today.nukz.net: Almanac December 16 :: Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven (baptized 17 December 1770 – 26 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential of all composers. His best known compositions include 9 symphonies, 5 concertos for piano, 32 piano sonatas, and 16 string quartets. He also composed other chamber music, choral works (including the celebrated Missa Solemnis), and songs. Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of the Holy Roman Empire, Beethoven displayed his musical talents at an early age and was taught by his father Johann van Beethoven and Christian Gottlob Neefe. During his first 22 years in Bonn, Beethoven intended to study with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and befriended Joseph Haydn. Beethoven moved to Vienna in 1792 and began studying with Haydn, quickly gaining a reputation as a virtuoso pianist. He lived in Vienna until his death. During the late 18th century, his hearing began to deteriorate significantly, yet he continued to compose, conduct, and perform after becoming completely deaf.

Events

755 – An Lushan revolts against Chancellor Yang Guozhong at Yanjing, initiating the An Lushan Rebellion during the Tang Dynasty of China.
1431 – Henry VI of England is crowned King of France at Notre Dame in Paris, France.
1497 – Vasco da Gama rounds the Cape of Good Hope, the point where Bartolomeu Dias had previously turned back to Portugal.
1575 – The 1575 Valdivia earthquake takes place.
1598 – Seven Year War: Battle of Noryang – The final battle of the Seven Year War is fought between the China and the Korean Allied Forces and Japanese navies, resulting in a decisive Allied Forces victory.
1653 – English Interregnum: The Protectorate – Oliver Cromwell becomes Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland.
1689 – Convention Parliament: The Declaration of Right is embodied in the Bill of Rights.
1707 – Last recorded eruption of Mount Fuji in Japan.
1761 – Seven Years' War: After a four-month siege, the Russians under Pyotr Rumyantsev take the Prussian fortress of Kolobrzeg.
1773 – American Revolution: Boston Tea Party – Members of the Sons of Liberty disguised as Mohawks dump crates of tea into Boston harbor as a protest against the Tea Act.
1811 – The first two in a series of four severe earthquakes occur in the vicinity of New Madrid, Missouri. These four so-called mega-quakes are believed to be an ongoing cataclysmic danger that could reprise the 1811-12 series of 2,000 quakes that affected the lands of what would be eight of today's heartland states of the United States.
1826 – Benjamin W. Edwards rides into Mexican controlled Nacogdoches, Texas and declares himself ruler of the Republic of Fredonia.
1838 – Battle of Blood River: Voortrekkers led by Andries Pretorius and Sarel Cilliers defeat Zulu impis, led by Dambuza (Nzobo) and Ndlela kaSompisi in what is today KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
1850 – History of New Zealand: The Charlotte Jane and the Randolph bring the first of the Canterbury Pilgrims to Lyttelton, New Zealand.
1863 – American Civil War: Joseph E. Johnston replaces Braxton Bragg as commander of the Army of Tennessee.
1864 – American Civil War: Franklin–Nashville Campaign – Battle of Nashville – Major General George Thomas's Union forces defeat Lieutenant General John Bell Hood's Confederate Army of Tennessee.
1903 – Taj Mahal Palace & Tower first opened its doors to the guests.
1907 – The Great White Fleet begins its circumnavigation of the world
1912 – First Balkan War: The Battle of Elli takes place.
1914 – World War I: German battleships under Franz von Hipper bombard the English ports of Hartlepool and Scarborough.
1918 – Vincas Mickevicius-Kapsukas declares the formation of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic.
1920 – The Haiyuan earthquake, magnitude 8.5, rocks the Gansu province in China, killing an estimated 200,000.
1922 – President of Poland Gabriel Narutowicz is assassinated by Eligiusz Niewiadomski at the Zacheta Gallery in Warsaw.
1930 – Bank robber Herman Lamm and members of his crew are killed by a posse of 200, following a botched bank robbery in Clinton, Indiana.
1937 – Theodore Cole and Ralph Roe attempt to escape from the American federal prison on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay; neither is ever seen again.
