Religiously, the population are both Christians and Muslims. For the Muslim inhabitants, the legacy is all the more remarkable given that they were not Arabized, unlike most other Syrians who like them were Islamized over the centuries but also adopted Arabic and shifted to an "Arab" ethnic identity.
Most people go on to assume that people in the Middle-East are Arab. While Arabic is the official language there are groups in "Arab" countries that have a clearly distinct culture. These Arameans are not Arab but have actually dwelled in Syria thousands of years before the Arabs came along. While a lot of them have turned to speak Arabic they retain the identity and the language which they use in church fellowship.
Juliana of the Netherlands
Juliana (Juliana Luise Emma Marie Wilhelmina van Oranje-Nassau; 30 April 1909 – 20 March 2004) was Queen of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, from her mother's abdication in 1948, to her own in 1980. She died of pneumonia caused by dementia on 20 March 2004, aged 94.
George Szell
George Szell (pronounced: “sell”) (7 June 1897 - 30 July 1970) was a conductor. He was born Hungarian and became a naturalized American. He is particularly remembered for his work with the Cleveland Orchestra which he made into one of the world’s finest orchestras.
George (originally “Georg”) Szell was born in Budapest, Hungary and grew up in Vienna, Austria. His music teachers included Mandyczewski, who had been a friend of Brahms, and Max Reger who taught him composition. He was an excellent pianist and was only 11 when he first performed in public, playing one of his own compositions. He started touring Europe. He was only 16 when he conducted the orchestra of the Vienna Court Opera (now the Vienna Philharmonic) and 17 when he appeared with the Berlin Philharmonic, both as pianist and conducting his own music.
Szell soon realized that what he wanted to do most was to conduct. He stopped composing, although he kept up his piano playing until the end of his life. Richard Strauss got him some work with the Berlin Staatsoper in 1915. He conducted in several German opera houses, including Darmstadt, Düsseldorf, again in Berlin from 1924-1929 and then Prague (1929-1937). He first conducted in the United States in 1930 with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. At this time he was better known as an opera conductor than as a conductor of orchestral concerts.
When World War II started in 1939 Szell was in the U.S. on his way to Europe after having toured Australia. He stayed in the U.S. and settled with his family in New York City. At first he earned a living as a teacher, but he soon began to get invitations to conduct. He conducted the NBC Symphony Orchestra in 1941. From 1942 he often conducted the Metropolitan Opera, and the following year he appeared with the New York Philharmonic. In 1946 he became a naturalized citizen of the United States.
In 1946 Szell got the job he was to keep for the rest of his life: Music Director of the Cleveland Orchestra. This orchestra had suffered because of the war and needed someone strong to turn it into a good orchestra. Szell agreed to do this so long as they always did exactly what he wanted.
Szell was a very strict conductor. In rehearsals he made them work very hard at every tiny detail. Like Toscanini, he was absolutely ruthless. If he thought that a musician had made some mistakes, that musician would be fired (lose his job). If anyone questioned what Szell was doing he would be fired. He even showed the cleaner the proper way to mop the floor.
By the end of the 1950s the Cleveland Orchestra had become famous for its precise playing. It had become one of the greatest orchestras in America and Europe. They toured in the U.S. and to Europe, the Soviet Union, Australia and Japan.
Szell’s strictness in his conducting was well known. He was, however, an excellent musician, and the members of the orchestra who managed to keep their jobs were delighted with the standard of their playing. They said that he praised them when they were good, and did not keep on rehearsing once the piece was perfect. Szell never showed off when conducting, he never made the music sound sentimental. Like Toscanini, he thought that a conductor should do exactly what the composer had written in the score, without adding his own personal feelings to the music. Some critics thought that his Mozart sounded a bit too lacking in feeling, but Szell said “I cannot pour chocolate sauce over asparagus”. He conducted music by the main central-European composers: Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schumann and Brahms, Bruckner, Mahler and Strauss. He also conducted some modern music, particularly by Dutilleux, Walton, Prokofiev, Hindemith and Bartók. He encouraged Pierre Boulez to conduct the Cleveland Orchestra.
After World War II Szell often conducted other famous orchestras, including the Concertgebouw Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic and at the Salzburg Festival.
Szell married Olga Band in 1920. They were divorced in 1926. In 1938 he married Helene Schultz Teltsch. Their marriage lasted until his death.
When Szell was not working he enjoyed cooking. He also liked driving cars. Although he could have been driven to his concerts by a chauffeur, he often preferred to drive his Cadillac himself.
He died in Cleveland, Ohio in 1970.
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie (1980);
Duncan Forbes of Culloden
Duncan Forbes (1644 - 1704) was a Scottish politician, and supporter of the House of Hanover.
He was born and educated in Inverness. His son (1685–1747) was also named "Duncan Forbes".
Coláiste an Phiarsaigh
Coláiste an Phiarsaigh is a secondary school in Glanmire, County Cork for boys and girls. It has pupils who arrive each day and those who sleep there. The school uses the Irish language and expects teachers and pupils to also use this language.
Annapurna I Main
Annapurna I Main is an mountain in the Himalayas, in Nepal. It is part of Annapurna Massif. Annapurna I is the 10th highest mountain in the world. In the native language, the word "Annapurna" means "full of food" or "goddess of the harvests". The first people to climb Annapurna were Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal, in 1950.
History of Vietnam
The history of Vietnam begins around 2,700 years ago. Successive dynasties based in China ruled Vietnam directly for most of the period from 207 BC until 938 when Vietnam regained its independence. Vietnam remained a tributary state to its larger neighbor China for much of its history but repelled invasions by the Chinese as well as three invasions by the Mongols between 1255 and 1285. Emperor Trần Nhân Tông later diplomatically submitted Vietnam to a tributary of the Yuan to avoid further conflicts. The independent period temporarily ended in the middle to late 19th century, when the country was colonized by France (see French Indochina). During World War II, Imperial Japan expelled the French to occupy Vietnam, though they retained French administrators during their occupation. After the war, France attempted to re-establish its colonial rule but ultimately failed in the First Indochina War. The Geneva Accords partitioned the country in two with a promise of democratic election to reunite the country.