Saturday, February 13, 2010

This Day in History

1542 - Catharine Howard, queen of England/5th wife of Henry VIII, beheaded


Catherine Howard was Henry VIII's "rose without a thorn", becoming the fifth wife of Henry VIII she took the motto of "no other will but his". After less then two years of marriage, Catherine was found guilty of adultery and therefore charged with treason. She was taken to the Tower of London on February 10th and executed three days later.


1867 - Johann Strauss' "Blue Danube" waltz premieres in Vienna

 
The first few bars of "The Blue Danube" waltz, signed by Johann Strauss

The Blue Danube waltz was first played for a concert of the Wiener Männergesangsverein (Vienna Men's Choral Association). Even though this song is a loved and widely popular classical piece, it attracted only a lukewarm debut. After its apparent failure, Johann was quoted saying "The devil take the waltz, my only regret is for the coda—I wish that had been a success!"

7 comments:

Elspeth Futcher said...

Ah, Catherine Howard. Bless her, she was a young woman with a very little brain.

Charlotte said...

Did you read The King's Rose by Alisa Libby (released a year ago) ? I really liked it. :)

Dana said...

Oh very interesting... I've actually played the blue danube waltz, so very interesting to know!

Staci said...

Poor lady!!! I would like to travel back in time just to see why these woman wanted to marry him!!!

Carrie Callaghan said...

Thanks for the reminder! I'm reading Wolf Hall now and it's interesting to keep Henry VIII's later history in mind while Hilary Mantel examines the beginning of his run on the wife stable.

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MandyLee said...

I know why these women wanted to marry him, it meant you were the queen of England!