On this day in 1904 composer Antonín Dvořák died in Prague at the age of 62. Born Antonín Leopold Dvořák on 8 September 1841 in Nelahozeves near Prague. After Bedřich Smetana, he was the second Czech composer to achieve major worldwide recognition. Following Smetana’s nationalist example, Dvořák frequently employed aspects, specifically rhythms, of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia.
In 1892, Dvořák moved to the United States and became the director of the National Conservatory of Music of America in New York City. While in the United States, Dvořák wrote his two most successful orchestral works: the Symphony From the New World, which spread his reputation worldwide, and his Cello Concerto, one of the most highly regarded of all cello concerti. He also wrote his most appreciated piece of chamber music, the American String Quartet, during this time.
All of Dvořák’s nine operas but his first have librettos in Czech and were intended to convey Czech national spirit, as were some of his choral works. By far the most successful of the operas is Rusalka. Among his smaller works, the seventh Humoresque and the song “Songs My Mother Taught Me” are also widely performed and recorded.
in 1868
with his wife Anna in London, 1886.
Statue in Stuyvesant Square in Manhattan, New York City, made by Croatian sculptor Ivan Meštrović.
The Final Footprint
His funeral service was held on 5 May, and his ashes were interred in the Vyšehrad cemetery in Prague, beneath a bust by Czech sculptor Ladislav Šaloun.
On this day in 2000, U. S. Army veteran, bodybuilder and actor, Steve Reeves died from complications of lymphoma in Escondido, California at the age of 74. Born Stephen Lester Reeves on 21 January 1926 in Glasgow, Montana. While in high school, Reeves developed an interest in bodybuilding. After his military career, he began entering bodybuilding contests culminating with winning the Mr. Universe title in 1950. Reeves then began an acting career. In 1957, Reeves went to Italy and played the lead character in Pietro Francisci‘s Hercules, a low-budget epic based loosely on the tales of Jason and the Argonauts. From 1959 through 1964, Reeves went on to appear in a string of sword and sandal movies. Reeves reportedly turned down the role that finally went to Clint Eastwood in Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars (1964) because he could not believe that “Italians could make a western”. That is what I call an “ouch babe” moment. I believe that Reeves was an early inspiration for Arnold Swarzenegger. I have been a fan of bodybuilding and an avid weightlifter since about 1990. I love the bodybuilder lifestyle, the workouts and diets; minus the steroids. Reeves is a legend and he is remembered.
The Final Footprint – Reeves was cremated and his cremains were scattered in Montana.
#RIP #OTD in 2015 actress (Yeoman Janice Rand on Star Trek, Irma la Douce), singer, Grace Lee Whitney died of natural causes at her home in Coarsegold, California, at age 85. Cremation
#RIP #OTD in 2021, actress (Moonstruck, Steel Magnolias, Olympia) Olympia Dukakis died at her home in Manhattan, at the age of 89. Cremation.
#RIP #OTD in 2023 Canadian born singer-songwriter (“If You Could Read My Mind”, “Sundown”, “Carefree Highway”, “Rainy Day People”, “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”), guitarist Gordon Lightfoot died of natural causes at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto aged 84. St. Andrews and St. James Cemetery, Orillia, Ontario
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