THE ULTIMATE
On this day, 8th May 1945, Victory in Europe was celebrated!
Nazi generals had been to offer the German surrender to the US leader of Allied forces in Europe, General Eisenhower, at Reims in France the day before. The Soviet Red Army had fought from the East to Berlin, and their Western Allies were progressing from the West towards Berlin following D-Day in 1944. On 8th May, official documents were signed in Berlin, by Hitler's successor, that all German forces would cease aggression at midnight on 8th May. Celebrations were held across the Western World, especially in the UK and the USA. Street parties occurred across the UK, with a mass gathering in London's Trafalgar Square down to Buckingham Palace. King George VI and Queen Elizabeth addressed the crowds, in the city they refused to leave, along with the wartime Prime Minister, Winston Churchill. Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret, begged to join the crowds, and did so secretly, Princess Elizabeth, later Queen Elizabeth II, had joined the war effort as an ambulance driver. In the USA the celbrations focused upon New York's Times Square, with President Truman, dedicating the victory on his 61st Birthday to the former wartime President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, FDR. Both Churchill and Truman recognised that the victory was only half won, as the Allies were still at war with Imperial Japan in the Pacific. The Russians celebrate VE Day on the 9th May, due to the time difference.
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On this day, 7th May 1840, Russian composer Pyotyr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born.
Tchaikovsky originally trained to become a Civil Servant, took music classes in St. Petersberg, and joined the newly opened St. Petersberg Conservatory. Here he learned the Western musical style, that he was able to mix with his native Russian musical culture that he knew since childhood. The result of this merging of cultures was compositions such as the 1812 Overture, Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, The Nutcracker Suite including the Dance of the Sugar PLum Fairy and Romeo & Juliet. Thus, symphonies, overtures, operas and ballets were all in his repertoire, Tchaikovsky's personal life as been the subject of censorship by Soviet and Russian governments, due to his homosexuality. Tchaikovsky found fame both internationally, being a guest conductor in Europe and the United States, and at home being honoured by Tsar Alexnder III. So much so, So much so, he is seen as the first Russian composer to gain international recognition. |
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