Francis Poulenc (7 January 1899 – 30 January 1963) was a French composer and pianist. His compositions include mélodies, solo piano works, chamber music, choral pieces, operas, ballets, and orchestral concert music. Among his frequently performed pieces are the piano suite Trois mouvements perpétuels (1919), the ballet Les biches (1923), the Concert champêtre (1928) for harpsichord and orchestra, the opera Dialogues des Carmélites (1957), and the Gloria (1959) for soprano, choir and orchestra. Largely self-educated musically, he studied with the pianist Ricardo Viñes and was influenced by the avant-garde composer Erik Satie. Initially composing light-hearted and irreverent works, he also wrote serious, sombre and religious pieces beginning in the 1930s. He was an accomplished pianist, and toured Europe and America performing with the baritone Pierre Bernac and the soprano Denise Duval. One of the first composers to see the importance of the gramophone, he recorded extensively from 1928 onwards. This century has seen many new productions worldwide of his serious works, including Dialogues des Carmélites and La Voix humaine.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Poulenc

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1558:

Francis, Duke of Guise, retook Calais, England's last continental possession, for France. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calais

1782:

The Bank of North America opened in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as the United States' first de facto central bank. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_North_America

1979:

The People's Army of Vietnam captured Phnom Penh, deposing Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, which marked the end of large-scale fighting in the Cambodian–Vietnamese War. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodian%E2%80%93Vietnamese_War

1989:

Representatives of Ruhollah Khomeini delivered a letter to Mikhail Gorbachev, inviting him to consider Islam as an alternative to communism, and predicting the dissolution of the Soviet Bloc. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khomeini%27s_letter_to_Mikhail_Gorbachev

2015:

The offices of the French satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris were attacked by a branch of Al-Qaeda, leaving twelve people dead. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Hebdo_shooting

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

pantechnicon: 1. (chiefly Britain) A building or place housing shops or stalls where all sorts of (especially exotic) manufactured articles are collected for sale. 2. (chiefly Britain) Originally pantechnicon van: a van, especially a large moving or removal van. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pantechnicon

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

May God save the country, for it is evident that the people will not.   --Millard Fillmore https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Millard_Fillmore