WindyCityOperaman
Dan Soda (Windy City Operaman) is a Chicago native whose first visit to opera was at age 17 and Massenet’s Werther with Troyanos and Kraus. Nothing was ever the same. Opera and concert performances, recordings and video are an obsession. He prepares Parterre Box’s daily birthday and anniversary tributes. He also enjoys concerts, live theater and movies.
On this day in 1861 Friedrich Hebbel’s Siegfrieds Tod premiered in Weimar.
On this day in 1661, Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, was ritually executed after having been dead for two years.
On this day in 1781 Mozart’s Idomeneo premiered in Munich.
On this day in 1813 Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice was first published in the United Kingdom.
On this day in 1302 Dante Alighieri was exiled from Florence, where he served as one of six priors governing the city.
On this day in 1833 Gaetano Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia premiered in Milan.
On this day in 1533 Henry VIII of England secretly married his second wife Anne Boleyn.
On this day in 41 AD Roman Emperor Caligula was assassinated by his disgruntled Praetorian Guards, who then proclaimed Caligula’s uncle Claudius as Emperor.
Happy 82nd birthday to American actress, singer, and dancer Chita Rivera.
On this day in 1521 Emperor Charles V opened the Diet of Worms.
On this day in 1904 Leos Janacek‘s Jenufa premiered in Brno.
On this day in 1949 J. Edgar Hoover gave Shirley Temple a tear gas fountain pen.
On this day in 1829 Johann von Goethe‘s Faust, der Tragödie erster Teil received its premiere performance.
On this day in 1944, the Metropolitan Opera House hosted a jazz concert for the first time.
On this day in 1949, The Goldbergs, the first sitcom on American television, premiered.
On this day in 1947, actress Andrea Martin was born.
On this day in 1984 Madonna first sang “Holiday” on American Bandstand.
On this day in 1910, the first public radio broadcast took place: music from Cavalleria rusticana was sent out over the airwaves from the Metropolitan Opera House.
On this day in 475, Basiliscus became Byzantine Emperor, with a coronation ceremony in the Hebdomon palace in Constantinople.
On this day in 1055, Theodora was crowned Empress of the Byzantine Empire.
On this day in 49 BC Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon, signaling the start of civil war.
On this day in 2007, Apple Inc CEO Steve Jobs announced the iPhone.
On this day in 1735, the premiere performance of George Frideric Handel’s Ariodante was given at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
On this day in 1601, Robert, Earl of Essex, led a revolt in London against Queen Elizabeth.