Today in 1849, the first chamber music group in the United States gave its first concert in Boston, Massachusetts. The Mendelssohn Quintette Club, based in Boston, was active from 1849 to 1895 and was "one of the most active and most widely known chamber ensembles in America." Chamber music is a form of classical music, composed for a small group of instruments, intended to fit in a palace chamber or a large room, and does not usually include solo instrument performances. The Mendelssohn Qunitnette Club would tour through New England, traveling as far as Georgia, California, and Australia.
Puppet history has made me forget that normal people don't see stories where people die as funny. I was telling my dad about the Molasses Flood, and the Britannic that had the propeller, and the Dancing Plague, and about all the funny stuff that happened in those stories, but every time I would inevitably get to the part when people died, he would just shake his head and say "that's horrible, no one should die like that" and would look at me with disappointment in his eyes.
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Like, okay, I SEE where you're coming from, but like C'MON, you gotta admit the overall story is funny!
When their stepfather passes unexpectedly, the Rhodes siblings inherit the deed to a condemned theatre in the middle of nowhere. As prolific entertainers, Finn and Patrick Rhodes are eager to take on the task at hand. Middle sister Abbie has to be coaxed to join them for a summer in the mountains under the promise of a damn good time. The three inherit far more than they ever expected from a broken show house in a broken town.
Opera singer Phyllis Curtin was born in 1921 in Clarksburg, West Virginia. Curtin made her operatic debut in 1946 and her recital debut in 1950. She was a pillar of the New York City Opera during the 1950s and 60s, and made her Metropolitan Opera debut in 1961. Curtin became known for both the purity of her voice and for her championing of new music, and gave the premieres of many works written by 20th century composers. She continued to perform into her 60s. Curtin was also a distinguished music educator. From 1983 until 1991, she was dean of Boston University's College of Fine Arts, during which time she established its Opera Institute.