1938 – Adolf Hitler institutes the Cross of Honor of the German Mother
1941 – World War II: Japanese forces occupy Miri, Sarawak
1942 – Holocaust: Porajmos – Heinrich Himmler orders that Roma candidates for extermination be deported to Auschwitz.
1944 – World War II: The Battle of the Bulge begins with the surprise offensive of three German armies through the Ardennes forest.
1946 – Thailand joins the United Nations.
1947 – William Shockley, John Bardeen and Walter Brattain build the first practical point-contact transistor.
1950 – U.S. President Harry S. Truman declares a state of emergency, after Chinese troops enter the fight with communist North Korea in the Korean War.
1957 – Sir Feroz Khan Noon replaces Ibrahim Ismail Chundrigar as Prime Minister of Pakistan.
1960 – 1960 New York air disaster: While approaching New York, New York's Idlewild Airport, a United Airlines Douglas DC-8 collides with a TWA Lockheed Super Constellation in a blinding snowstorm over Staten Island, killing 134.
1965 – Vietnam War: General William Westmoreland sends U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara a request for 243,000 more men by the end of 1966.
1971 – Bangladesh Liberation War and Indo-Pakistani War of 1971: The surrender of the Pakistan Army brings an end to both conflicts.
1971 – "National Day" of the Kingdom of Bahrain is celebrated. Not to be confused with Bahrain Independence Day which took place on August 15, 1971.
1972 – Vietnam War: Henry Kissinger announces that North Vietnam has left private peace negotiations, in Paris, France.
1972 – Vijay Diwas: (Victory Day) is commemorated every 16 December in India as it marks its military victory over Pakistan in 1971 during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.
1978 – Cleveland, Ohio becomes the first post-Depression era city to default on its loans, owing $14,000,000 to local banks.
1979 – Libya joins four other OPEC nations in raising crude oil prices, having an immediate dramatic effect on the United States.
1985 – Mafia: In New York, New York, Paul Castellano and Thomas Bilotti are shot dead on the orders of John Gotti, who assumes leadership of the Gambino family.
1986 – Revolt in Kazakhstan against Communist Party of Kazakhstan, known as Jeltoqsan, which becomes the first sign of ethnic strife during Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev's tenure
1989 – Protests break out in Timi?oara, Romania in response to an attempt by the government to evict dissident Hungarian pastor László Tokés.
1989 – Walter LeRoy Moody begins his terrorist bombing streak when he sends Judge Robert Smith Vance a bomb in the mail, instantly killing him near his house in Birmingham, Alabama.
1991 – Independence of Kazakhstan.
1997 – An episode of Pokémon, "Denno Senshi Porygon", aired in Japan induces seizures in 685 Japanese children.
1998 – Iraq disarmament crisis: Operation Desert Fox – The United States and United Kingdom bomb targets in Iraq.
2003 – President George W. Bush signs the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 into law. The law establishes the United States' first national standards for the sending of commercial e-mail and requires the Federal Trade Commission to enforce its provisions.

