Born on this day
Wednesday, February 29, 1792. : Italian composer, Rossini, is born.
Gioacchino Antonio Rossini was born on 29 February 1792 in Pesaro, a small town on the Adriatic coast of Italy. Rossini’s parents were both musicians, as his father was town trumpeter (and inspector of slaughterhouses), and his mother was a talented singer.
Rossini received his first formal musical education at the Liceo Comunale of Bologna, where one of his early cantatas was performed. As he later developed his own style, he wrote in both opera types of the Classical music period: ‘opera buffa’, i.e. comic opera, and ‘opera seria’, a more formal, serious form of composition. Rossini was a master at opera buffa, and a popular example of this is ‘The Barber of Seville’. He developed a technique which came to be known as the “Rossini Crescendo”, in which he built excitement by repeating a passage over and over, gradually making it not just louder (as in a simple crescendo) but faster and often higher in pitch, with more and more singers or instruments joining in.
Rossini was a prolific writer in his early years, easily turning out an overture in a matter of hours. However, once he began writing in the grand opera style, as in ‘William Tell’, he did not return to his former opera buffa style, and his output dwindled to mainly piano music and songs. Rossini died on 13 November 1868.
Australian History
Saturday, February 29, 1964. : Australian swimmer Dawn Fraser sets a new world record in the 100m freestyle.
Dawn Fraser was born on 4 September 1937 in Balmain, New South Wales. She was fifteen years old when coach Harry Gallagher noted her exceptional swimming talent and took her under his wing, preparing her for the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.
Fraser was the first female swimmer to win Gold in three consecutive Olympic Games, doing so in 1956, 1960 and 1964. Her career spanned some fifteen years, during which she broke and held 41 World records, and remained undefeated in the 100 metres freestyle. Between 1956 and 1964, Fraser broke the women’s world record for the 100 metre freestyle nine successive times.
On 29 February 1964, Fraser set a new world record of 58.9 seconds at North Sydney. This record remained unbroken until 8 January 1972, when fellow Australian Shane Gould established a new record of 58.5 seconds.
In 1999, Fraser was awarded “World Athlete of the Century” at the World Sport Awards in Vienna. In the same year, she was also inducted into the Australian Sports Hall of Fame when she was awarded “Athlete of the Century”.
World History
Monday, February 29, 0704. : Today is February 29th, which occurs only once every four years, in a leap year.
February is the shortest month in the Gregorian calendar, and the only month with 28 days. February has 29 days in leap years, when the year number is divisible by four, except for years that are divisible by 100 and not by 400. January and February were the last two months to be added to the Roman calendar, since the Romans originally considered winter being the northern hemisphere) a monthless period. The change was made by Numa Pompilius some time after 700 BC in order to bring the calendar in line with a standard lunar year. Numa’s Februarius contained 29 days (30 in a leap year). Augustus is alleged to have removed one day from February and added it to August, (renamed from Sextilis to honour himself), so that Julius Caesar’s July would not contain more days. However there is little historical evidence to support this claim.
It is said to be given the name “leap year” because, in non-leap years, fixed dates advance one day per year; however, when February has an extra day, dates from March leap ahead, or advance two days instead one.
World History
Wednesday, February 29, 1528. : Patrick Hamilton becomes Scotland’s first martyr for following the doctrines of Martin Luther.
Martin Luther provided the catalyst to the Protestant Reformation. Luther, a Roman Catholic monk, struggled with the church’s demands that one could only earn salvation through good works. Through his in-depth study of the Scriptures, he realised that salvation is a gift of God’s grace, received by faith alone and by trust in Christ’s death on the cross as the only means to that salvation. This led him to question the teachings of the Roman Catholic church. The Reformation of the church began on 31 October 1517, with Luther’s act of posting his Ninety-Five Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. The document contained an attack on papal abuses and the sale of indulgences by church officials.
Luther was excommunicated from the Roman Catholic church for his attacks on the wealth and corruption of the papacy, and his belief that salvation would be granted on the basis of faith alone rather than by works. However, his ideas spread to other countries that had previously been dominated by Roman Catholicism.
One such country was Scotland, where the authorities decided to take a firm stand against the spread of “Lutheran heresies”. Patrick Hamilton had studied theology in Europe where he first encountered Luther’s ideas. He was arrested for preaching Protestant ideas in Scotland, and was burned at the stake on 29 February 1528, becoming Scotland’s first Protestant martyr.
World History
Sunday, February 29, 1784. : John Wesley issues the “Deed of Declaration”, the charter of the Wesleyan Methodist Church.
John Wesley was born on 17 June 1703 in Epworth, Lincolnshire, England. In 1720 he entered Christ Church College, Oxford, and received his Master of Arts in 1727. However, it was through his readings of Thomas a Kempis and Jeremy Taylor that he began to truly apply his Christianity to his life, seeking holiness of heart and life. Through a seemingly legalistic approach to the teachings of the Bible, he was able to discover how to truly practise and apply his Christian faith.
After his return from serving two years as missionary to the native Americans, Wesley turned to the Moravians, a Protestant denomination founded in Saxony in 1722. It was while attending a Moravian meeting in London in 1738 that John Wesley’s conversion moved beyond the purely practical and theoretical to a deeper understanding. Whilst listening to a reading of the preface to Luther’s commentary on Romans, Wesley felt his heart “strangely warmed”; shortly after this, he preached several enlightened sermons on salvation by faith, and God’s grace “free in all, and free for all.”
Soon after this, he took to preaching at open-air services, wherever he was invited. On 29 February 1784, Wesley issued a “Deed of Declaration” which acted as a charter of the Wesleyan Methodists, and which was the document by the Methodist societies became legally constituted.
Although Wesley died on 2 March 1791, many follow Wesley’s teachings today. He continues to be the primary theological interpreter for Methodists the world over; the largest Wesleyan body being The United Methodist Church.
World History
Friday, February 29, 1952. : The island of Heligoland is returned to German authority.
Heligoland is a small, triangular-shaped island in the North Sea, belonging to Germany. Situated 70 km from the German coast line, Heligoland actually consists of two islands: the populated 1.0 km² main island of Hauptinsel to the west and the Düne (“dune”) to the east, which is somewhat smaller at 0.7 km². The two islands were connected until 1720, when a storm flood washed away the land connecting them.
The islands became a major naval base for Germany during the First World War, and the civil population was evacuated to the mainland. The islanders returned in 1918, but during the Nazi era the naval base was reactivated. The civilians remained, but in April 1945, over one thousand Allied bombers attacked Heligoland and obliterated all dwellings. 128 people, all members of anti-aircraft crews, were killed, whilst the civilians remained protected in rock shelters. The civilian population was evacuated the next day, and the islands remained uninhabited for many years.
From 1945 to 1952 the islands were used as a bombing range, and in April 1947, the Royal Navy detonated 6800 tons of explosives in a concerted attempt to destroy the main island. The military installations were destroyed, but most of the island remained. On 29 February 1952, the islands were restored to the German authorities. After clearing a huge amount of undetonated ammunition, the German authorities redeveloped Heligoland as a holiday resort.