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 1786 Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro premiered in Wien.
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On this day in 1803 the United States purchased the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million, more than doubling the size of the young nation.
Happy 90th birthday to French ballerina and actress Zizi Jeanmaire.
On this day in 1965 Barbra Streisand starred in the My Name is Barbra special on CBS.
On this day in 1989 the musical Starmites opened at the Criterion Theater in New York for 60 performances.
On this day in 1886 Sigmund Freud opened his practice at Rathausstrasse 7, Vienna.
On this day in 1184 BC (according to tradition) the Greeks entered Troy using the Trojan Horse.
On this day in 1961, Judy Garland sang a legendary concert at Carnegie Hall that has been called “the greatest night in show business history.”
Happy 80th birthday mezzo-soprano Fiorenza Cossotto!
On this day in 753 BC, according to tradition, Romulus and Remus founded Rome.
On this day in 1611: the first documented performance of Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth at the Globe Theatre.
On this day in 1927 Mae West was sentenced to ten days in jail for obscenity for her play Sex.
On this day in 1955 the legendary flop musical Ankles Aweigh opened at the Mark Hellinger Theater.
On this day in 1912, Al Jolson‘s recording of “Ragging the Baby to Sleep” was released.
On this day in 1959 A Party with Comden and Green opened at the John Golden Theater.
Born on this day in 1684 Catherine I of Russia.
On this day in 1960 Bye Bye Birdie opened at the Martin Beck Theater, to run 607 performances.
On this day in 1957 the musical Shinbone Alley opened at Broadway Theater for a run of 49 performances.
On this day in 1967 the musical Ilya Darling opened at the Mark Hellinger Theater.
On this day in 1849 the safety pin was patented by Walter Hunt, who sold the right to his invention for $400.
On this day in 1928, the play Diamond Lil, written by and starring Mae West, opened at the Royale Theater in New York City.
On this day in 1876 Amilcare Ponchielli‘s opera La Gioconda [from which our doyenne derived her nom de plume] premiered in Milan.
On this day in 397 the wearing of Barbarian clothing in the City of Rome was banned by the Emperor Honorius.
On this day in 1808 John Jacob Astor incorporated the American Fur Company.
