On this day in 1825, composer, conductor, and teacher Antonio Salieri died in Vienna at the age of 74. Born on 18 August 1750 in Legnago, south of Verona, in the Republic of Venice, and spent his adult life and career as a subject of the Habsburg Monarchy.
Salieri was a pivotal figure in the development of late 18th-century opera. As a student of Florian Leopold Gassmann, and a protégé of Christoph Willibald Gluck, Salieri was a cosmopolitan composer who wrote operas in three languages. Salieri helped to develop and shape many of the features of operatic compositional vocabulary, and his music was an important influence on contemporary composers.
Appointed the director of the Italian opera by the Habsburg court, a post he held from 1774 until 1792, Salieri dominated Italian-language opera in Vienna. During his career he also spent time writing works for opera houses in Paris, Rome, and Venice, and his dramatic works were performed throughout Europe during his lifetime. As the Austrian imperial Kapellmeister from 1788 to 1824, he was responsible for music at the court chapel and attached school. Even as his works dropped from performance, and he wrote no new operas after 1804, he still remained one of the most important and sought-after teachers of his generation, and his influence was felt in every aspect of Vienna’s musical life. Franz Liszt, Franz Schubert, Ludwig van Beethoven, Johann Nepomuk Hummel and Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart were among the most famous of his pupils.
Salieri’s music slowly disappeared from the repertoire between 1800 and 1868 and was rarely heard after that period until the revival of his fame in the late 20th century. This revival was due to the dramatic and highly fictionalized depiction of Salieri in Peter Shaffer’s play Amadeus (1979) and its 1984 film version. The death of Mozart in 1791 at the age of 35 was followed by rumors that he and Salieri had been bitter rivals, and that Salieri had poisoned the younger composer, yet it is likely that they were, at least, mutually respectful peers.
The Final Footprint
Salieri was committed to medical care and likely suffered dementia for the last year and a half of his life. He was buried in the Matzleinsdorfer Friedhof on 10 May. At his memorial service on 22 June 1825 his own Requiem in C minor – composed in 1804 – was performed for the first time. His remains were later transferred to the Zentralfriedhof in Vienna. His monument is adorned by a poem written by Joseph Weigl, one of his pupils:
Ruh sanft! Vom Staub entblößt,
Wird Dir die Ewigkeit erblühen.
Ruh sanft! In ew’gen Harmonien
Ist nun Dein Geist gelöst.
Er sprach sich aus in zaubervollen Tönen,
Jetzt schwebt er hin zum unvergänglich Schönen.
Rest in peace! Uncovered by dust
Eternity shall bloom for you.
Rest in peace! In eternal harmonies
Your spirit now is set free.
It expressed itself in enchanting notes,
Now it is floating to everlasting beauty.
Other notable final footprints at Zentralfriedhof include; Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (cenotaph), Franz Schubert, Johann Strauss I, and Johann Strauss II.
On this day in 2002 Thoroughbred race horse who won the United States Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing in 1977, Seattle Slew died in his sleep at Hill ‘N’ Dale Farm, Lexington, Kentucky, 25 years to the day he won the Kentucky Derby, at the age of 28. Foaled on 15 February 1974 at Ben Castleman’s White Horse Acres Farm near Lexington, Kentucky. A descendant of the great sire Nearco through his son, Nasrullah, Seattle Slew was sired by Bold Reasoning and out of My Charmer. He was named Champion 2-Year-Old of 1976. The big nearly-black colt swept through the Triple Crown races and was named Champion 3-Year-Old of 1977 and Eclipse Award American Horse of the Year. Seattle Slew is the only Belmont Stakes winner to sire a Belmont Stakes winner, A.P. Indy (whose damsire was the great Secretariat), who in turn sired Belmont Stakes winner, Rags to Riches.
The Final Footprint – Seattle Slew was buried whole, the highest honor for a race horse, in the courtyard at Hill ‘N’ Dale Farm with his favorite blanket and a bag of peppermints which he liked to eat. Three Chimneys Farm, Midway, Kentucky erected a statue of Seattle Slew near the stallion barn in his honor.
