1743 - Can't get much better than this, The London Symphony Orchestra, plus Susan Gritton, Sara Mingardo, Mark Padmore, Alastair Miles and the Tenebrae choir, conducted by Sir Colin Davis, as they perform the version of Handel's Messiah as it was performed for the first time on this day in London two and a half centuries ago.
1792 - And speaking of symphonies, Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 94 in G Major was performed publicly for the first time, again in London, 219 years ago. The Symphony is the second of the twelve so-called London symphonies (numbers 93-104) written by Joseph Haydn. It is usually called by its nickname, the 'Surprise Symphony', although in German it is more often referred to as the Symphony "mit dem Paukenschlag" ("with the kettledrum stroke"). Haydn wrote the symphony in 1791 in London for a concert series he gave during the first of his visits to England between 1791 and 1792. The premiere took place at the Hanover Square Rooms in London on March 23, 1792, with Haydn leading the orchestra seated at a fortepiano.
1961 - From some of the best symphonies to Elvis. Falling In Love was one of Elvis's biggest hits, written by George Weiss, Hugo Peretti, and Luigi Creatore for the movie, Blue Hawaii. The song is based on the classical French composition Plaisir dAmour by Giovanni Martini. Elvis recorded it on March 23, 1961 at Radio Recorders. Take #29 was released as the single. The song had a 14-week stay on Billboards Hot 100 chart, peaking at #2. It was #1 on the Easy-Listening chart for 6 weeks, and it was #1 in England for 4 weeks. It was the A-side to Rock-a-Hula Baby. This song would be a standard in Elvis's concerts.
1963 - Just check out the pants, the striped shirts, the dancers, the choreography...perfectly cool, bro...and how young the Beach Boys are right here, for their very first syndicated TV show, The Red Skelton Show, as the group promote their new single, Surfin' USA, released almost half a century ago today.
1964 - Today was the day John Lennon's first book, In His Own Write was published, and here's a special promotion, audio by the Beatles, video by the Beatles, and back announced by Dudley Moore...and Peter Cooke drops in for a nano second.
This was the day in '73 that Yoko Ono was granted permission to live in the U.S. permanently, and it was just five years to the day prior to The Police signing their first record deal on A&M Records...a few years later, again on the same day in 1985, Julian Lennon held his first concert in San Antonio, Texas, and on the same day two years after that The Soul Train Music Awards debuted. It was the first televised awards ceremony to pay exclusive homage to black producers, songwriters and recording artists in the music industry...Mick Jagger had a go at going solo on the same day in 1988, in Japan. That is he is still with the Rolling Stones, I think shows, he wasn't so brilliant on his own...On March 23 11 years later, Michael Jackson announced that he would donate the proceeds from his next two concerts to the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund and the Red Cross, something which he followed through on, as he did with many other charity donations during his career...and speaking of religion, at the turn of the century, on this day in 1999, Pope John Paul II entered the pop music business with his debut album, Abba Pater being released. The 11 tracks consisted of chanting and praying with musical accompaniment. Check it out, excerpts of John Paul II reciting Psalm 27, photos of Karol Wojtyla's life before his elevation to the papacy, background music by Leonard de Amicis.
1999 - In Gibraltar, a set of postage stamps was released commemorating what would have been the 30th wedding anniversary of Yoko Ono and John Lennon's wedding at the rock. And here is Australian music television pioneer Dick Williams giving us a flash look at the couple's wedding album...followed by the song The Ballad of John and Yoko.
