Henrik Ibsen’s play. (1875, Op. 23)

Orquesta Sinfónica de RTVE
Guillermo Garcia Calvo – Conductor

Suite No. 1, Op. 46 (1888):
I. Morning Mood (Morgenstemning) 00:01
II. The Death of Åse (Åses død) 04:31
III. Anitra’s Dance (Anitras dans) 09:39
IV. In the Hall of the Mountain King (I Dovregubbens hall) 13:14

Suite No. 2, Op. 55 (1891):
I. The Abduction of the Bride. Ingrid’s Lament (Bruderovet. Ingrids klage) 15:48
II. Arabian Dance (Arabisk dans) 20:14
III. Peer Gynt’s Homecoming (Stormy Evening on the Sea) (Peer Gynts hjemfart (Stormfull aften på havet)) 24:58
IV. Solveig’s Song (Solveigs sang) 27:36

great compositions/performances: Nikolai Rimsky Korsakov: Sheherazade (Tale of Tsar Saltan, Suite for orchestra, 1-3 Op.57)

Nikolai Rimsky Korsakov: Sheherazade (Tale of Tsar Saltan, Suite for orchestra, 1-3 Op.57)

Benoit Gravel

Published on Feb 12, 2015

Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky Korsakov is born March 18th 1844 and died June 21th 1908. He was a Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as ”The Five” He was a master of orchestration. His best-known orchestral compositions—Capriccio Espagnol, the Russian Easter Festival Overture, and the symphonic suite Scheherazade—are staples of the classical music repertoire, along with suites and excerpts from some of his 15 operas. Scheherazade is an example of his frequent use of fairy tale and folk subjects. Rimsky-Korsakov believed, as did fellow composer Mily Balakirev and critic Vladimir Stasov, in developing a nationalistic style of classical music. This style employed Russian folk song and lore along with exotic harmonic, melodic and rhythmic elements in a practice known as musical orientalism, and eschewed traditional Western compositional methods. However, Rimsky-Korsakov appreciated Western musical techniques after he became a professor of musical composition, harmony and orchestration at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory in 1871

Turkey and EU seek migrants deal

Turkey and EU seek migrants deal

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-34957830

Turkey to hand over Russia pilot’s body

Turkey to hand over Russia pilot’s body

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-34957224

historic musical bits: Beethoven Piano Sonata 21, C major “Waldstein”, Barenboim (a brilliant composition)

Beethoven Piano Sonata 21 C major Waldstein Barenboim

Sonorum Concentus

Published on Sep 22, 2014

Ludwig van Beethoven Piano Sonata 21 C major Op 53 Waldstein
Daniel Barenboim, piano
1. Allegro con brio 0:00
2. Introduzione (Adagio molto) 11:15
3. Rondo (Allegretto moderato – Prestissimo) 15:47
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Piano Sonata No. 21 (Beethoven)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

 The opening, driving motive

Beethoven‘s Piano Sonata No. 21 in C major, Op. 53, known as the Waldstein, is one of the three most notable sonatas of his middle period (the other two being the Appassionata, Op. 57, and Les Adieux, Op. 81a). Completed in summer 1804 and surpassing Beethoven’s previous piano sonatas in its scope, the Waldstein is a key early work of Beethoven’s “Heroic” decade (1803–1812) and set a standard for piano composition in the grand manner.

The sonata’s name derives from Beethoven’s dedication to his close friend and patron Count Ferdinand Ernst Gabriel von Waldstein of Vienna. Like the Archduke Trio (one of many pieces dedicated to Archduke Rudolph), it is named for Waldstein even though other works are dedicated to him. It is also known as ‘L’Aurora’ (The Dawn) in Italian, for the sonority of the opening chords of the third movement, thought to conjure an image of daybreak.

It is one of Beethoven’s greatest and most technically challenging piano sonatas. The first section of the Rondo requires a simultaneous pedal trill, high melody and rapid left hand runs while its coda‘s glissando octaves, written in dialogue between the hands, compel even advanced performers to play in a simplified version since it is more demanding to play on the heavier action of a modern piano than on an early 19th-century instrument.

Movements

The Waldstein has three movements:

1. Allegro con brio
2. Introduzione: Adagio molto (in F major)
3. Rondo. Allegretto moderato – Prestissimo

The first and last movements of the sonata are the most substantial, each taking about 11 minutes to perform.

First movement: Allegro con brio

	I. Allegro con brio (9:56)   Menu   0:00   Performed by Artur Schnabel circa 1935 I. Allegro con Brio (10:50)   Menu   0:00   Performed by Michael Hawley. Courtesy of Musopen
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The first movement is in sonata form: it has a repeated exposition with two subject groups, a development section, a recapitulation and a coda.^[1]

The movement opens with repeated pianissimo chords in a straightforward but anxious rhythm, devoid of melody for two bars. It then swiftly ascends, followed by a three-note descent in the middle register and a four-note descent in the upper. This phrase is then repeated in B-flat major – a whole tone lower – a device Beethoven also used for the opening of the Sonata No. 16 in G Major (Op. 31 No. 1). After a half cadence to the dominant (G major), the opening phrase returns again, but this time in a tremolo variation.^[2]

The second subject group, marked dolce, is a chordal theme in E major, the mediant key. Modulation to the mediant for the second subject area is another feature shared by this sonata and the Sonata No. 16.^[2] Later, Beethoven employed the same shift again (in the Hammerklavier Sonata, for example).

