The Symphony No. 8 in E-flat major by Gustav Mahler is one of the largest choral works in the classical concert repertory. Mahler himself conducted its first performance, in Munich on 12 September 1910. Apart from the unusual scale of the work, its architecture is unconventional; instead of the standard four-movement symphonic framework, the piece is in two long sections or parts. The first is based on the Latin text of a ninth-century Christian hymn for Pentecost, Veni creator spiritus ("Come, Creator Spirit"); Part II is a setting of the words from the closing scene of Goethe's Faust. The two parts are related by the shared idea, expressed musically, of redemption through the power of love. Renouncing the pessimism that had marked much of his earlier music, Mahler offered the Eighth as an expression of confidence in the eternal human spirit. After a period during which performances were rare, from the mid-20th century onwards the symphony has been heard regularly in concert halls all over the world, and has been recorded many times. Modern critics have expressed divided opinions on the work; some find its optimism unconvincing and consider it inferior to Mahler's other symphonies, while others compare it to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony as a defining human statement for its century.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._8_%28Mahler%29

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1609:

While sailing aboard the Halve Maen, English explorer Henry Hudson began his exploration of the Hudson River, laying the foundation for Dutch colonization of present-day New York. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Hudson

1683:

Great Turkish War: Polish troops led by John III Sobieski joined forces with a Habsburg army to defeat the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Vienna. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Vienna

1848:

Switzerland became a federal state with the adoption of a new constitution. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerland

1940:

Four teenagers discovered the Lascaux caves near Montignac, in the Dordogne département of France, containing cave paintings that are estimated to be 16,000 years old. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lascaux

1974:

Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia, considered to be the religious symbol for God incarnate among the Rastafari movement, was deposed in a coup d'état by the Derg, a military junta. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haile_Selassie_I_of_Ethiopia

1992:

Aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour, the 50th mission of the Space Shuttle program, American Mae Carol Jemison became the first Black woman in space. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mae_Carol_Jemison

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

tight as a tick (adj): 1. Drunk, inebriated. 2. Fully inflated; swollen near to bursting. 3. Unwilling to spend money http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tight_as_a_tick

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

You climb to reach the summit, but once there, discover that all roads lead down. --Stanisław Lem http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Stanis%C5%82aw_Lem