Points for using actual violinists rather than electronic stand-ins, as is usually Nintendo’s way. Oboe is synthesized 🙁
October 3, 1863
By the President of the United States
A ProclamationThe year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God.
In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and provoke their aggressions, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict; while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.
Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.
No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.
It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American people. I do, therefore, invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a Day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that, while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation, and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United Stated States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington, this third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.
Abraham Lincoln
Hmmm… not sure whether it’s the peace doves or the Pegasus that make this so special. pic.twitter.com/wZWyHkZm9t
Sigh … we have a serious problem here. Check out that oboe. 🙁
So much to be thankful for …
I’m not sure why this says something about alcohol at the beginning … odd … but in any case, this guy is rather astounding!
OPERA singers, aspiring members of the cast for theatre production Madiba, The African Opera, turned up in their numbers to audition for the lead roles at the Pretoria State Theatre over the weekend, kickstarting the musical which gives a glimpse into the life of Nelson Mandela outside the political sphere.
The stage production will feature little-known stories from Madiba’s life, starting from just before he was born, and through his life as a young boy growing up in rural Transkei, into his political life, prison and thereafter.
It is the brainchild of his cousin, theatre artist Unathi Mtirara, who wrote the libretto based on the history garnered from Madiba himself, and from his home.
“There is so much of him out there, yet there are little-known aspects of his background, history and upbringing that influenced the person he became,” said Mtirara, who is from the Tembu royal house in which Mandela was raised.
A McDonald’s restaurant near Sydney, Australia, has been blasting opera and classical music in the late hours to deter teens from hanging out, according to video from geobeats.
Restaurant managers got the idea from nearby community who played Barry Manilow tunes to keep youths from hanging out at a car park.
“We’ve noticed a reduction in the number of young people hanging around, but we’ll have to reassess it properly in a couple of weeks,” one McDonald’s manager says.
Workers turn up the volume as the crowd gets bigger, geobeats says. One woman complained on social media that the loud music has woken her up as late as 1 a.m.
Thanks bunches, McDonald’s. Really.
When Wagner composed Die Meistersinger, the orchestra was playing a whole tone lower than today, so it was easier for a bass to sing.
-René Pape
Really? A whole tone?!
I read it here.
no. you know what i need?
i need a drumset, a piano and an oboe !
#nek (not even kidding)
Bringing my oboe out to play basketball so I can practice anywhere…. I must be insane