Births

1485 – Catherine of Aragon, consort of Henry VIII of England (d. 1536)
1584 – John Selden, English jurist and oriental scholar (d. 1654)
1614 – Eberhard III, Duke of Württemberg (d. 1674)
1714 – George Whitefield, English-born Methodist leader (d. 1770)
1716 – Louis-Jules Mancini-Mazarini, Duc de Nivernais, French diplomat and writer (d. 1798)
1717 – Elizabeth Carter, English writer (d. 1806)
1742 – Gebhard Fürst Blücher von Wahlstatt, German Field Marshal (d. 1819)
1770 – Ludwig van Beethoven, German composer and pianist (d. 1827)
1775 – Jane Austen, English writer (d. 1817)
1775 – François-Adrien Boïeldieu, French composer (d. 1834)
1776 – Johann Wilhelm Ritter, German physicist (d. 1810)
1778 – John Ordronaux, privateer of the War of 1812 (d. 1841)
1787 – Mary Russell Mitford, English writer (d. 1855)
1790 – King Leopold I of Belgium (d. 1865)
1804 – Viktor Bunyakovsky, Russian mathematician (d. 1889)
1834 – Léon Walras, French economist (d. 1910)
1861 – Antonio de La Gandara, French painter (d. 1917)
1863 – George Santayana, Spanish philosopher and writer (d. 1952)
1865 – Olavo Bilac, Brazilian poet (d. 1918)
1866 – Wassily Kandinsky, Russian-born French abstract painter (d. 1944)
1867 – Amy Carmichael, missionary in Dohnavur, India (d. 1951)
1869 – Hristo Tatarchev, Bulgarian revolutionary (d. 1952)
1872 – Anton Ivanovich Denikin, Russian general (d. 1947)
1882 – Sir Jack Hobbs, English cricketer (d. 1963)
1882 – Zoltán Kodály, Hungarian composer (d. 1967)
1882 – Walther Meissner, German physicist (d. 1974)
1883 – Károly Kós, Hungarian architect, writer and politician from Transylvania (d. 1977)
1883 – Max Linder, French pioneer of silent film (d. 1925)
1888 – King Alexander I of Yugoslavia (d. 1934)
1888 – Alphonse Juin, marshal of France (d. 1967)
1889 – Kim Jwa-jin, played an important role in the Korean Anarchist Movement (d. 1930)
1899 – Sir Noël Coward, English playwright, actor and composer (d. 1973)
1900 – V. S. Pritchett, English author and critic (d. 1997)
1901 – Margaret Mead, American anthropologist (d. 1978)
1902 – Rafael Alberti, Spanish poet (d. 1999)
1902 – Yu Gwan-sun, Korean independence fighter (d. 1920)
1903 – Hardie Albright, American actor (d. 1975)
1905 – Piet Hein, Danish mathematician and inventor (d. 1996)
1907 – Barbara Kent, Canadian-born American silent film actress and WAMPAS Baby Stars (d. 2011)
1913 – George Ignatieff, Russian-born Canadian diplomat (d. 1989)
1915 – Turk Murphy, American trombonist (d. 1987)
1916 – Birgitta Valberg, Swedish actress
1917 – Nabi Bux Khan Baloch, Sindhi scholar (d. 2011)
1917 – Sir Arthur C. Clarke, English writer (d. 2008)
1917 – Ruth Johnson Colvin, Founder of Literacy Volunteers of America
1918 – Pierre Delanoë, French songwriter and lyricist (d. 2006)
1920 – Frederick Rotimi Williams, Nigerian politician and jurist (d. 2005)
1922 – Cy Leslie, American music and video executive (d. 2008)
1923 – Menahem Pressler, German-Israeli pianist.
1926 – James McCracken, American tenor (d. 1988)
1927 – Randall Garrett, American writer (d. 1987)
1928 – Terry Carter, American actor
1928 – Philip K. Dick, American writer (d. 1982)
1929 – Nicholas Courtney, English actor (d. 2011)
1931 – Karl Denver, Scottish recording artist (d. 1998)
1932 – Rodion Shchedrin, Soviet/Russian composer
1932 – Quentin Blake, English Illustrator
1934 – Rodolfo_Llinás, Colombian neuroscientist
1936 – Morris Dees, founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center
1937 – Joyce Bulifant, American actress
1938 – Frank Deford, American sportswriter
1938 – Liv Ullmann, Norwegian actress
1939 – Philip Langridge, English opera singer (d. 2010)
