Der 100. Psalm (The 100th Psalm), Op. 106, is a composition in four movements by Max Reger in D major for mixed choir and orchestra, a late Romantic setting of Psalm 100. Reger began composing the work in 1908 for the 350th anniversary of Jena University. It premiered simultaneously on 23 February 1910 in Chemnitz, conducted by the composer, and in Breslau, conducted by Georg Dohrn. Reger structured the text in four movements, as a choral symphony. He scored it for a choir of four to eight voices, a large symphony orchestra, and organ. Reger used late-Romantic features of harmony and dynamics, along with polyphony in the Baroque tradition. The last movement is a double fugue, with an instrumental cantus firmus of Luther's chorale "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott" as its climax. The biographer Eugen Segnitz considered the work unique in the sacred music of its period, with a convincing musical interpretation of the biblical text and manifold shades of emotion. Paul Hindemith wrote a trimmed adaption that helped to keep the work in the repertory, and organ versions were written to make the work accessible for smaller choirs. (Full article...)

Lei Jieqiong

• ... that US-educated sociologist Lei Jieqiong (pictured) served as vice-mayor of Beijing and taught at Peking University until the age of 100?
• ... that the Abatan River estuary in Bohol has one of the Philippines' most diverse mangrove forests?
• ... that modelling agent Cherry Marshall discovered Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in Britain?
• ... that the Record of the Year and Seasons of Jingchu shows how religious, calendrical, culinary, and entertainment changes led to a new canon of major Chinese holidays between the Han and Tang dynasties?
• ... that Mahani Teave is considered Easter Island's only classical musician?
• ... that local residents followed the cries of trapped passengers to find the crash site of West Wind Aviation Flight 280 and aid in rescue efforts?
• ... that Marcu Cercel, who ruled over Moldavia in 1600, was probably born to a Turkish Muslim apostate?
• ... that Facebook's Aquila solar-powered drone is intended to provide internet access to remote regions of Earth using no more electricity than three blow dryers?

Rob Cross

• A passenger train collides with a truck on a level crossing near Kroonstad, South Africa, killing 18 people and injuring more than 250 others.
• In darts, Rob Cross (pictured) wins the PDC World Championship on his debut.
• George Weah is elected President of Liberia.
• Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski pardons jailed ex-president Alberto Fujimori.
• Typhoon Tembin sweeps through the southern Philippines, killing more than 260 people.

January 9

Ernest Shackleton and team planting the flag

• 475 – Basiliscus became Byzantine Emperor after Zeno was forced to flee Constantinople.
• 1909 – Ernest Shackleton, leading the Nimrod Expedition, planted the British flag 97 nautical miles (180 km) from the South Pole (pictured), the furthest south anyone had ever reached at that time.
• 1917 – First World War: Troops of the British Empire defeated Ottoman forces at the Battle of Rafa on the Sinai–Palestine border in present-day Rafah.
• 1972 – The Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association lost to the Milwaukee Bucks, ending a 33-game winning streak, the longest of any team in American professional sports.
• 1996 – First Chechen War: Chechen separatists launched raids in the city of Kizlyar, Dagestan, which turned into a massive hostage crisis involving thousands of civilians.

Leonard Holliday (d. 1612) · Lady Randolph Churchill (b. 1854) · Makinti Napanangka (d. 2011)