Archive for November, 2023

Robert Browning

Posted in Westminster Abbey with tags , , on November 27, 2023 by Cade

May 07, 1812 – December 12, 1889

Robert Browning was one of the leading poets and writers in Victorian England. Specializing in long-form poems and dramatic monologues, Browning directly influenced generations of writers ranging from Oscar Wilde to Ezra Pound to Stephen King. In addition to poems like The Pied Piper of Hamelin, My Last Duchess and Porphyria’s Lover, he also wrote a number of plays and songs. 1869’s verse novel The Ring and the Book was his most successful and lucrative work during his lifetime and earned him international acclaim.

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Jean Simmons

Posted in Highgate Cemetery with tags , on November 20, 2023 by Cade

January 31, 1929 – January 22, 2010

British actress Jean Simmons was most widely known for her award-winning roles in classic films like Elmer Gantry and Guys and Dolls, as well as her appearance in other unforgettable movies like 1960’s epic Spartacus. She appeared in the noir classic, Angel Face, opposite Robert Mitchum and was well-represented later in her career on television in everything from The Odd Couple to her monumental turn in the 1983 miniseries, The Thorn Birds.

She was not, however it may sound, the singer and bass player for the American rock band, KISS.

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Georges Bizet

Posted in Père Lachaise Cemetery with tags , on November 13, 2023 by Cade

October 25, 1838 – June 03, 1875

Georges Bizet had all the hallmarks of the stereotypical Romantic composer in 19th Century Europe: He showed genius from an early age. He struggled financially. He shunned religious themes in his work. He didn’t make it to the age of 40…

Bizet’s career, though brief, was full of promise. While he really only has one enduring masterwork (1875’s opéra comique, Carmen) he left behind a number of other memorable scores and compositions like L’Arlésienne and Symphony in C Major. Carmen wasn’t his only opera, of course – he wrote more than a dozen – but it was his final triumph.
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Jean-Pierre Rampal

Posted in Montparnasse Cemetery with tags , on November 6, 2023 by Cade

January 07, 1922 – May 20, 2000

Quick! Name a French flautist more famous than Jean-Pierre Rampal.

Marcel Moyse? Please.

René Le Roy? Nice try.

Georges Barrère? Maybe. But did Barrère ever guest star on The Muppet Show?

I didn’t think so.

Literally born to play the flute, Jean-Pierre Rampal was the son of Joseph Rampal, himself a famous French flautist who studied alongside the likes of Moyse and Le Roy. The younger Rampal started studying the instrument at the age of 12 and only went on to globally re-popularize its use as a classical solo instrument in the decades after World War II. Let’s see René and Marcel do that!

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