1941 – Robert Kerman, American actor
1941 – Lesley Stahl, American journalist
1942 – Donald Carcieri, American politician, governor of Rhode Island
1942 – Eugene Robert Glazer, American actor
1943 – Steven Bochco, American television producer and writer
1943 – Tony Hicks, English guitarist (The Hollies)
1944 – Jeff Kanew, American film director, writer and editor
1944 – Don Meyer, American basketball coach
1944 – N!xau, Namibian actor and bush farmer (d. 2003)
1945 – Patti Deutsch, American actress and Match Game panelist
1945 – Bobby George, English professional darts player
1945 – Yukio Hattori, Japanese television commentator
1946 – Benny Andersson, Swedish musician, singer and songwriter (ABBA)
1946 – Charles Dennis, Canadian actor
1946 – Christopher Ellison, English actor
1946 – Terence Knox, American actor
1946 – Trevor Pinnock, English conductor and harpsichordist
1946 – Tom Stern, American cinematographer
1947 – Ben Cross, English actor
1947 – Vincent Matthews, American sprinter
1948 – Christopher Biggins, English actor
1949 – Billy Gibbons, American guitarist (ZZ Top)
1950 – Claudia Cohen, American gossip columnist and socialite (d. 2007)
1950 – Roy Schuiten, Dutch cyclist (d. 2006)
1951 – Robben Ford, American guitarist
1951 – Mike Flanagan, American baseball pitcher (d. 2011)
1951 – Mark Heard, American record producer, folk-rock singer, and songwriter (d. 1992)
1952 – Joel Garner, Barbadian cricketer
1952 – Francesco Graziani, Italian footballer
1953 – Rebecca Forstadt, American voice actor
1955 – Xander Berkeley, American actor
1955 – Carol Browner, American environmentalist and government official
1955 – Prince Lorenz of Belgium, Archduke of Austria-Este
1957 – Antonio Vega, Spanish pop singer-songwriter (d. 2009)
1958 – Katie Leigh, American voice actress
1958 – Bart Oates, American football player
1959 – Alison LaPlaca, American actress
1959 – Steve Mattsson, American writer
1959 – Larry Poindexter, American actor and singer
1960 – Pat Van Den Hauwe, Belgian footballer
1960 – Canuto Kallan, Danish visual artist
1961 – Andre Andersen, Russian/Danish multi-instrumentalist and composer
1961 – Shane Black, American actor, writer and director
1961 – Bill Hicks, American comedian (d. 1994)
1961 – LaChanze, American singer
1961 – David Wild, American writer
1961 – Gretchen Palmer, American actress
1961 – Sam Robards, American actor
1961 – Jon Tenney, American actor
1962 – Maruschka Detmers, Dutch actress
1962 – William Perry, American football player
1962 – Melanie Smith, American actress
1963 – Benjamin Bratt, American actor
1963 – Jeff Carson, American singer
1963 – James Mangold, American film director and screenwriter
1964 – Heike Drechsler, East German sprinter
1964 – Gail Harris, English actress
1964 – Georgie Parker, Australian actress
1964 – Billy Ripken, American baseball player
1964 – Paul Vogt, American actor and comedian
1965 – Chris Jones, American baseball player
1965 – Melanie Sloan, American attorney
1965 – Nancy Valen, American actress
1966 – Clifford Robinson, American basketball player
1966 – Dennis Wise, English footballer
1967 – Donovan Bailey, Jamaican/Canadian sprinter,
1967 – Mark Palmer, American ambassador
1967 – Miranda Otto, Australian actress
1968 – Peter Dante, American actor
1968 – Lalah Hathaway, American singer
1968 – Mark Dean Schwab, American rapist and murderer (d. 2008)
1969 – Florencia Lozano, American actress
1969 – Adam Riess, American astrophysicist, Nobel Laureate
1969 – Shane, American adult film actress
1969 – Dmitri Tymoczko, American composer and music theorist
1970 – Valerie Chow, Hong Kong actress
1970 – Daniel Cosgrove, American actor
