Music History on December 23

"Hansel and Gretel"

1893 Opera "Hansel and Gretel" by Engelbert Humperdinck and his sister Adelheid Wette premieres in Weimar, conducted by Richard Strauss

"I Gioielli Della Madonna"

1911 Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari's opera "I Gioielli Della Madonna" premieres at the Kurfürstenoper in Berlin, Germany, sung in German as "Der Schmuck der Madonna"

"Very Good Eddie"

1915 Jerome Kern and Schuyler Greene's musical farce "Very Good Eddie" premieres at the Princess Theatre, NYC; runs for 341 performances

  • 1943 Engelbert Humperdinck's "Hansel & Gretel" becomes 1st complete opera to be telecast (WGRB, Schenectady, New York)

"Cinderella"

1948 "Cinderella" the first full-length ballet by Frederick Ashton with music by Sergei Prokofiev is first presented by Sadler's Wells Ballet at Covent Garden, London

"A Party with Betty Comden and Adolph Green"

1958 Musical revue "A Party with Betty Comden and Adolph Green" opens at John Golden Theatre, NYC; runs for 38 performances

Suite on Verses of Michelangelo Buonarroti

1974 Dmitri Shostakovich' son cycle "Suite on Verses of Michelangelo Buonarroti" premieres in Leningrad

  • 1974 Revival of Ray Henderson, B.G. DeSylva, and Lew Brown's musical "Good News" opens at St James Theater, NYC; runs for 16 performances

Cat Stevens Converts

1977 British singer-songwriter Cat Stevens formally converts to Islam, taking the name Yusuf Islam

  • 1990 Comedy "Lettice & Lovage" closes at Barrymore Theater, NYC after 284 performances