Today's featured article
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart toured Italy with his father Leopold three times between 1769 and 1773. The first, financed by performances for the nobility and by public concerts, was an extended tour of 15 months to a number of major Italian cities. The second and third journeys were to Milan, for Wolfgang to complete operas that had been commissioned there on the first visit. From the perspective of Wolfgang's musical development the journeys were a considerable success, and his talents were recognised by honours which included a papal knighthood and memberships in leading philharmonic societies. Each of Wolfgang's operas written for Milan's Teatro Regio Ducal was a critical and popular triumph. In the course of the three visits he met many leading musicians in Italy, including the renowned theorist Giovanni Battista Martini, under whom he studied in Bologna. Leopold also hoped that Wolfgang, and possibly he himself, would obtain a prestigious appointment at one of the Italian Habsburg courts. This objective became more important as Leopold's advancement in Salzburg became less likely; but his persistent efforts to secure employment displeased the imperial court, which precluded any chance of success. The journeys thus ended not with a triumphant return, but on a note of disappointment and frustration. (more...)
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Did you know...
From Wikipedia's newest articles:
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- ... that the 1956 Maryland Terrapins lost players to the military draft and jaundice, and The Baltimore Sun called the head coach and quarterback "the biggest fall guys in college football"?
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- ... that the American Memphis blues guitarist, singer and songwriter, Joe Willie Wilkins, had the childhood nickname of "Walking Seeburg"?
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- ... that Jurek Wilner, who took part in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, left his notebook of poems with the Dominican nuns in Wilno, where he hid during the early part of Nazi occupation of Poland?
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In the news
- A 7.1-magnitude earthquake strikes the South Island of New Zealand, causing widespread damage in Christchurch.
- Typhoon Kompasu (pictured) makes landfall in South Korea, becoming the strongest typhoon to affect Seoul in fifteen years.
- Thirty thousand people in North Carolina, United States, are evacuated ahead of Hurricane Earl, which has impacted the Leeward Islands.
- Three bombings kill at least 30 people and injure more than 200 others in Lahore, Pakistan.
- In the Iraq War, Operation Iraqi Freedom concludes and Operation New Dawn begins, marking the end of foreign combat operations in Iraq.
- The discovery of Balaur, a new genus of dinosaurs closely related to Velociraptor, is announced.
- Argentine footballer Francisco Varallo, the last surviving player from the inaugural FIFA World Cup, dies at the age of 100. Wikinews – Recent deaths – More current events...
On this day...
September 4: Immigrant's Day in Argentina
- 1260 – Wars of the Guelphs and Ghibellines: The Siena Ghibellines defeated the Florence Guelphs at the Battle of Montaperti outside of Siena, present-day Italy.
- 1886 – After over 25 years of fighting against the United States Army and the armed forces of Mexico, Geronimo (pictured) of the Chiricahua Apache surrendered at Skeleton Canyon in Arizona.
- 1957 – Defying the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus deployed the Arkansas National Guard to prevent African American students from attending Little Rock's Central High School.
- 1984 – The Progressive Conservative Party led by Brian Mulroney won the largest majority government by total number of seats in Canadian history during the federal election.
- 1998 – Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded the company Google in Menlo Park, California, US, to promote the web search engine that they developed as a research project while attending Stanford University.
More anniversaries: September 3 – September 4 – September 5
Today's featured picture
The cryptic mantis (Sibylla pretiosa) is a mantid native to southern Africa. Its common name comes from its ability to grow asymmetrically to match the vegetation of its environment. They have unusual leaf-like projections on the joint of their four walking legs and leaf-like wings, generally the only green portion of the insect's otherwise brown and mottled exoskeleton. Adult females grow to 5–6 cm (2.0–2.4 in) in length while the males are generally about 1 cm smaller.
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