November 27 – Happy Birthday, Frederic Crowninshield

Posted on November 27, 2018

Today's famous birthday was born on this date in 1845 into a wealthy and important Bostonian family. Frederic Crowninshield graduated from Harvard and became an artist, illustrator, and art teacher. When he was older, he became the first president of the National Society of Mural Painters and, later, president of the Fine Arts Federation and director of the American Academy in Rome. 





One thing I find interesting about this artist is his name. Crowninshield, of course, is three words strung together in one name: Crown In Shield. I wondered how such a name came to exist!

It turns out that a Danish man named Johann Caspar Richter moved to a little Germany village, and there he married and started a family. The village they lived in was named Kronenschieldt (Crowninshield), and I gather that Johann decided to add the town's name to his own, using the German word "von" (of/from), to seem more grand:
Johann Caspar Richter von Kronenschieldt

(Many noble Germans had and still have "von" and then a town or city name at the end of their surnames, but in early modern times, many commoners adopted the practice as well.)

Johann also invented a coat of arms that would go with that name. It of course featured a crown on a shield! 

The important thing to remember here is that he designed this coat of arms out of nowhere - by which I mean that he just sat down and invented it to make the family seem more important than it was. 

(Most coats of arms used then had long family histories going back many centuries. But of course, ultimately, they were ALL made up to make families seem grand!)

One of Johann's sons was Johannes Caspar Richter von Kronenschieldt. It was he who traveled to Boston, in what was then the colony of Massachusetts, and rejiggered his name into an English version of the looooonnng Germanic name:
John Caspar Crowninshield

Note that Richter, the original last name of the Danish immigrant to Germany, is now lost!

That move and name change were way back in the late 1600s, but the Crowninshield name continues on today.

In honor of Frederick Crowninshield's ancestors, you might want to invent your own coat of arms.

Here are a few more resources for this project. 







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November 26 - Argel Accord Day in Saõ Tóme and Príncipe

Posted on November 26, 2018

I've talked before about the 1974 Carnation Revolution, in the European nation of Portugal. This was a non-violent coup that overthrew the Estado Novo dictatorship and ushered in a democratic government for Portugal.

It was amazing and wonderful and even colorful - because the people who had poured into the streets to celebrate the end of the dictatorship put carnations in the muzzles of soldiers' guns and in the buttonholes of their uniforms.

But what does the Carnation Revolution have to do with the African nation of Saõ Tóme and Príncipe?

Well, almost half of Portugal's budget, before the coup, was being spent on trying to hold onto the nation's African colonies. There was no end in sight, and most Portuguese people preferred to spend the nation's money in more...positive ways!



So after the Carnation Revolution, Portuguese colonial rulers left the various colonies, and those African nations finally had a chance for independence and self-rule! 

The Argel Accords were documents promising to allow self-rule. Today is the day that the people of Saõ Tóme and Príncipe celebrate the signing of those documents and also honor all the Portuguese citizens whose demonstrations against the Estado Novo regime resulted in their own nation's independence. 

Check out some of the amazing sights of Saõ Tóme and Príncipe:









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November 25 - "Christmas Eve, Sarajevo" Reaches #3

Posted on November 25, 2018

I am not one of those people who jumps into celebrating Christmas immediately after Thanksgiving U.S.A....

But this story is too good NOT to tell!

I love "Wizards of Winter" played by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Like, love-love-love-love-love-love it!

So when I heard that the Trans-Siberian Orchestra had another great Christmas-time song - "Christmas Eve, Sarajevo" - I HAD to hear it. And I was not even a smidge disappointed.



Here is the charming video. Be sure to watch it. I mean, a magical hourglass, a kitten, an orchestra battling it out with a rock band, snow falling on a piano, a conductor twirling a little girl in her nightgown - what's not to LOVE?

This song was first released way back in 1995, and on this date in 2016, the total sales of the digital track stood at 1,300,000 - the third highest number of downloads of all Christmas / holiday songs.


What I didn't realize until recently is that the piece was inspired by a true story. Oh, man, what a story:

There once was a cello player born in Sarajevo, in Bosnia. He left his hometown and country when he was young to seek fame and fortune. Indeed, he was able to do what he loved: he played cello in symphony orchestras throughout Europe, and he became well-respected for his work.

When he returned to his childhood home, unfortunately, the Bosnian War had started, and Sarajevo was in ruins.

Whenever the Serbs shelled Sarajevo, most people hid in bomb shelters. But not the cellist. Instead, he took his cello and climbed onto a pile of rubble and played beautiful music. 




O'Neill thought that "the Cellist of Sarajevo" was very old when he came back to his ruined city and dared to play amid the destruction. But in fact, the cellist, who was named Vedran Smailović, was in his thirties during the Bosnian War and hadn't a white hair on his head.


That just makes the courage to play through battle even more remarkable. If you are, say, 81 years old, and then you die, how many good years have you lost? But if you were to die in your thirties, that is another matter altogether.

When asked why he was doing such an "insane" thing, Smailović said that, even with all the needless death and destruction of war, he wanted to remind everyone that there was also a positive side to humanity. And this spirit of humanity was still alive, even there, among the rubble.

Smailović also played his cello at funerals - and that, too, was a dangerous thing to do, because funerals were often attacked by snipers. The cellist's courage has inspired books, art, and of course music:


To enshrine the story of the Cellist of Sarajevo in a Trans-Siberian piece, O'Neill and the other composers decided to combine two very old Christmas carols, "God Rest, Ye Merry Gentlemen" and "Shchedryk" (better known as "Carol of the Bells"), the latter which was composed near Bosnia, in the Ukraine.

Some parts are played softly, others are played loudly. Some parts are played just by a single cello accompanied by a guitar and flute, and other parts are played by a full orchestra and electric guitars. It's that back-and-forth of two melodies and different styles and volumes and bits and pieces that gives us a beautiful battle that hopefully reminds us not to embroil ourselves in violent battles...

Fireworks are more fun than bombs!
By the way, you may be wondering if Smailović died during the Bosnian War. The answer is: No! As a matter of fact, he is still alive now, living in Northern Ireland, and continuing his musical career by playing, teaching, and composing.

Check out the book Echoes from the Square, by Elizabeth Wellburn. It's illustrated by Deryk Houston. The book is read aloud by the author in a video near the bottom of the screen!



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