24/02/0303 - 1st official Roman edict for persecution of Christians issued 16/02/0374 - 9th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet 27/02/0837 - 15th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet 28/02/0870 - 8th Ecumenical council ends in Constantinople 02/02/1461 - 2nd battle of St Alban's-Lancastrian defeat Yorkists 24/02/1530 - 1st imperial coronation by a Pope, Charles V crowned by Clement V 10/02/1535 - 12 nude anabaptists run through Amsterdam streets 27/02/1557 - 1st Russian Embassy opens in London, Russia and US sign trade agreement 11/02/1573 - 1st European, Francis Drake sees the Pacific (from Panama) 05/02/1644 - 1st US livestock branding law passed, by Connecticut 05/01/1649 - Francesco Cavalli's opera "Giasone," premieres in Venice 06/02/1651 - -7] Cardinal Mazarin flees Paris 16/02/1659 - 1st known check (ś400) (on display at Westminster Abbey) 27/01/1662 - 1st American lime kiln begins operation (Providence RI) 13/07/1668 - Van Marco Cesti's opera "Il Pomo d'Oro," premieres in Vienna 20/02/1673 - 1st recorded wine auction held (London) 31/01/1679 - Jean-Baptiste Lully's opera "Bell‚rophon," premieres in Paris 31/12/1680 - Amsterdam opera at Leidsegracht opens 30/12/1689 - Henry Purcell and Tates opera "Dido and Aeneas," premieres in Chesea 03/02/1690 - 1st paper money in America issued (colony of Mass) 04/02/1697 - 3 VOC-ships anchor at Dirk-Hartogeiland, Australia 04/02/1699 - 350 rebellious Streltsi executed in Moscow 08/01/1705 - Georg F H„ndels 1st opera "Almira," premieres in Hamburg 12/01/1723 - Handel's opera "Ottone" premieres, London 23/01/1723 - Georg Friedrich H„ndel's opera "Ottone," premieres in London 20/02/1725 - 10 sleeping Indians scalped by whites in NH for ś100/scalp bounty 02/03/1725 - Georg F H„ndels opera "Giulio Cesare in Egitto," premieres in London 11/11/1725 - Georg F H„ndels opera "Tamerlano," premieres in London 29/01/1728 - John Gays' "Beggar's Opera," premieres in London [NS=Feb 9] 04/05/1728 - Georg F H„ndels opera "Tolomeo, re di Egitto," premieres in London 26/02/1732 - 1st mass celebrated in 1st American Catholic church, Philadelphia 08/02/1735 - 1st opera in US "Flora," opens in Charleston, SC 18/02/1735 - 1st opera performed in America, "Flora," in Charleston, SC 22/05/1746 - Russia and Austria signs treaty of cooperation 10/02/1749 - 10th (final) volume of Fielding's "Tom Jones" is published 28/02/1749 - 1st edition of Henry Fieldings' "Tom Jones" published 16/02/1751 - 1st publication of Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Church Yard" 25/02/1751 - 1st performing monkey exhibited in America, NYC (admission 1›) 18/10/1752 - Premiere of Rousseau's opera "Le Devin du Village" 03/11/1752 - Georg Friedrich H„ndel undergoes (failed) eye operation 05/10/1762 - Opera "Orfeo Ed Euridice" is produced (Vienna) 13/05/1767 - Mozart's opera "Apollo et Hyacinthus," premieres in Salzburg 16/12/1767 - Van Ritter von Glucks opera "Alceste" premiers 15/02/1768 - 1st mustard manufactured in America advertised, Philadelphia 20/02/1768 - 1st American chartered fire insurance company opens (Penn) 01/01/1770 - Date of action in the opera "Madeleine" 17/02/1772 - 1st partition of Poland-Russia and