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Today's featured article Play the "Berceuse" from Dolly The piano music of Gabriel Fauré is among his best known work. Written between the 1860s and the 1920s, Fauré's major sets of piano works are 13 nocturnes, 13 barcarolles, six impromptus and four valses-caprices. These sets display the change in his style, over the decades, from uncomplicated youthful charm to a final enigmatic but sometimes fiery introspection, by way of a turbulent period in his middle years. His other notable piano pieces, including shorter works, or collections composed or published as a set, are Romances sans paroles, Ballade in F♯ major, Mazurka in B♭ major, Thème et variations in C♯ major, and Huit pièces brèves. For piano duet, Fauré composed the Dolly Suite and, together with his friend and former pupil André Messager, an exuberant parody of Wagner in the short suite Souvenirs de Bayreuth. Much of the ambidextrous Fauré's piano music is difficult to play, but it is rarely virtuoso in style. The composer disliked showy display, and the predominant characteristic of his piano music is a classical restraint and understatement. (more...) Recently featured: The Red Badge of Courage – Trevor Linden – Big Butte Creek Did you know... From Wikipedia's newest content: ... that girih tiling patterns used by medieval Islamic artisans (example pictured) in some cases exhibited quasicrystalline tiling, five centuries before Penrose tilings were discovered in Europe? ... that Sangay, a stratovolcano in Ecuador nicknamed The Frightener in Quechua, has been continuously erupting since 1934? ... that after being a major part of Baku in most of the 19th and 20th centuries, the city's Armenian population almost completely disappeared due to a pogrom in 1990? ... that Cuban journalist Yndamiro Restano Díaz was reportedly released from prison at the request of Danielle Mitterand, the wife of the former President of France? ... that adult Megaphragma mymaripenne wasps are only 200 micrometres long, similar in size to single-celled organisms? ... that the Airedale Terrier Boxwood Barkentine won the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in his very first show as an adult? ... that the 1923 Michigan football team's undefeated season was saved when Edliff Slaughter executed what Fielding Yost called "the greatest play in football I ever saw"?

In the news The Artist wins seven awards, including Best Film, at the 65th British Academy Film Awards. American singer Whitney Houston (pictured) dies at the age of 48. Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón is banned from the legal profession for 11 years after being convicted of illegal wiretapping. Mohammed Waheed Hassan is sworn in as President of the Maldives following the resignation of Mohamed Nasheed. Queen Elizabeth II, the second-longest reigning British monarch, celebrates her Diamond Jubilee. On this day... February 13 1542 – Catherine Howard (pictured), the fifth wife of Henry VIII of England, was executed for adultery. 1867 – Work began on the covering of the Senne, burying the polluted main waterway in Brussels to allow urban renewal in the centre of the city. 1880 – American inventor Thomas Edison observed the Edison effect, which later formed the basis of vacuum tube diodes designed by English electrical engineer John Ambrose Fleming. 1970 – The English rock band Black Sabbath released their eponymous debut album, which is recognised as the first major album to be credited with the development of the heavy metal genre. 1981 – Sewer explosions caused by the ignition of hexane vapors destroyed more than two miles (3 km) of streets in Louisville, Kentucky, US. 2010 – A terrorist bombing at a bakery popular among foreigners in Pune, India, killed 17 people and injured 60 more. More anniversaries: February 12 – February 13 – February 14 It is now February 13, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page

Today's featured list The title of Best in Show at the Westminster Kennel Club has been awarded 104 times since 1907. If a dog wins the title on five occasions, the James Mortimer Memorial Silver Trophy is awarded permanently; otherwise, the winner receives a silver-plated replica. The most successful dog was the first to win the title, a Smooth Fox Terrier named Ch. Warren Remedy, who won it on three occasions. The Terrier Group has continued to be the most successful breed group, with terriers winning the title 45 times. Competition at Westminster was restricted to Champions only in 1992; before this, two dogs had won the title in their first American shows. The most recent winner is GCH Foxcliffe Hickory Wind in 2011, the first Scottish Deerhound to take the title and only the fifth member of the Hound Group. (more...)

Today's featured picture The Common Brushtail Possum (Trichosurus vulpecula) is the largest possum species and is perhaps the most widespread mammal in Australia. It grows to about 32–58 cm (13–23 in) in length, with an additional 24–40 cm (9–16 in) for its prehensile tail (seen here hanging below the branch). It is mainly a folivore, but has been known to eat small mammals such as rats. It is common in cities, having adapted well to human habitation. Photo: JJ Harrison Recently featured: King Kalākaua of Hawaii – Tramp – Dendropsophus microcephalus

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