{| align="left" style="border: 1px solid #aaa; background-color: #f9f9f9; width: 95px;"

|- | align="center"|60px|alt=Gabriel Fauré |Gabriel Fauré in 1896

<small>Play the "Berceuse" from Dolly</small>

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The piano music of Gabriel Fauré is among his best known work. Written between the 1860s and the 1920s, Fauré's major sets of piano works are 13 nocturnes, 13 barcarolles, six impromptus and four valses-caprices. These sets display the change in his style, over the decades, from uncomplicated youthful charm to a final enigmatic but sometimes fiery introspection, by way of a turbulent period in his middle years. His other notable piano pieces, including shorter works, or collections composed or published as a set, are Romances sans paroles, Ballade in F♯ major, Mazurka in B♭ major, Thème et variations in C♯ major, and Huit pièces brèves. For piano duet, Fauré composed the Dolly Suite and, together with his friend and former pupil André Messager, an exuberant parody of Wagner in the short suite Souvenirs de Bayreuth. Much of the ambidextrous Fauré's piano music is difficult to play, but it is rarely virtuoso in style. The composer disliked showy display, and the predominant characteristic of his piano music is a classical restraint and understatement. (more...)

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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1542:

Catherine Howard , the fifth wife of Henry VIII of England, was executed for adultery. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_Howard

1880:

American inventor Thomas Edison observed the Edison effect, which later formed the basis of vacuum tube diodes designed by English electrical engineer John Ambrose Fleming. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermionic_emission

1970:

The English rock band Black Sabbath released their eponymous debut album, which is recognised as the first major album to be credited with the development of the heavy metal genre. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sabbath_%28album%29

1981:

Sewer explosions caused by the ignition of hexane vapors destroyed more than two miles (3 km) of streets in Louisville, Kentucky, US. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisville_sewer_explosions

2010:

A terrorist bombing at a bakery popular among foreigners in Pune, India, killed 17 people and injured 60 more. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Pune_bombing

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

ventripotent (adj): 1. Having a big belly. 2. [[gluttonous http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ventripotent

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

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He could not be captured, He could not be bought, His running was rhythm,

His standing was thought; With one eye on sorrow And one eye on mirth,

He galloped in heaven And gambolled on earth. And only the poet

With wings to his brain

Can mount him and ride him Without any rein, The stallion of heaven,

The steed of the skies, The horse of the singer Who sings as he flies. --Eleanor Farjeon http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eleanor_Farjeon