Johann Strauss II (born Vienna, October 25 1825; died Vienna June 3 1899) was an Austrian composer, conductor and violinist. His father, also called Johann, was also a very famous composer, and is now known as Johann Strauss I (or Johann Strauss Sr) while his eldest son is called Johann Strauss II (or Johann Strauss Jr). Strauss became very famous for his waltzes. He was known as the “King of the Waltz”. His most famous one was called "An der schönen, blauen Donau" (known in English as "The Blue Danube").
His father wanted him to go in for banking, but the young Johann took violin lessons in secret from a man called Franz Amon who was the leader of his father’s orchestra. He continued his violin studies with Anton Kohlmann, a violinist who helped ballet dancers to learn the music they had to dance to. He was still only 18 when he got his own orchestra together and gave his own concert which included six of his own waltzes and some of his father’s. He was soon becoming more famous than his father.
After his father died in 1849 the two orchestras joined into one and the young Johann was their conductor. He was given the title “k.k.Hofballmusikdirektor” (meaning; Musical Director of the Court Ball). He was always especially busy during Carnival time when there were lots of balls in Vienna. He toured most of Europe with his orchestra, even going to Russia where he conducted some music by Tchaikovsky. Johann Strauss II was becoming the “king of the waltz”, the most famous musician in Austria.
Johann Strauss II wrote two operas: "Die Fledermaus" ("The Bat") and "Zigeunerbaron" ("Gypsy Baron"). They are full of fun: lively music and jokes which can sometimes be made different in each performance: the singers can put in their own jokes about modern times. Sometimes they are called operettas because they are so light-hearted. They are a mixture of Hungarian and Viennese atmosphere.
Together with his brothers Josef and Eduard, Johann had complete control of the balls and concerts in the houses of the rich people in Vienna. Wherever he went he was surrounded by lots of admirers. His waltzes are still as popular as ever, and millions of people in different countries hear them on television on New Year's Day when they are played by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra at their traditional New Year’s Day concert.
Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
The Speaker of the United States House of Representatives is the head of the United States House of Representatives. The Speaker is elected by the current members of the House. The person with the most votes becomes Speaker. The current Speaker is Democrat Nancy Pelosi of California.
The Speaker has always been a member of the majority party (the party with the most members) but does not have to be an elected member of the House (this has not happened yet). The job of the Speaker is to keep the House in order and to assign committee memberships and chairmanships. It is an important and powerful position in government.
Sam Rayburn is the only person to have served as Speaker of the House for more than ten years.
Theodore M. Pomeroy served as Speaker of the House for one day after Speaker Schuyler Colfax resigned to become Vice President of the United States; Pomeroy's term as a Member of Congress ended the next day.
Sam Rayburn, Henry Clay, Thomas Brackett Reed, Joseph William Martin, Jr., Frederick Muhlenberg, John W. Taylor, and Nancy Pelosi are the only Speakers of the House to have ever served in non-consecutive Congresses (i.e. another Speaker served in between each tenure).
The Speaker of the House is third in line for the Presidency of the United States. If the President of the United States dies or steps down, the Vice President of the United States becomes President. If there is no vice president, the Speaker of the House automatically becomes acting president.
It includes the congressional district and political affiliation of each speaker as well as the number of their Congress and time they spent in the position.
Since Nancy Pelosi became Speaker on January 3, 2019 there are four former living speakers.
Zatch Bell!
Zatch Bell! is an animated television series, anime, and manga. The series is about a teenage boy, named Kiyo, who found this boy named "Zatch". Zatch is actually a "Mamodo". He came from the "Mamodo World" where hundreds of other Mamodos came from. However, another Mamodo, named Zeno, somehow erased Zatch's memory. Zatch can not remember anything of his past in the Mamodo World. The reason why all the Mamodos are in the real world is to battle. When one enters the world, they must find a human to be their partner and to use a book of spells that came with them. Only humans can read the spells and cause the Mamodo to do a certain action. Examples of these spells would be to create a lightning bolt, create a shield, or move very fast. As a person becomes stronger physically and emotionally new spells are written into the book so that the human can read and use them.
By burning the book, the Mamodo gets sent back to the Mamodo World. If the Mamodo gets badly beaten, he will also be sent away. The last Mamodo standing will be 'King' of the Mamodos. Zatch decides that he wants to be a "Belovelent King" or "Kind King" to stop all the battles. In their adventure, they come across many enemies and allies.
Zatch Bell is main character of this story.
Kiyo Takamine is another main character of this story. He is the partner of Zatch Bell. And he is very cool.
Tia is one of Zatch's friends.
Megumi is one of Kiyo's friends. She is the partner of Tia. And she is a famous Japanese idol.
Zofis is one of main antagonists. He is evil genius. He likes manipulate others.
Koko is the partner of Zofis.
Harmonic series (music)
Harmonics in music are notes which are produced in a special way. They are notes which are produced as part of the “harmonic series”.
In physics, a harmonic is a wave which is added to the basic fundamental wave. This article talks about sound waves, which can be understood clearly by looking at the strings of a musical instrument.
When a violinist plays a note on a violin string, the string starts to vibrate very fast. This vibration makes the air vibrate and the sound waves travel to our ear so that we can hear it. If the note were absolutely pure the string would move in a perfect sinusoidal shape and produce only one frequency, but instead there are multiple frequencies being produced at the same time along with the main one. The note played on the violin string makes the string vibrate in a very complicated way. There is the basic note (the fundamental), but added to that are lots of other little notes that all add up to a sound in a special way that tells us that it is a violin playing and not a clarinet or a human voice.
The higher the note, the faster the string vibrates. An A above middle C (the violinist’s A string) vibrates at 440Hz (440 times per second). This is the “fundamental” or “first harmonic”. The second harmonic vibrates twice as fast (ratio 2:1): 880Hz. This gives an A an octave higher. The third harmonic will give a ratio 3:2. This will be an E (an octave and a fifth above the fundamental). The higher the harmonic the quieter it is, but the ratio is always a whole number (not a fraction).