On This Day

archive-post-image
Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro
Premiered Today in 1786
Empress Maria Theresa of Austria founded the “Burgtheater” in Vienna in 1741. In time, it became one of the most important German language theatres in the world, and it saw the premiere of three Mozart operas! On 1 May 1786,
Read more
archive-post-image
Berlioz: Te Deum
Premiered Today in 1855
On 30 April 1855, an ensemble of 950 performers piled into the Church of Saint-Eustache, in Paris. They were getting ready to finally premier a Berlioz work that had been specifically composed for the coronation of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte in
Read more
archive-post-image
Stravinsky: Apollon Musagète
Premiered Today in 1928
He was born Giorgi Melitonovitch Balandchivadze in Saint Petersburg in 1904, and he danced his way into the State Theater of Opera and Ballet, better known as the Mariinsky Ballet. After fleeing to Paris and westernizing his name to George
Read more
archive-post-image
Puccini: Turandot
Premiered Today in 1926
When Arturo Toscanini raised his arms at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan on 25 April 1926, he was getting ready for the premier of an unfinished opera. Turandot, the operatic adaptation of an originally 12th-century Persian epic filtered through
Read more
archive-post-image
Haydn: The Seasons
Premiered Today in 1801
The Swedish diplomat Fredrick Silverstolpe wrote in May 1800, “Haydn is writing with new zeal since he has had the good fortune to lose his nasty wife.” By most accounts, Frau Haydn was not a particularly pleasant woman, and her
Read more
archive-post-image
Dvořák: Symphony No. 7
Premiered Today in 1885
Czech music critics mercilessly criticized Antonin Dvořák for his supposed cosmopolitan musical tendencies. And as a result, he was performed and published less in Bohemia than in foreign lands. In stark contrast, Dvořák gained a particularly loyal following in England,
Read more
archive-post-image
Puccini: Edgar
Premiered Today in 1889
Here is the trivia question for today. Can you name the Puccini opera that the composer himself desperately wanted to forget? The answer is Edgar, and despite revising it repeatedly, Puccini eventually declared the work irredeemable. Edgar was Puccini’s second
Read more
archive-post-image
Ravel: Ma mère l’Oye
Premiered Today in 1910
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) loved children. Although he was not married and did not have children of his own, he always seemed to spend more time with children than with adults. In fact, he never outgrew his ability to see the
Read more