... that the majority of the more than 90 stage works composed by Thomas Arne(pictured) are now lost, probably destroyed in the disastrous fire at
Covent Garden in 1808?
... that a
riot erupted at the opening night of Adelia, an
opera by
Gaetano Donizetti(pictured), because an unscrupulous promoter sold too many tickets?
...that Europa riconosciuta by
Antonio Salieri(pictured) was first performed at the opening of
La Scala in 1778 and was not performed again for more than two hundred years?
...that Antonio Bagioli, musical director for one of the first Italian
opera companies to tour the United States, stayed behind for love, rather than continuing on to
Cuba?
... that composer Egidio Duni(pictured) was particularly influential in creating a new genre of
opera which blended
Italian opera elements with traditional
French ones?
... that the musical play Are You There? was widely promoted because of its score by
Ruggero Leoncavallo (best known for his opera Pagliacci), but the first-night audience were incensed when it turned out to have very little music?
... that opera singer Rosemary Kuhlmann was an assistant to the international vice-president of
PepsiCo for 16 years from the age of 56, despite intending to stay for only four months?
... that
sopranoAdele Addison(pictured) stepped into the role of Bess in the 1969 film version of
Gershwin's Porgy and Bess as a last-minute replacement of a singer who sounded too shrill?
... that
lyric tenorEvan Gorga, who created the role of Rodolfo in the original production of
Giacomo Puccini's opera La bohème, reprised the role in several productions, then retired at the age of 34?
... that
Isaac Albéniz's
operaPepita Jiménez has been adapted several times by numerous people into different constructs and languages?
... that the first performance of
Glinka's opera A Life for the Tsar (
1836) was conducted by Catterino Cavos, who composed an opera on the same subject 20 years before Glinka?
...that in the late 1860s, the
sopranoEuphrosyne Parepa-Rosa(pictured) and her husband
Carl Rosa founded the Parepa-Rosa English Opera Company, which introduced
opera to places in the
United States that had never staged it before?
...that the
Pyne and Harrison Opera Company paid composer
William Vincent Wallace only 10
shillings for the rights to his opera Lurline and later made
£50,000 from its performances?
...that following the London premiere of Fabio Campana's opera Esmeralda in 1870 (
Adelina Patti pictured in the title role), The Saturday Review pronounced it "irredeemably bad"?"
...that music from Joaquin Turina's opera Margot(libretto cover pictured) about a Parisian courtesan has become a popular piece during the processions of
Holy Week in Seville?
...that Bernardo De Pace{pictured), an Italian immigrant, started his own opera company and eventually performed at the
Metropolitan Opera in New York?
...that
Otar Taktakishvili's opera Mindia was based on Vazha-Pshavela's epic poem The Snake-eater and premiered in 1961, the centenary of the poet's birth?"
...that Ernst Christoph Dressler(pictured), an 18th-century operatic tenor, violinist, composer, and music theorist, composed a march on which Beethoven based his earliest published work?
... that the majority of the more than 90 stage works composed by Thomas Arne(pictured) are now lost, probably destroyed in the disastrous fire at
Covent Garden in 1808?
... that a
riot erupted at the opening night of Adelia, an
opera by
Gaetano Donizetti(pictured), because an unscrupulous promoter sold too many tickets?
...that Europa riconosciuta by
Antonio Salieri(pictured) was first performed at the opening of
La Scala in 1778 and was not performed again for more than two hundred years?
...that Antonio Bagioli, musical director for one of the first Italian
opera companies to tour the United States, stayed behind for love, rather than continuing on to
Cuba?
... that composer Egidio Duni(pictured) was particularly influential in creating a new genre of
opera which blended
Italian opera elements with traditional
French ones?
... that the musical play Are You There? was widely promoted because of its score by
Ruggero Leoncavallo (best known for his opera Pagliacci), but the first-night audience were incensed when it turned out to have very little music?
... that opera singer Rosemary Kuhlmann was an assistant to the international vice-president of
PepsiCo for 16 years from the age of 56, despite intending to stay for only four months?
... that
sopranoAdele Addison(pictured) stepped into the role of Bess in the 1969 film version of
Gershwin's Porgy and Bess as a last-minute replacement of a singer who sounded too shrill?
... that
lyric tenorEvan Gorga, who created the role of Rodolfo in the original production of
Giacomo Puccini's opera La bohème, reprised the role in several productions, then retired at the age of 34?
... that
Isaac Albéniz's
operaPepita Jiménez has been adapted several times by numerous people into different constructs and languages?
... that the first performance of
Glinka's opera A Life for the Tsar (
1836) was conducted by Catterino Cavos, who composed an opera on the same subject 20 years before Glinka?
...that in the late 1860s, the
sopranoEuphrosyne Parepa-Rosa(pictured) and her husband
Carl Rosa founded the Parepa-Rosa English Opera Company, which introduced
opera to places in the
United States that had never staged it before?
...that the
Pyne and Harrison Opera Company paid composer
William Vincent Wallace only 10
shillings for the rights to his opera Lurline and later made
£50,000 from its performances?
...that following the London premiere of Fabio Campana's opera Esmeralda in 1870 (
Adelina Patti pictured in the title role), The Saturday Review pronounced it "irredeemably bad"?"
...that music from Joaquin Turina's opera Margot(libretto cover pictured) about a Parisian courtesan has become a popular piece during the processions of
Holy Week in Seville?
...that Bernardo De Pace{pictured), an Italian immigrant, started his own opera company and eventually performed at the
Metropolitan Opera in New York?
...that
Otar Taktakishvili's opera Mindia was based on Vazha-Pshavela's epic poem The Snake-eater and premiered in 1961, the centenary of the poet's birth?"
...that Ernst Christoph Dressler(pictured), an 18th-century operatic tenor, violinist, composer, and music theorist, composed a march on which Beethoven based his earliest published work?