Tuesday, December 16, 2008

On This Day: Dec. 16

1770, Ludwig van Beethoven is born in Bonn, Germany. At his full adult height, the composer stood only 5'3". Yet he towers over the classical-music nearly 200 years after his death (1827).


Things I'll bet you never knew about Beethoven:

* He has his own listing on IMDB.com (Internet Movie Database) as the "soundtrack" composer of a half-dozen 20th-Century movies;

* And about his trademark four notes -- the famous duh-duh-duh-DAH motive he wrote to open his Fifth Symphony: The composer described the motive as "death knocking at the door." But the Beethoven signature would become the Allies' signature during World War II because the four notes are unintentionally immortalized as Morse Code for the letter "V" (for "Victory").


1773, the Boston Tea Party took place as American colonists boarded a British ship and dumped more than 300 chests of tea overboard to protest tea taxes.

1921, French composer Camille Saint-Saens died.

1944, American composer and bandleader Glenn Miller was presumed dead after his flight went missing over the English Channel.

1965, British novelist and playwright William Somerset Maugham died.

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