#RIP #OTD in 2011 professional golfer, a World No. 1, 3x Open Champion, 2x Masters Champion, Seve Ballesteros died from brain cancer in Pedreña, Cantabria, Spain, aged 54. cremated remains interred at his estate in Pedreña
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On this day in 1862, author, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, historian, and leading transcendentalist, Henry David Thoreau died from complications of tuberculosis at his home in Concord, Massachusetts at the age of 44. Born David Henry Thoreau in Concord on 12 July 1817. Perhaps best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay Resistance to Civil Government (also known as Civil Disobedience), an argument for disobedience to an unjust state. Thoreau’s books, articles, essays, journals, and poetry total over 20 volumes. His literary style interweaves close natural observation, personal experience, pointed rhetoric, symbolic meanings, and historical lore, while displaying a poetic sensibility, philosophical austerity, and “Yankee” love of practical detail. He was also deeply interested in the idea of survival in the face of hostile elements, historical change, and natural decay; at the same time he advocated abandoning waste and illusion in order to discover life’s true essential needs. He was a lifelong abolitionist, delivering lectures that attacked the Fugitive Slave Law while praising the writings of Wendell Phillips and defending abolitionist John Brown.
The Final Footprint – Bronson Alcott planned the funeral service and read selections from Thoreau’s works, and Ellery Channing presented a hymn. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote the eulogy spoken at his funeral. Originally buried in the Dunbar family plot, he and members of his immediate family were eventually moved to Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord. Other notable final footprints at Sleepy Hollow include; Louisa May Alcott, William Ellery Channing, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Nathaniel Hawthorne.
On this day in 1919, author L. Frank Baum died from a stroke in Hollywood at the age of 62. Born Lyman Frank Baum on 15 May 1856 in Chittenango, New York. Perhaps best known for writing The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. He wrote 55 novels in total including thirteen Oz sequels, and nine other fantasy novels. In his writings, he anticipated television, augmented reality, laptop computers (The Master Key), wireless telephones (Tik-Tok of Oz), women in high risk, action-heavy occupations (Mary Louise in the Country), and the ubiquity of advertising on clothing (Aunt Jane’s Nieces at Work). Baum married Maud Gage (1882 – 1919 his death). They had four children.
The Final Footprint – The day after his stroke, Baum slipped into a coma but briefly awoke and reportedly spoke his last words to his wife, “Now we can cross the Shifting Sands.” He was buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California. Following early film treatments in 1910 and 1925 and Baum’s own venture The Oz Film Manufacturing Company, Metro Goldwyn Mayer made the story into the now classic movie The Wizard of Oz (1939), starring Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale. The film was given an all-a-dream ending which differs from the book. A completely new Tony Award-winning Broadway musical with an African-American cast, The Wiz, was staged in 1975 with Stephanie Mills as Dorothy. It was the basis for a 1978 film by the same title starring Diana Ross as an adult Dorothy and Michael Jackson as the Scarecrow. The Wizard of Oz continues to inspire new versions, such as Disney’s Return to Oz (1985), The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz, Tin Man (a re-imagining of the story televised in late 2007 on the Sci Fi Channel), and a variety of animated productions. Today’s most successful Broadway show, Wicked, provides a backstory to the two Oz witches used in the classic MGM film. Gregory Maguire, author of the novel, Wicked, on which the musical is based, chose to honor Baum by naming his main character Elphaba, a phonetic take on Baum’s initials. The film Oz the Great and Powerful (2013) serves as an homage to MGM’s film, and stars James Franco, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz, and Michelle Williams. Other notable Final Footprints at Forest Lawn Glendale include; Humphrey Bogart, Lon Chaney, Nat King Cole, Dorothy Dandridge, Sammy Davis, Jr., Jean Harlow, Sam Cooke, Walt Disney, Errol Flynn, Clark Gable, Michael Jackson, Carole Lombard, Tom Mix, Casey Stengel, Jimmy Stewart, Elizabeth Taylor, and Spencer Tracy.
On this day in 1992, Oscar nominated actress and singer, Marlene Dietrich died of renal failure in Paris at the age of 90. Born Maria Magdalene Dietrich on 27 December 1901 in Schöneberg, a district of Berlin, Germany. She appeared in over 70 movies and was known for her glamour and her beauty. She became a U. S. citizen in 1939. Dietrich raised war bonds and performed in USO tours and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by the US in 1947. She said that this was her proudest accomplishment. She was also awarded the Légion d’honneur by the French government as recognition for her wartime work. Dietrich married once to Rudolf Sieber (1897-1976 his death). Dietrich allegedly had affairs with writer Erich Maria Remarque, Gary Cooper, Yul Brynner, George Bernard Shaw, and John F. Kennedy.
