Cosima Wagner (1837–1930) was the daughter of pianist and composer
Franz Liszt, and the second wife of composer Richard Wagner. She was
previously married to the conductor Hans von Bülow. With Wagner she
founded the Bayreuth Festival as a showcase for his stage works; after
his death she directed the festival for more than 20 years, building its
repertoire to form the Bayreuth canon of ten operas and establishing it
as a major event in the world of musical theatre. She opposed theatrical
innovations and adhered closely to Wagner's original productions of his
works, an approach continued by her successors long after her retirement
in 1907. Under her influence, Bayreuth became identified with anti-
Semitism and theories of German racial and cultural superiority. This
was a defining feature of Bayreuth for decades, into the Nazi era which
closely followed her death in 1930; thus, although she is widely
perceived as the saviour of the festival, her legacy remains
controversial.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosima_Wagner>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1865:
Six Confederate veterans of the American Civil War founded the
Ku Klux Klan, which would later become a white supremacist group.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ku_Klux_Klan>
1914:
British and German soldiers interrupted the First World War to
celebrate Christmas, beginning the Christmas truce.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_truce>
1968:
Astronaut William Anders of the NASA Apollo 8 mission, the
first manned voyage to orbit the Moon, took the famous photograph known
as "Earthrise" (pictured), showing the Earth rising above the lunar
surface.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthrise>
1980:
Witnesses reported the first of several sightings of
unexplained lights in the sky near RAF Woodbridge, in Rendlesham Forest,
Suffolk, England, an incident called "Britain's Roswell".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendlesham_Forest_incident>
2008:
The Lord's Resistance Army, a Ugandan rebel group, began
attacks on several villages in Haut-Uele District, Democratic Republic
of the Congo, resulting in at least 400 deaths and numerous atrocities.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Christmas_massacres>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
bullshot:
1. A cocktail made from vodka and beef bouillon.
2. (neologism, video games) A phony screenshot created for promotional
purposes.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bullshot>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
The purpose of arts education is not to produce more artists, though
that is a byproduct. The real purpose of arts education is to create
complete human beings capable of leading successful and productive lives
in a free society.
--Dana Gioia
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dana_Gioia>