Magnificent Musicians

Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky
Rachel
Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky was born in Votkinsk, Russia in 1840. When he was 19, he went to law school to become a lawyer. He did not want to be a lawyer, so he started studying music at the St. Petersburg Conservatory of Music with Anton Rubinstein. In 1866, he started teaching at the Moscow Conservatory of Music.
One of Tchaikovsky’s most famous works was the “Nutcracker Ballet”. He was not excited to compose this, so he wrote the first act and then went to the United States. Upon his return to Russia he completed the Nutcracker Ballet.
Tchaikovsky composed a lot of famous works. Some of them are “The Nutcracker Ballet”, “Swan Lake”, and “Beauty and the Beast”.

Terrible Tyrants

Peter the Great

By Rachel

Peter the Great was born in Moscow in 1672. When Peter’s father died, a man named Feodor succeeded him. Feodor died within a few years. Neither Peter nor his weak-minded brother, Ivan, was old enough to rule. His sister, Sophia, ruled Russia until Peter’s fans forced her off the throne and put him and Ivan on. Ivan’s weak-mindedness annoyed Peter, and after a short time, he became the sole ruler of Russia.

Russia was a very wealthy country with an abundance of minerals from the Ural Mountains. Despite all of Russia’s wealth, it did not satisfy Peter. He wanted a link to Europe and the easiest one to get was a trading route. Peter already had one of these, but no one had access to it during the cold months. He wanted a trading route on the black sea, which was owned by the Ottomans. Peter sent some of his units to capture one of the Ottomans trading ports. His mission was successful and he took over the town of Azov.

After this big event, Peter disguised himself as a normal citizen so he could see what Europe was doing. He spent a while learning all he could in Europe from museums and other sources. He also learned how they built war ships and how they made guns and weapons so that he could improve his own.

Peter the Great died in 1725. He was the first real “King” of Russia. He brought Russia wealth and happiness, so he was called “Peter the Great”. Peter accomplished many great things.

“Peter I, the Great.” World Book Encyclopedia. 1996
“Russian Expansion.” King Fisher History. 2nd Ed.

Magnificient Musicians

Domenico Scarlatti
By Rachel
Domenico Scarlatti was born in Naples, Italy in 1685 during the last few years of the baroque period. His father was a famous opera composer, so it is no surprise that he went in to music. He composed over 550 sonatas for the harpsichord, along with many Operas and cantatas. In 1719, Scarlatti moved to Portugal to teach the princess music. When she married a Spanish prince, he moved with her to Spain. Scarlatti was 72 when he died in 1757 in the country of Spain. Domenico Scarlatti was a great composer

Magnificient Musicians

Francois Couperin
By Rachel
Francois Couperin was born in Paris in 1668 during the baroque period. Most of his music was written for the harpsichord because it was the most popular instrument back then. He was the music teacher for the children of King Lois XIV. Couperin often performed for the royal court and the King of France at the palace Versailles. He died at age 65 in the year of 1733. Couperin was a great musician.

Hysteric History

The Salem Witch Trials
By Rachel

The Salem Witch Trials caused a lot of hysteria in Salem Town and Salem Village. Innocent people were accused of being witches every day. The jails were always full of innocent men, women, and even children.
The Salem Witch trials were a time in history when everyone was in hysterics. Many things contributed to this terrible event. Puritan culture was very strict at the time and girls were only to do their chores and never play and have fun. For Anne Putnam and her friends, this was very true.
They had fun listening to Anne’s servant Tituba tell them stories and show them future telling games. This was against the puritan laws. When the girls started going in to fits, they screamed out three names and Tituba was one of them. When she was tried for witch craft, she faked a confession saying she did it and that there were other witches in Salem. This is one of the reasons.
The witch hysteria was used by the church to control the people and get them to do what the church wanted. They said that if you did certain things, you wouldn’t fall ill.
When people did fall ill, mostly they blamed the Quakers. Quakers don’t go to church and puritans believed that that was a sin. Puritans never learned to accept the Quakers, and when someone fell ill, it was easiest to blame someone who no one liked, so Quakers were blamed for no reason.
The Salem witch trials caused a lot of hysteria and no one was safe from being accused. Innocent people were accused of being witches just because either they were not liked, or they had a low social standard. The Salem Witch trials condemned many people to death.

Amazing Art

Vermeer
By Rachel
Vermeer was born in Holland in 1632. Vermeer was known for painting simple objects, men and women playing piano, dancing or talking. Vermeer also made young women doing simple things like holding a picture. One of his most famous pictures is of a young woman reading a letter Vermeer lived in the baroque period. Surprisingly enough, even though Rembrandt Van Rijn and Vermeer never met, the two young men painted with the same style, they never met. Vermeer was 43 years old when he died on 1675. Vermeer was a great painter.

Catastrophic Colonies

Rhode Island
By Rachel
The Rhode Island colony was founded in 1636 by a man named Roger Williams. He was a prime minister for the Massachusetts colony, but he didn’t like the strict laws the Puritans had and if you didn’t follow the Puritan religion exactly, they through you out of the colony. Roger Williams and five of his followers tried to start a colony what he thought was outside the Plymouth colony’s boundaries, but when he found out that it wasn’t, Roger had to move again. They moved to what is now Rhode Island and purchased the land from the Indians. Once the colony was set up, many settlers started arriving. They came for religious freedom, and in 1644, Rhode Island gained a Royal Charter saying that it was its own colony.