1813

Events in 1813 9

• 1813 – 1879 Charles-Valentin Alkan (1813-1879) Died 29 March 1879, aged 65 Charles-Valentin Alkan was a French composer and virtuoso pianist known for technically demanding and harmonically adventurous piano works. A contemporary of Chopin and Liszt, he lived much of his later life as a recluse in Paris. His music was largely neglected after his death but was revived by pianists in the 20th century.
• 1813 – 1873 David Livingstone (1813-1873) Died 1 May 1873, aged 60 The Scottish missionary and explorer died of malaria and internal bleeding at Chitambo, in present-day Zambia, while searching for the source of the Nile. His African attendants buried his heart locally and carried his preserved body over a thousand miles to the coast for return to Britain. He was buried in Westminster Abbey.
• 1813 – 1863 Friedrich Hebbel (1813-1863) Died 13 December 1863, aged 50 Hebbel was a German poet and dramatist whose tragedies, including Maria Magdalena and the Nibelungen trilogy, influenced the development of modern German drama. He worked much of his career in Vienna.
• 1813 – 1898 Henry Bessemer (1813-1898) Died 15 March 1898, aged 85 Henry Bessemer was an English engineer who invented the Bessemer process, the first inexpensive method for mass-producing steel from molten pig iron. His innovation underpinned the rapid industrial and railway expansion of the late 19th century. He died in London on 15 March 1898.
• 1813 – 1887 Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) Died 8 March 1887, aged 73 Henry Ward Beecher was an American Congregationalist minister and abolitionist known for his oratory and social reform advocacy, including support for the Underground Railroad. He was a prominent public figure in Brooklyn, New York, and a leading voice against slavery before the Civil War. His later life was marked by a highly publicized adultery scandal that damaged his reputation.
• 1813 – 1864 John Sedgwick (1813-1864) Died 9 May 1864, aged 50 Union Army general and corps commander popular with his troops, killed by a sniper at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House. He was the highest-ranking Union officer killed in the war to that point.
• 1813 – 1855 Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) Died 11 November 1855, aged 42 Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard died in Copenhagen shortly after collapsing in the street. His writings on faith, anxiety, and individual choice laid the groundwork for existentialist philosophy. Much of his work was published under pseudonyms during his lifetime.
• 1813 – 1883 Richard Wagner Romantic opera revolutionary German composer who transformed opera into Gesamtkunstwerk — total art work. His Ring Cycle, Tristan und Isolde and Parsifal redefined music and drama.
• 1813 – 1901 Giuseppe Verdi Italian opera master The dominant figure of Italian opera, whose works — Rigoletto, La Traviata, Otello, Falstaff — combine dramatic power with unforgettable melody.