For the recapitulation, Beethoven transposes the second subject into A major, quickly changing into A minor and then back to C major for the coda.

Second movement: Introduzione. Adagio molto

	II. Introduzione – Adagio molto (3:26)   Menu     0:00   Performed by Michael Hawley. Courtesy of Musopen
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The Introduzione is a short Adagio in 6/8 time that serves as an introduction to the third movement. This replaced an earlier, longer middle movement, later published as the Andante favori, WoO 57. The music gradually gets more agitated before calming down to segue into the Rondo.

Third movement: Rondo. Allegretto moderato – Prestissimo

 

Opening bars of final movement

	III. Rondo – Allegretto moderato (9:39)   Menu     0:00   Performed by Michael Hawley. Courtesy of Musopen
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The Rondo begins with a pianissimo melody played with crossed hands that soon returns fortissimo, over daringly fast scales in the left hand and a continuous trill on the dominant in the right, as described above. The second theme, a series of broken chords in triplets, is soon interrupted by a turbulent section in A minor that foreshadows the central episode.

The music returns to C major, and the sweet theme is repeated, followed by a series of staccato octaves in C minor that mark the start of the central episode, one of the few cases where such a melodic change is seen, a tactic repeated in larger works like the Emperor Piano Concerto. Soon the octaves are accompanied by swirling triplets in the left and then the right hand. The music grows more tense and eventually reaches a cadence in C minor. The next section brings back the opening theme in chords and further develops it: it appears in A-flat major (bars 221 – 224), then F minor (bars 225 – 228) and then D-flat major (bars 229 – 232), when it is fragmented into shorter phrases (233 pickup – 238) and then transits into a quiet section with major 7th arpeggios, returning after much drama to the C major theme played fortissimo.

The second theme reappears, followed by another characteristic long line of beautiful dance-like music. Another series of fortissimo chords announces a short, delicate pianissimo section: the movement seems to die away but then unexpectedly segues into a prestissimo coda that plays with the various themes of the movement, ending in a triumphant rush of grandeur.
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Saint of the Day for Sunday, November 29th, 2015: St. Saturninus

Saint of the Day for Sunday, November 29th, 2015

St. Saturninus

St. Saturninus Bishop of Toulouse and Martyr November 29 A.D. 257     St. Saturninus went from Rome by the direction of pope Fabian, about the year 245, to preach the faith in Gaul, … continue reading

More Saints of the Day

St. Saturninus St. Brendan of Birr Bl. Dionysius St. Egelwine St. Francis Fasani St. Gulstan St. Hardoin

St. Illuminata St. Paramon and Companions St. Philomenus St. Radbod of Utrecht St. Sadwen Sts. Saturninus & Sisinius

today’s holiday: Advent

Advent

The Advent season marks the beginning of the Christian year in Western Christianity. Its length varies from 22 to 28 days, beginning on the Sunday nearest St. Andrew’s Day and encompassing the next three Sundays, ending on Christmas Eve. Originally a period of reflection and penitence in preparation for Christmas, Advent has sometimes been referred to as the Winter Lent. Today, it is usually associated with the Advent calendars that parents give their children to help them count the days until Christmas. In Orthodox (Eastern) Christianity, Advent begins on November 15. More… Discuss

quotation: I think the first duty of society is justice. Alexander Hamilton

I think the first duty of society is justice.

Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804) Discuss

today’s birthday: Louisa May Alcott (1832)

Louisa May Alcott (1832)

Determined to contribute to the small family income, Alcott began writing to help support her mother and sisters. She first achieved widespread fame and wealth with Little Women, one of the most popular children’s books ever written. The novel, which recounts the adolescent adventures of the four March sisters, is largely autobiographical. Her first book, Flower Fables, was a collection of tales originally created to amuse the daughter of her friend, what famous American poet? More… Discuss

this day in the yesteryear: Zong Massacre: Slaves Thrown Overboard (1781)

Zong Massacre: Slaves Thrown Overboard (1781)

In 1781, overcrowding, disease, and malnutrition killed several crew members and dozens of African slaves being transported to Jamaica as “cargo” on the British slave ship Zong. Knowing that insurers would not compensate his employers for sick slaves or those dead from illness—but would offer compensation for drowned slaves—the ship’s captain decided to throw more than 130 slaves overboard. What landmark decision resulted from the court case that followed? More… Discuss

The Climate of Antarctica

About 200 million years ago, Antarctica was joined to South America, Africa, India, Australia, and New Zealand in a single, warm continent called Gondwana. According to the plate tectonics theory, Antarctica split from Gondwana and drifted to its present location at the South Pole. Persistent westerly winds began to circle Antarctica, blocking heat transport to the continent and making it the coldest region on Earth. When was the lowest temperature ever recorded on Earth reported? More… Discuss

word: imputable

imputable

Definition:	(adjective) Possible to impute or ascribe; attributable.
Synonyms:	ascribable, due to, referable
Usage:	The oversight was not imputable to him because he was on vacation when it occurred. Discuss.