Monday, March 1, 2010

Birhday* (for Birthday*)

Today marks the official 200th birthday of composer Frederic Chopin. Chopin’s birthday is an interesting one because no one quite knows the actual date. A registry in Poland recorded his birth on February 22, 1810, but the composer himself always claimed March 1st.

His personal life was equally uncertain, with numerous affairs possibly invented through gossip to compete with the chaotic love life of rival composer Franz Liszt.

Our music pun today comes courtesy of my pianist friend Amanda, who used to go to the grocery store with all the ingredients she needed written out on her Chopin Liszt.

Since I’m sure that’s enough “entertainment” for today, I’ll finish off by letting you know that the typo birhday has 29 hits in WorldCat, but only 2 in OhioLINK.

Leanne Olson

(Painting of Chopin by Eugène Delacroix from the Allmusic Blog)

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