The Final Footprint – Napoleon was initially entombed on St. Helena in the Valley of the Willows. In 1840, King of the French Louis Philippe I obtained permission from the British to return Napoleon’s remains to France. The remains were transported aboard the frigate Belle-Poule, which had been painted black for the occasion, and on 29 November she arrived in Cherbourg. The remains were transferred to the steamship Normandie, which transported them to Le Havre, up the Seine to Rouen and on to Paris. On 15 December, a state funeral was held. The hearse proceeded from the Arc de Triomphe down the Champs-Élysées, across the Place de la Concorde to the Esplanade des Invalides and then to the cupola in St Jérôme’s Chapel, where it stayed until the tomb designed by Louis Visconti was completed. In 1861, Napoleon’s remains were entombed in a porphyry sarcophagus in the crypt under the dome at Les Invalides, the burial sight for some of France’s war heroes including a memorial to Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
The Final Footprint
The Final Footprint – Gioachino Rossini, who, not having heard the news, came to Meyerbeer’s apartment the day after his death, intending to meet him, was shocked to hear the news and fainted. He was reportedly moved to write on the spot a choral tribute (Pleure, pleure, muse sublime!). A special train bore Meyerbeer’s body from the Gare du Nord to Berlin on 6 May, where he was entombed in the family vault at the 
On this day in 1883, painter 
Leenhoff in 1863. Leenhoff was a Dutch-born piano teacher of Manet’s age with whom he had been romantically involved for approximately ten years. Leenhoff initially had been employed by Manet’s father, Auguste, to teach Manet and his younger brother piano. She also may have been Auguste’s mistress. In 1852, Leenhoff gave birth, out of wedlock, to a son, Leon Koella Leenhoff. Eleven-year-old Leon Leenhoff, 
whose father may have been either of the Manets, posed often for Manet, most famously, as the subject of the Boy Carrying a Sword of 1861 (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York). He also appears as the boy carrying a tray in the background of The Balcony. Manet painted his wife in The Reading, among other paintings.
The Final Footprint – Manet is buried in Passy Cemetery in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. Opened in 1820 in the expensive residential and commercial districts of the Right Bank near the Champs-Élysées, by 1874 the small Passy Cemetery had become the aristocratic necropolis of Paris. Sheltered by a bower of chestnut trees, the cemetery is in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. The retaining wall of the cemetery is adorned with a bas relief (by Louis Janthial) commemorating the soldiers who fell in the Great War. Other notable final footprints as Passy include; Claude Debussy, Gabriel Fauré, Hubert de Givenchy, Octave Mirbeau, and Berthe Morisot.
Dead Matador, National Gallery of Art, 1864–1865
On this day in 1983, ballet choreographer George Balanchine died, aged 79, in Manhattan from Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease. Born Georgiy Melitonovich Balanchivadze on January 22, 1904 in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire. In my opinion, one of the most influential 20th century choreographers. Styled as the father of American ballet, he co-founded the New York City Ballet and remained its Artistic Director for more than 35 years.
On this day in 1989, director, producer and screenwriter, Sergio Leone died from a heart attack in Rome at the age of 60. Born on 3 January 1929 in Rome. Best known as the director of three legendary, iconic westerns, often referred to as Spaghetti Westerns: A Fistful of Dollars (Per un pugno di dollari) (1964) with Clint Eastwood; For a Few Dollars More (Per qualche dollaro in più) (1965) with Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef; and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo) (1966) with Eastwood, Van Cleef and Eli Wallach. The film score for all three movies was composed by Ennio Morricone. Leone also directed Once Upon a Time in the West (C’era una volta il West) (1968) with Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, Jason Robards and Claudia Cardinale; and Once Upon a Time in America (C’era una volta il America) (1984) with Robert De Niro. All five of these movies are among my very favorites and I will stop what I am doing to watch them.
On this day in 1967, blues guitarist and singer-songwriter J. B. Lenoir died in Urbana, Illinois, at the age 38, of internal bleeding related to injuries he had suffered in a car crash three weeks earlier, which had not been properly treated in a hospital in Illinois. Born on March 5, 1929 in Monticello, Mississippi. He was active in the Chicago blues scene in the 1950s and 1960s.
On this day in 1980, director and producer, Alfred Hitchcock died of renal failure in his Bel Air, Los Angeles, California home at the age of 80. Born Alfred Joseph Hitchcock on 13 August 1899 in Leytonstone, London, England. One of the most influential filmmakers of all time. Hitchcock took suspense and psychological thrills to a whole new level in his films. His stories frequently feature fugitives on the run and beautiful blonde female characters. My favorite Hitchcock movies include: Suspicion (1941) with Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine; Spellbound (1945) with Gregory Peck and Ingrid Bergman; Notorious (1946) with Grant and Bergman; Dial M for Murder (1954) with Ray Milland and Grace Kelly; Rear Window (1954) with Jimmy Stewart and Kelly; To Catch a Thief (1955) with Grant and Kelly; Vertigo (1958) with Stewart and Kim Novak; North by Northwest (1959) with Grant and Eva Marie Saint; and Psycho (1960) with Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh.
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