Prussia, joined later by Austria 19/04/1774 - CW Glucks opera "Iphigenia in Aulis," premieres in Paris 22/02/1775 - 1st US joint stock company (to make cloth) offers shares at ś10 23/04/1775 - Opera "Il R‚ Pastore" is produced (Salzburg) 17/02/1776 - 1st volume of Gibbon's "Decline and Fall of Roman Empire" published 27/01/1778 - Piccinni's opera "Roland" premieres, Paris 29/01/1781 - Mozart's opera "Idomeneo" premieres, Munich 16/07/1782 - Mozart's opera "Das Entfuhrung aus dem Serail," premieres in Vienna 22/02/1784 - 1st US ship to trade with China, "Empress of China," sails from NY 01/05/1786 - Mozart's opera "Marriage of Figaro" premieres in Wien (Vienna) 04/02/1787 - 1st Anglican bishops of NY and Pennsylvania consecrated in London 29/10/1787 - Opera "Don Giovanni" is produced (Prague) 01/02/1788 - 1st US steamboat patent issued, by Georgia to Briggs and Longstreet 04/02/1789 - 1st electoral college chooses Washington and Adams as Pres and VP 02/01/1790 - Mozart's opera "CosŤ fan tutti" premieres, Vienna 26/01/1790 - Mozart's opera "Cosi Fan Tutte" premieres in Vienna 25/02/1791 - 1st Bank of US chartered 06/09/1791 - Mozarts opera "La Clemenza di Tito," premieres in Prague 30/09/1791 - Mozart's opera "Magic Flute" premieres in Vienna 16/03/1792 - Murder attempt on King Gustavus III by count Ankarstrom at opera 12/02/1793 - 1st US fugitive slave law passed; requires return of escaped slaves 25/02/1793 - 1st cabinet meeting (At George Washington's home) 11/02/1794 - 1st session of US Senate open to the public 14/02/1794 - 1st US textile machinery patent granted, to James Davenport, Phila 07/02/1795 - 11th Amendment to US Constitution ratified, affirms power of states 13/02/1795 - 1st state university in US opens, University of North Carolina 19/02/1797 - 1/3 of papal domain ceded to France 13/03/1797 - Cherubini's opera "Med‚e," premieres in Paris 13/02/1799 - 1st US law regulating insurance passed, by Massachusetts 15/02/1799 - 1st US printed ballots authorized, Pennsylvania 25/02/1799 - 1st federal forestry legislation authorizes purchase of timber land 24/11/1800 - Weber's opera "Das Waldm„dchen," premieres in Freiburg 02/02/1802 - 1st leopard exhibited in US, Boston (admission 25›) 25/02/1803 - 1,800 sovereign German states unite into 60 states 18/02/1804 - 1st US land-grant college, Ohio University, Athens Ohio, chartered 21/02/1804 - 1st locomotive, Richard Trevithick's, runs for 1st time, in Wales 25/11/1805 - Opera "Tha‹s" 1st American performance 24/02/1807 - 17 die and 15 wounded in a crush to witness execution of Holloway, Heggerty and Elizabeth Godfrey in England 04/09/1807 - Robert Fulton begins operating his steamboat 18/09/1809 - Royal Opera House in London opens 01/02/1810 - 1st insurance co managed by blacks (American Insurance Co of Phila) 28/02/1810 - 1st US fire insurance joint-stock company organized, Philadelphia 18/03/1810 - "Converse," 1st US opera, premieres in NY 11/10/1811 - The Juliana, 1st steam-powered ferryboat, begins operation 07/02/1812 - 8.2 earthquake shakes New Madrid, Missouri 23/02/1813 - 1st US raw cotton-to-cloth mill founded in Waltham, Mass 27/02/1813 - 1st federal vaccination legislation enacted 13/02/1816 - -14] Teatro San Carlo in Naples destroyed by fire 25/01/1817 - Rossini's opera "La Cenerentola" premieres in Rome 05/02/1817 - 1st US gas co incorporated, Baltimore (coal gas for street lights) 17/02/1817 - 1st US city lit by gas (Baltimore) 07/02/1818 - 1st successful US educational magazine "Academician," begins (NYC) 28/02/1819 - 1st public performance of a Schubert song, "Sch„fers Klageleid" 06/02/1820 - 1st organized emigration of blacks back to Africa (NY to Sierra Leone)
