Tausend und eine Nacht

Tausend und eine Nacht (Thousand and One Nights), Op. 346 is a waltz composed by Johann Strauss II in 1871. The waltz's melodies were drawn from his first-ever operetta Indigo und die vierzig Räuber (Indigo and the Forty Thieves). It was his first attempt at ensuring that the more memorable melodies from the stage works would survive obscurity by finding new life as a new orchestral work, a practice which he would faithfully retain in future stage works. Such a move would also benefit sheet music publishers who can sell the piano editions of the new works to the public who can readily identify individual music pieces.

Nonetheless, the charming waltz was to incorporate the more popular numbers from the operetta itself, with the melody Ja, so singt man comprising the entire infectious first waltz section. The graceful second section was contributed from the Act 2 Bacchanal Lasst frei nun erschallen das Lied aus der Brust.

The waltz's dreamy introduction is played by a sonorous clarinet evoking a distinctive Arabian feel. The first waltz section is robust and energetic, with a Trio section of comparatively less-rigorous section. The famous second waltz section is a swirling waltz passage in C major, with a high-spirited fashion. The third waltz section is considerably gentler, with a fierce but exciting Coda or tail-piece. The first waltz theme makes a hesitant entry again, accelerating into its breathless and brilliant conclusion, with repeated chords, with a strong drumroll and brass flourish.

Ali

Ali ibn Abi Talib (/ˈɑːli, ɑːˈliː/;Arabic: علي بن أبي طالب‎, translit. ʿAlī bin Abī Ṭālib, Arabic pronunciation: [ʕaliː bɪn ʔabiː t̪ˤaːlɪb]; 13 Rajab, 21 BH – 21 Ramadan, 40 AH; 15 September 601 – 29 January 661) was the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, ruling over the Islamic caliphate from 656 to 661.

Born to Abu Talib and Fatima bint Asad, Ali was the only person born in the sacred sanctuary of the Kaaba in Mecca, the holiest place in Islam, as many sources, especially Shia ones say. Ali was the first young male who accepted Islam. After migrating to Medina, he married Muhammad's daughter Fatimah. Ali took part in the early caravan raids from Mecca and later in almost all the battles fought by the nascent Muslim community. He was appointed caliph by Muhammad's Companions (Sahaba) in 656, after caliph Uthman ibn Affan was assassinated. Ali's reign saw civil unrest and in 661, he was attacked and assassinated by a Kharijite while praying in the Great Mosque of Kufa, dying two days later.

Franz Tausend

Franz Seraph Tausend, "Der Goldmacher" (July 5, 1884 - July 9, 1942) was a 20th-century German alchemist.

Overview

A consummate social climber, manipulator, and schemer during the turbulent 1920s and 1930s, Tausend developed a process for extracting gold from base metals—a prospect of great interest to the then-fledgling Nazi party and a Germany staggering under runaway hyper inflation. The Nazis, through a number of Hitler's inner circle of friends introduced to Tausend, invested heavily in the project.

Unfortunately, the process was found to be economically unfeasible and quite possibly a sham, much to the chagrin of the Nazis' and their supporters' pocketbooks. Tausend had raised approximately half a million dollars (roughly $5.6 million in 2005 dollars) to fund five laboratories, one research institute and one mining operation; but most of the money went instead to fund extravagant lifestyles for the four main business partners. Many investors, including pensioners in his home village, lost their entire savings, while Tausend collected castles and country homes.

1001

Year 1001 (MI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. It is the first year of the 11th century and the 2nd millennium.

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By place

Asia

Johann Strauss II

Johann Strauss II (October 25, 1825 – June 3, 1899), also known as Johann Strauss, Jr., the Younger, the Son (German: Sohn), Johann Baptist Strauss, was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas. He composed over 500 waltzes, polkas, quadrilles, and other types of dance music, as well as several operettas and a ballet. In his lifetime, he was known as "The Waltz King", and was largely then responsible for the popularity of the waltz in Vienna during the 19th century.

Strauss had two younger brothers, Josef and Eduard Strauss, who became composers of light music as well, although they were never as well known as their elder brother. Some of Johann Strauss' most famous works include "The Blue Danube", "Kaiser-Walzer", "Tales from the Vienna Woods", and the "Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka". Among his operettas, Die Fledermaus and Der Zigeunerbaron are the best known.

Early life

Strauss was born in St Ulrich near Vienna (now a part of Neubau), Austria, on October 25, 1825, to the composer Johann Strauss I. His paternal great-grandfather was a Hungarian Jew – a fact which the Nazis, who lionised Strauss's music as "so German", later tried to conceal. His father did not want him to become a musician but rather a banker. Nevertheless, Strauss Junior studied the violin secretly as a child with the first violinist of his father's orchestra, Franz Amon. When his father discovered his son secretly practising on a violin one day, he gave him a severe whipping, saying that he was going to beat the music out of the boy. It seems that rather than trying to avoid a Strauss rivalry, the elder Strauss only wanted his son to escape the rigours of a musician's life. It was only when the father abandoned his family for a mistress, Emilie Trampusch, that the son was able to concentrate fully on a career as a composer with the support of his mother.