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April 26 — On This Day in Opera

This page lists notable events in opera history that happened on April 26, including world premieres, composer births, deaths, and important milestones.

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Premieres & milestones

1738 Premiere
Premiere of George Frideric Handel's opera 'Xerxes' at the King's Theatre in London.
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1763
Composer Christoph Willibald Gluck was awarded a pension of 600 florins by Empress Maria Theresa.
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The premiere of Franz Schubert's opera "Fierrabras" took place posthumously in Vienna.
1828 Premiere
The premiere of Franz Schubert's opera "Fierrabras" took place posthumously in Vienna.
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1865 Premiere
The premiere of Jacques Offenbach's operetta "La belle Hélène" took place at the Théâtre des Variétés in Paris.
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1886
Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini, one of the most influential interpreters of opera, made his conducting debut in Rio de Janeiro in "Aida".
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1923 Premiere
Premiere of Ottorino Respighi's opera 'Belfagor' at La Scala in Milan.
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1926
First U.S. performance of Claudio Monteverdi's opera 'L'Incoronazione di Poppea' at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts.
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Births & deaths

1762 Born
Birth of Indian composer Shyama Shastri, one of the Trinity of Carnatic music.
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1798 Born
French painter Eugène Delacroix, whose works later inspired operatic subjects and staging aesthetics, was born in Charenton-Saint-Maurice.
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1854 Born
Birth of German bass Georg Sieglitz in Mainz. Debuted as Masetto in Mozart's 'Don Giovanni' in 1880.
1970 Born
Russian soprano Anna Netrebko, one of the leading opera singers of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, was born in Krasnodar.
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