On this Day... January 27

CEBU, Philippines – In 1756, musical prodigy Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born. At four, he said to have heard his first symphony and transcribed the complete score from memory. At five, he was composing the first of over 600 works and was soon performing in the royal courts of Europe. At six, he played for Marie Antoinette, the ill-fated future queen of France. He was a frail child, and his work so wearied him that he fainted. Princess Marie rushed over and picked him up; the little boy declared she was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen - and proposed on the spot!

• In 1901, the charitable Italian composer Verdi died of a massive brain hemorrhage. Shortly before his death, he was asked by a journalist which of all his works he liked the best. His best work, he replied, was the home for retired musicians he'd founded in Milan!

- from Today's the Day! By Jeremy Beadle

In Christian history

• In 1842, Scottish pastor Robert Murray McCheyne exhorts in a letter, "Call upon the name of the Lord. Your time may be short, God only knows. The longest lifetime is short enough. It is all that is given you to be converted in. They are the happiest who are brought soonest to the bosom of Jesus."

- from This Day in Christian History By William D. Blake

In the Philippines

• In 1867, Juan Crisostomo Soto, journalist, poet, playwright and known as the Father of Pampanga Literature, was born in Santa Ines, Bacolor, Pampanga. Soto, under the pen name of Crissot, wrote a number of lyrical poems, historical dramas, humorous plays and philosophical essays, and "sarsuwelas," the most famous of which is "'Alang Dios" or "There is no God" (1901).

- kahimyang.info

In Cebu

• In1845, a decree of the Bishop confirmed the establishment of Liloan, Cebu, as a parish.

• In 1946, President Sergio Osmeña Sr. called the Philippine Congress to its first session after World War II.

- from Cebuano Studies Center, University of San Carlos