Wikipedia:Main Page history/2021 December 25b

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From today's featured article

Beethoven with the manuscript of the Missa solemnis by Joseph Karl Stieler

Portrait of Beethoven by Joseph Karl Stieler

The Piano Sonata No. 31 in A-flat major, Op. 110, by Ludwig van Beethoven (pictured) was published in 1822; the autograph score bears the date 25 December 1821. Though the sonata was commissioned in 1820, Beethoven did not begin work on Op. 110 until the latter half of 1821 due to factors such as his work on the Missa solemnis and his deteriorating health. The piece is in three movements. The Moderato first movement follows a typical sonata form with an expressive and cantabile opening theme. The Allegro second movement begins with a terse but humorous scherzo, which Martin Cooper believes is based on two folk songs, followed by a trio section. The last movement comprises multiple contrasting sections: a slow introductory recitative, an arioso dolente, a fugue, a return of the arioso, and a second fugue that builds to a passionate and heroic conclusion. The sonata has been recorded by pianists such as Artur Schnabel, Glenn Gould, and Alfred Brendel. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Adoration of the Kings, detail

... that there is some uncertainty as to which figures in Bramantino's Adoration of the Kings represent the Three Kings?
... that the Christmas Special Honda minibike, which struggled to sell upon release in 1986, is now worth nearly $10,000 as a collector's item?
... that the song "Meri Kuri" by BoA has been dubbed Japan's "All I Want for Christmas Is You"?
... that in 1897, Francis Pharcellus Church wrote "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus"?
... that "Brich an, du schönes Morgenlicht" (Break, you beautiful morning light) tells the shepherds in Bach's Christmas Oratorio not to be afraid?
... that a Christmas gift on The West Wing's "Bartlet for America", a napkin bearing the episode's slogan, was replicated for Jacky Rosen's U.S. Senate campaign?
... that the creation of the traditional Valtellina Christmas sweet bread bisciola is credited to Napoleon, even though he was never in the region?
... that New Yorkers could at one time rely on thrice-weekly visits from Santa Claus—though not over Christmas?

In the news

An illustration of the James Webb Space Telescope

Ariane flight VA256, carrying the James Webb Space Telescope (depicted), is launched from the Guiana Space Centre.
A ferry fire in Bangladesh kills at least 40 people.
Floods in Malaysia leave at least 46 people dead and displace more than 68,000 others.
At least 85 people are killed in a shipwreck off the coast of Madagascar.
Gabriel Boric, leader of Apruebo Dignidad, is elected President of Chile.

On this day

December 25: Christmas (Western Christianity; Gregorian calendar); Quaid-e-Azam Day in Pakistan

Mikhail Gorbachev

1046 – Henry III was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Clement II.
1831 – A Baptist preacher named Samuel Sharpe began an unsuccessful eleven-day slave revolt in Jamaica.
1927 – The Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng, a revolutionary socialist political party that sought Vietnamese independence from French colonial rule, was formed in Hanoi.
1941 – Second World War: The Japanese occupation of Hong Kong began when Mark Aitchison Young, the Governor of Hong Kong, surrendered the territory to Japan after 18 days of fierce fighting.
1991 – In a nationally televised speech, Mikhail Gorbachev (pictured) resigned as President of the Soviet Union.

Dorothy Wordsworth (b. 1771)
Young Tom Morris (d. 1875)
Sadiq al-Mahdi (b. 1935)

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Today's featured picture

The Melun Diptych is a two-panel oil painting by the French court painter Jean Fouquet (c. 1420–1481) created around 1452. The name of the diptych came from its original home in the Collegiate Church of Notre-Dame in Melun. The left panel depicts Étienne Chevalier with his patron saint Saint Stephen and the right panel, seen here, depicts the Virgin and Christ child. The Madonna wears a blue dress, white mantle and a jewel-encrusted crown. On her lap sits the Christ child, who is making a pointing gesture at the patron and the saint. The two are surrounded by blue and red cherubim, which greatly contrast with the pale skin of the Virgin and Christ child.

Painting credit: Jean Fouquet

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