1971 – Michael McCary, American singer (Boyz II Men)
1971 – Seyhan Kurt, French/Turkish poet,writer
1971 – Paul van Dyk, German DJ
1972 – Angela Bloomfield, New Zealand actress
1972 – Charles Gipson, American baseball player
1972 – Željko Kalac, Australian footballer
1972 – Paul Leyden, Australian actor
1973 – Sarah Kozer, American model and actress
1973 – Themba Mnguni, South African footballer
1973 – Luisa Ranieri, Italian actress
1973 – Scott Storch, Canadian/American hip-hop producer
1974 – Frida Hallgren, Swedish actress
1974 – Earl C. Poitier, American actor
1975 – Valentin Badoi, Romanian footballer
1975 – Nawo Kawakita, Japanese drummer (Maximum the Hormone)
1975 – Benjamin Kowalewicz, Canadian musician (Billy Talent)
1975 – Jonathan Scarfe, Canadian actor
1977 – Éric Bélanger, Canadian ice hockey player
1977 – Sylvain Distin, French footballer
1978 – Joe Absolom, English actor
1978 – John Morris, Canadian Curler
1978 – Gunter Van Handenhoven, Belgian footballer
1979 – Trevor Immelman, South African golfer
1979 – Mihai Traistariu, Romanian singer
1979 – Jessie Ward, American professional wrestler
1979 – Flo Rida, American rapper and singer
1981 – Krysten Ritter, American actress
1981 – Anna Sedokova, Ukrainian singer
1981 – Gareth Williams, Scottish footballer
1982 – Garnon Davies, Welsh actor
1982 – Justin Mentell, American artist and actor (d. 2010)
1982 – Antrel Rolle, American football player
1982 – Stanislav Šesták, Slovakian footballer
1983 – Kelenna Azubuike, American basketball player
1983 – Frankie Ballard, American singer
1983 – Danielle Lloyd, English model
1984 – Theo James, American actor
1985 – Amanda Setton, American actress
1985 – Keita Tachibana, Japanese singer (w-inds.)
1986 – Candice Crawford, American beauty queen and sports reporter
1986 – Alcides Escobar, Venezuelan baseball player
1987 – Mame Biram Diouf, Senegalese footballer
1987 – Beau Dowler, Australian rules footballer
1987 – Hallee Hirsh, American actress
1988 – Anna Popplewell, English actress
1988 – Mats Hummels, German footballer
1990 – Julito McCullum, American actor
1992 – Ulrikke Eikeri, Norwegian tennis player
1993 – Lola Créton, French actress
1999 – Bryce Robinson, American actor

Deaths

705 – Empress Wu of Zhou (b. 625)
714 – Pippin of Herstal, Frankish noble
867 – Eberhard of Friuli
999 – Saint Adelaide of Italy (b. 931)
1325 – Charles of Valois, son of Philip III of France (b. 1270)
1378 – Otto III of Montferrat
1379 – John FitzAlan, 1st Baron Arundel, British noble and naval commander
1470 – John II, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1425)
1515 – Afonso de Albuquerque Portuguese naval commander (b. 1453)
1598 – Yi Sun-sin, Korean admiral (b. 1545)
1669 – Nathaniel Fiennes, English politician (b. c. 1608)
1687 – William Petty, English scientist and philosopher (b. 1623)
a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1751" title="1751">1751 – Leopold II of Anhalt-Dessau, Prussian general (b. 1700)
1765 – Peter Frederick Haldimand, Swiss military officer and surveyor (b. 1741/42)
1774 – François Quesnay, French economist (b. 1694)
1783 – Johann A. Hasse, German composer (b. 1699)
1783 – Sir William James, British naval commander (b. 1720)
1809 – Antoine François, comte de Fourcroy, French chemist (b. 1755)
1859 – Wilhelm Grimm, German writer and folklorist (b. 1786)
1892 – Henry Yesler, American entrepreneur and politician (b. 1810)
1897 – Alphonse Daudet, French novelist and short story writer (b. 1840)
1898 – Pavel Tretyakov, Russian businessman and art collector (b. 1832)
1914 – Ivan Zajc, Croatian composer (b. 1832)