30/01/1563 - Franciscus Gomarus, [Fran‡ois Gomaer], Dutch theologist/opera singer 01/05/1582 - Marco da Gagliano, Italian opera composer 18/07/1670 - Giovanni Battista Bononcini, Italian (opera)composer 18/10/1706 - Baldassare Galuppi, Italian composer (opera's buffa) 30/03/1727 - Tommaso MFS Traetta, Ital's opera composer/band leader (Farnace) 23/07/1734 - Antonio Maria Gasparo Sacchini, opera composer [or Jun 14 1730] 24/03/1762 - Marcos Antonio da Fonseca, Portugal, opera composer (Portogallo) 22/06/1763 - Etienne-Nicolas M‚hul, French organist/opera composer (Le Jeune Henri) 29/01/1782 - Daniel-Fran‡ois-Esprit Auber, French opera composer (Fra Diavolo) 28/01/1791 - Louis-J-Ferdinand H‚rold, France, opera composer (Zampa) 03/11/1801 - Vincenzo Bellini, Italian opera composer (La Sonnambula, Norma) 27/11/1804 - Julius Benedict, Stuttgart Germany, opera composer (Protoghesi) 15/01/1813 - James Marion Sims, SC, surgeon/gynecologist (vesicovaginal operation) 17/06/1818 - Charles Francois Gounod, Paris France, opera composer (Faust) 30/07/1831 - Helene P Blavatsky, founder (Theosophist Cooperation) 17/03/1839 - Josef Rheinberger, Vaduz Liechtenstein, opera composer (Munich Conser) 03/05/1844 - Richard D'Oyly Carte, England, opera impresario (Ivanhoe) 24/11/1848 - Lilli Lehmann, opera singer 19/12/1849 - Henry Clay Frick, Penn, built world's largest coke and steel operation 25/01/1851 - Jan Blockx, Belgium, opera composer (Sea Bride princess of Herberg) 01/09/1854 - Engelbert Humperdinck, Germany, opera composer (Parisfal) 18/01/1856 - Daniel Nathan Hale Williams, surgeon (1st open heart operation) 22/12/1858 - Giacomo Puccini, Lucca Italy, opera composer (La BohŠme, La Tosca) 25/06/1860 - Gustave Charpentier, French composer (opera Louise) 15/12/1861 - Charles Edgar Duryea, inventor (1st auto built and operated in US) 09/01/1867 - Jacques Urlus, Dutch tenor (Opera of Leipzig, Song of the Earth) 27/01/1868 - Cato Engelen-Sewing, Dutch soprano prima donna (Dutch Opera) 06/06/1869 - Siegfried Wagner, German opera composer/conductor 08/10/1869 - J Frank Duryea, inventor (1st auto built and operated in US) 08/03/1876 - Franco Alfano, Italian opera composer (Il dottore Antonio) 23/11/1878 - Ernest J King, US fleet admiral/Chief of Naval Operations (WW II) 19/03/1879 - Joseph Haas, German (opera)composer (Tobias Wunderlich) 02/08/1882 - Nanny I Larsen-Todsen, Swedish opera singer 18/11/1882 - Amelita Galli-Curci, Italy, operatic soprano (Cave of the Winds) 14/12/1883 - Manolis Kalomiris, Greek opera composer 22/10/1885 - Giovanni Martinelli, Montagnana Italy, opera singer (NY Met) 06/10/1887 - Maria Jeritza, [Jedlicka], Austria, singer (Vienna Opera) 06/03/1890 - Fernand Ansseau, Belgian operator/theory (Orfeo) 21/06/1893 - Alois H ba, Czech (opera)composer (Mother) 13/01/1895 - Fortunio Bonanova, Palma de Mallorca Spain, opera singer 08/01/1896 - Jaromir Weinberger, Prague Czechoslovakia, composer (Bird's Opera) 22/01/1897 - Rosa Ponselle, opera diva (Casta Diva, La Forza del Destino) 01/01/1898 - Viktor Ullmann, opera composer (Der Kaiser von Atlantis) 16/09/1899 - Hans Swarowsky, Budapest Hungary, conductor (Graz Opera 1947-50) 30/11/1899 - Hans Kr sa, Czech opera composer (Brundibar) 22/06/1900 - Jennie Tourel, St Petersburg Russia, mezzo-soprano (Met Opera 1943-47) 01/07/1901 - Irna Phillips, Chicago, created 6 soap operas (Guiding Light) 09/01/1902 - Rudolph Bing, opera manager (NY Metropolitan Opera) 18/01/1903 - Berthold Goldschmidt, German/British (opera)composer (Beatrice Cenci) 02/01/1904 - James Melton, Moultrie Ga, opera tenor (Ford Festival) 03/06/1904 - Jan Peerce, [Jacob Pincus Perelmuth], NYC, tenor (NY Met Opera) 11/01/1905 - John Henry Jacques, co-operative retailer 01/04/1905 - Winfried P I Zillig, German opera composer/conductor (Fantasia Irica) 09/04/1906 - Antal Dorati, Budapest Hungary, conductor (Dresden Opera 1928-29 17/01/1907 - Henk H Badings, Bandung Indonesia, Dutch opera composer (Orestes) 18/01/1907 - Janos Ferencsik, Budapest Hungary, conductor (Budapest Opera) 23/09/1907 - Jarmila Novotna, soprano (Met Opera)/pres of Czechoslovakia (1957-68) 17/05/1908 - Zinka Milanov, Zagreb Yugoslavia, soprano (Ljublama Opera 1927) 01/07/1908 - Peter Anders, German opera singer 26/03/1909 - Chris[tiaan R] Reumer, Dutch opera singer 15/02/1910 - 9th earl of Jersey, English large landowner/art collector 18/04/1910 - Sylvia Fisher, soprano (Albert Herring Opera) 03/03/1911 - Francesco Siciliani, opera composer 17/05/1911 - Knut Anders Haukfield, SOE Operative 24/05/1912 - Joan Hammond, British operatic soprano 31/08/1912 - Ramon Vinay, operatic tenor/baritone 16/04/1913 - Constance Shacklock, opera singer 11/06/1913 - Ris‰ Stevens, NYC, mezzo-soprano (Met Opera)/actor (Going My Way) 10/07/1913 - Ljuba Welitsch, Borisovo, Bulgaria, opera soprano (Nedda-Pagliacci) 22/07/1913 - Licia Albanese, Bari Italy, operatic soprano (NY Met Opera) 28/08/1913 - Richard Tucker, [Reuben Ticker], Brooklyn NY, Tenor (NY Met Opera) 22/11/1913 - Benjamin Britten, Lowestoft Suffolk England, composer (Beggar's Opera) 22/12/1913 - Benjamin Britten, Suffolk England, opera composer 26/06/1914 - Wolfgang Windgassen, Annemasse Germany, tenor (Stuttgart Opera) 27/05/1915 - Mario del Monaco, Italian opera singer (Verdi/Puccini) 04/09/1915 - Rudolf Schock, German opera/operette singer 26/06/1916 - Paul Derrick, co-operator/Christian socialist 17/07/1916 - Eleanor Steber, Wheeling WV, soprano (Metropolitan Opera-1940) 17/08/1916 - Eleanor Steber, opera singer 19/10/1916 - Karl-Birger Blomdahl, Sweden, opera composer (Herr von Hancken) 04/06/1917 - Robert Merrill, Bkln NY, baritone (NY Metropolitan Opera) 28/09/1917 - Vaclav Kaslik, Czechoslovakia, opera composer/conductor 03/04/1918 - Sixten Ehrling, Malm” Sweden, conductor (Royal Opera of Stockholm) 09/04/1918 - J”rn Utzon, Danish architect (Sydney Opera House) 25/04/1918 - Astrid Varnay, Stockholm Sweden, soprano (Met Opera 1941-56) 17/05/1918 - Birgit Nilsson, Karup Sweden, operatic soprano (Elektra, Salome) 24/01/1919 - Leon Kirchner, Brooklyn NY, opera composer (Lily) 04/04/1919 - Antony Tudor, England, choreographer (Metropolitan Opera 1957) 06/07/1919 - Dorothy Kirsten, opera singer/Alzheimer disease activist 03/12/1919 - Charles Craig, opera singer 27/03/1920 - Richard Hayman, bandleader/conductor/pianist (Theme of 3 Penny Opera) 29/04/1920 - Harold Samuel Shapero, Lynn Mass, composer (9 Minute Opera) 06/03/1921 - Julius Rudel, Vienna Austria, conductor (NYC Opera 1957) 17/12/1922 - Hubert H A Beckers, Cura‡aoan opera singer 12/04/1923 - Maria Callas, opera singer (Carmen) 03/12/1923 - Maria Callas, opera singer 06/05/1924 - Mimi Benzell, Bridgeport Ct, operatic soprano (Gilda-Rigoletto) 17/01/1925 - Annie Delorie, Dutch opera singer (Scenes and Arias) 28/06/1925 - Giselher W Kleber, German (opera)composer (Die R„uber) 11/07/1925 - Nicolai Gedda, Stockholm, Sweden, opera tenor (Opera Two to Six)
12/08/1633 - Jacopo Peri, Itallian opera composer, dies at 71 07/07/1656 - Michelangelo Rossi, Italian opera composer, buried at about 55 14/01/1676 - Pier Francesco Cavalli, Italian (opera)composer, dies at 73 17/01/1676 - Pier Francesco Cavalli, Italian opera composer, dies at 73 05/01/1740 - Antonio Lotti, Italian opera composer, dies at about 72 25/01/1744 - Domenico Natale Sarro, Italian opera composer, dies at 64 09/07/1747 - Giovanni Battista Bononcini, Italian opera-composer, dies at 76 20/07/1752 - John C Pepusch, English composer (Beggar's Opera), dies at about 85 31/10/1768 - Francesco Maria Veracini, Italian opera composer, dies at 78 06/04/1779 - Tommaso MFS Traetta, Italian opera composer (Farnace), dies at 52 16/12/1783 - Johann Adolf Hasse, Dutch operatic composer (Sesostrate), dies at 84 19/11/1804 - Pietro Alessandro Guglieli, Italian opera composer, dies at 75 18/10/1817 - Etienne-Nicolas Mehul, opera composer (Chant du d‚part), dies at 54 12/03/1832 - Daniel Friedrich Kuhlau, German/Danish opera composer, dies at 45 23/09/1835 - Vincenzo Bellini, Italian opera composer (Norma), dies at 33 17/03/1862 - Fromental Halevy, [Elie Levy], French opera composer, dies at 62 12/05/1871 - Daniel-Fran‡ois-Esprit Auber, French opera composer, dies at 89 03/01/1875 - Baldassare Galuppi, Italian composer (opera's buff), dies at 68 24/06/1882 - Joseph Joachim Raff, German opera composer (Cavatine), dies at 60 03/04/1901 - Richard D'Oyly Carte, promotor (Gilbert and Sullivan operas), dies 26/05/1912 - Jan Blockx, Belgian opera composer (Bride of the Sea), dies at 61 13/08/1912 - Jules EF Massenet, French opera composer (Werther, Manon), dies at 70 24/03/1916 - Enrique y Campina Granados, Sp opera composer (Goyescas), drowns at 48 02/12/1919 - Henry Clay Frick, built largest coke and steel operation, dies at 69 02/08/1921 - Enrico Caruso, Italian opera singer, dies at 48 27/09/1921 - Engelbert Humperdinck, Ger opera composer (Schneewittchen), dies at 67 04/08/1930 - Siegfried Wagner, German opera composer, dies at 61 06/06/1935 - Jacques Urlus, tenor (Opera of Leipzig, Song of the Earth), dies at 68 28/11/1944 - Joop Brouwer de Koning, youngest Dutch radio operator, executed at 25 31/08/1946 - Paul August von