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Books by Bill Wall |
In 1767, Thomas Hyde's (1636-1702) books on chess history, De ludis orientalibus, first printed in 1694 in Latin, was reprinted in Oxford as a second volume of Hyde's collected works. On March 15, 1767. Andrew Jackson (1767-1845) was born. He played chess against the Turk chess automaton. Jackson was described as an excellent chess player. He would sometimes observe his houseguests play chess and frequently directed the moves for one side or the other. Jackson had a chess set at his home in The Hermitage in Nashville and played chess with guests. (source: The American Lion , by John Meacham, 2008, p. 37.) On July 11, 1767, John Quincy Adams (1767-1848) was born. He was a chess player and collected chess sets. In 1767, the first instance of the term en passant was used in The Popular Educator, page 64. It describes the move as "this is called 'taking the Pawn en passant,'" or in passing. In 1767, Philidor composed the music to Ernelinde, princesse de Norvege (Ernelinde, Princess of Norway), a three-act operatic tragedie lyrique. The text written by Henri Poinsinet. It was Philidor's first tragic opera. It first appeared at the Academie Royale de Musique, Theatre des Tuileries on January 10, 1768. It later premiered in Brussels in 1772 and at Versailles in 1773. His opera was performed for 8 successive nights and 18 performances overall before it finally closed in January 24, 1768. King Louis XV privately rewarded Philidor with a 25 Louis d'or (gold coins). On opening night of Ernelinde, the Duke of Chartres, who was present, bet a friend 100 Louis that the opera would not reach 20 presentations. He won his bet. In 1767, Andre Gretry (1741-1813), a composer of opera comiques, moved to Paris and became friends with Philidor. Gretry and Philidor worked together and wrote the music for the opera comique Le Jardinier de Sidon(The Gardener of Sidon) in 1768. It first premiered at the Comedie-Italienne, Hotel de Bourgogne, in Paris, on July 18, 1768. Gretry later became known as 'the Moliere of music.' In December 1767, Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote a letter mentioning that he wished Monsieur du Peyrou was as good a chess player as his former English host was.
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Bill Wall
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