1916 – Ognjeslav Kostovic Stepanovic, Serbian inventor (b. 1851)
1921 – Camille Saint-Saëns, French composer (b. 1835)
1922 – Gabriel Narutowicz, Polish politician (b. 1865)
1925 – Maurice Lecoq, French sports shooter (b. 1854)
1928 – Elinor Wylie, American poet and writer (b. 1885)
1930 – Herman Lamm, German-born American bank robber (b. 1890)
1935 – Thelma Todd, American actress (b. 1905)
1940 – Billy Hamilton, American baseball player (b. 1866)
1944 – Betsie ten Boom, sister of Corrie ten Boom and Holocaust victim (b. 1885)
1945 – Giovanni Agnelli, Italian automobile manufacturer (b. 1866)
1945 – Fumimaro Konoye, Japanese politician (b. 1891)
1948 – Denham Fouts, American gigolo and socialite (b. 1914)
1949 – Sidney Olcott, Canadian film director (b. 1873)
1952 – Robert Henry Best, South Carolina-born broadcaster of Nazi propaganda convicted of treason in 1948 (b. 1896)
1956 – Nina Hamnett, Welsh artist (b. 1890)
1963 – Nam Phuong, Emperor of Vietnam (b. 1914)
1965 – W. Somerset Maugham, English writer (b. 1874)
1968 – Futabayama Sadaji, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 35th Yokozuna (b. 1912)
1968 – General Muhammad Suheimat, Jordanian military commander and statesman (b.1916)
1976 – Réal Caouette, French-Canadian politician (b. 1917)
1977 – Risto Jarva, Finnish filmmaker (b. 1934)
1980 – Colonel Sanders, American fast food entrepreneur (b. 1890)
1980 – Hellmuth Walter, German engineer and inventor (b. 1900)
1982 – Colin Chapman, English engineer and automobile manufacturer (b. 1928)
1983 – Debs Garms, American baseball player (b. 1907)
1985 – Thomas Bilotti, American organized crime figure (b. 1940)
1985 – Paul Castellano, American organized crime figure (b. 1915)
1988 – Sylvester James, American singer (b. 1948)
1989 – Óscar Alfredo Gálvez, Argentine racing driver (b. 1913)
1989 – Silvana Mangano, Italian actress (b. 1930)
1989 – Aileen Pringle, American actress (b. 1895)
1989 – Lee Van Cleef, American actor (b. 1925)
1990 – Douglas Campbell, American aviator (b. 1896)
1991 – Tamási Eszter, Hungarian TV announcer and actress (b. 1938)
1993 – Moses Gunn, American actor (b. 1929)
1993 – Tanaka Kakuei, Japanese politician (b. 1918)
1993 – Charizma, American Hip-Hop MC (b. 1973)
1995 – Johnny Moss, American poker player (b. 1907)
1995 – Mariele Ventre, Italian choir director (b. 1939)
1996 – Quentin Bell, English art historian (b. 1910)
1997 – Lillian Disney, widow of Walt Disney (b. 1899)
1997 – Nicolette Larson, American singer (b. 1952)
1998 – William Gaddis, American writer (b. 1922)
2001 – Stuart Adamson, English-born Scottish musician (The Skids, Big Country) (b. 1958)
2001 – Stefan Heym, German author (b. 1913)
2003 – Robert Stanfield, Canadian politician (b. 1914)
2003 – Gary Stewart, American musician and songwriter (b. 1945)
2004 – Ted Abernathy, American baseball player (b. 1933)
2004 – Deyda Hydara, Gambian journalist (b. 1946)
2005 – Kenneth Bulmer, English author (b. 1921)
2005 – Ed Hansen, American film director and editor (b. 1937)
2005 – John Spencer, American actor (b. 1946)
2006 – Don Jardine, Canadian professional wrestler (b. 1940)
2006 – Taliep Petersen, South African singer and composer (b. 1950)
2006 – Pnina Salzman, Israeli pianist (b. 1922)
2007 – Dan Fogelberg, American singer/songwriter (b. 1951)
2009 – Roy E. Disney, American film industry executive (b. 1930)
2009 – Yegor Gaidar, Russian politician (b. 1956)
2009 – Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, South African physician and politician (b. 1940)
2010 – Melvin E. Biddle, American soldier and Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1923)
2011 – Dan Frazer, American actor (b. 1921)