Klenau, Danish opera composer/conductor, dies at 63 16/05/1954 - Clemens Krauss, Austrian conductor (Vienna State Opera), dies at 61 10/09/1954 - Peter Anders, German opera singer, dies 27/10/1954 - Franco Alfano, Ital (opera)composer (Puccini's Turandot), dies at 78 11/03/1956 - Sergey Nikiforovich Vasilenko, Russian opera composer, dies at 83 25/06/1956 - Ernest J King, US fleet admiral/Chief of Naval Operations, dies at 77 09/05/1957 - Ezio F Pinza, Italian bass (Scale of Milan, NY Met Opera), dies 06/02/1958 - 7 soccer players of Manchester United, die in an aircrash at Munich 07/10/1959 - Mario Lanza, opera singer, dies at 38 of a heart attack 30/03/1960 - Joseph Haas, German opera composer (Totenmesse), dies at 81 31/03/1960 - Joseph Haas, German (opera)composer (Totenmesse), dies at 81 21/04/1961 - James Melton, opera tenor (Ford Festival), dies at 57 03/04/1962 - Manolis Kalomiris, Greek opera composer, dies at 78 03/01/1967 - Mary Garden, opera star, dies at 92 14/06/1968 - Karl-Birger Blomdahl, Swedish opera composer (Aniara), dies at 51 22/10/1969 - Giovanni Martinelli, Ital opera singer (NY Met), dies on 84th birthday 26/06/1971 - Inia Te Wiata, opera singer, dies 18/11/1971 - Junior Parker, rocker, dies during brain operation at 44 01/05/1972 - Fernand Ansseau, Belgian operator (Orfeo), dies at 82 18/11/1973 - Alois H ba, Czech (opera)composer (Neuland), dies at 80 22/12/1973 - Irna Phillips, creator of 5 TV soap operas, dies at 72 03/01/1975 - Milton J Cross, TV announcer (Met Opera Auditions), dies at 87 04/12/1976 - Benjamin Britten, British composer (Beggar's Opera), dies at 63 25/05/1981 - Rosa Ponselle, US singer (Metropolitan Opera), dies at 84 10/07/1982 - Maria Jeritza, [Jedlicka], Aust/US, singer (Metropolitan Opera), dies 12/10/1982 - Chris[tiaan R] Reumer, Dutch opera singer, dies at 73 16/10/1982 - Mario del Monaco, Italian opera singer (Verdi/Puccini), dies at 67 15/12/1984 - Jan Peerce, [Perelmuth], operatic tenor, dies at 80 following a stroke 13/11/1986 - Rudolf Schock, German opera/operetta singer, dies at 71 29/01/1988 - Bantcho Bantchevsky, US opera singer, commits suicide 30/05/1989 - Zinka Milanov, Met Opera Diva, dies of a stroke at 83 04/06/1989 - Vaclav Kaslik, Czech opera composer/conductor, dies at 71 31/07/1990 - Fernando Sancho, dies after operation for malignant tumor at 72 21/05/1993 - John Frost, English lt-kol (operation Market Garden 1944), dies at 80 16/11/1993 - Lucia Popp, Czech/Austria soprano (Vienna Opera), dies at 54 14/01/1995 - Alexander Gibson, Brit conductor/founder (Scottish Opera), dies at 68 16/07/1995 - Charles Bruck, Hungarian/French/US conductor (Dutch Opera), dies at 83 20/12/1995 - John Henry Jacques, co-operative retailer, dies at 90 04/01/1996 - Ramon Vinay, operatic tenor/baritone, dies at 83 25/08/1996 - Sylvia Fisher, opera Singer, dies at 86 31/08/1996 - Ljuba Welitsch, opera singer, dies at 83 30/11/1996 - Paul Derrick, co-operator/Christian socialist, dies at 80 17/12/1996 - Francesco Siciliani, opera administrator, dies at 85 31/12/1996 - Frederico Davia, opera singer, dies at 63 23/01/1997 - Charles Craig, opera singer, dies at 77 02/09/1997 - Rudolf Bing, opera manager (NY Met Opera), dies at 95
