August 24 — On This Day in Opera

Christoph Willibald Gluck's festa teatrale "Le feste d'Apollo" received its first performance at the Teatrino della Corte in Parma during celebrations for the marriage of Ferdinand, Duke of Parma, and Archduchess Maria Amalia of Austria.

A production of "Didone abbandonata" inaugurated Bergamo's Teatro Riccardi, with Metastasio's libretto set to music drawn from several composers, including Ferdinando Bertoni, Giacomo Rampini, Johann Gottlieb Naumann, Giuseppe Gazzaniga, and Giovanni Paisiello.

Gaetano Donizetti's one-act comic opera "Betly, o La capanna svizzera", with a libretto by the composer after Scribe and Mélésville's "Le chalet", received its world premiere at the Teatro Nuovo in Naples.

Franz von Suppé's music for the comedy "Dichter und Bauer" was first performed at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna; its overture became one of Suppé's best-known works and the music was later adapted into an operetta.

Austrian soprano Therese Grünbaum was born in Vienna. She later created Eglantine in the world premiere of Carl Maria von Weber's "Euryanthe" and sang Desdemona in the first Viennese performance of Rossini's "Otello".

English soprano Nancy Storace died in London. Mozart had composed the role of Susanna in "Le nozze di Figaro" for her, and she created the part at the opera's Vienna premiere in 1786.

Venezuelan composer José Ángel Montero died in Caracas. A leading figure in nineteenth-century Venezuelan musical theatre, he composed numerous zarzuelas and the Italian-language opera "Virginia".

Birth of Italian pianist and composer Alberto Bimboni, known for his contributions to opera and symphonic music.

Birth of Italian pianist and composer Alberto Bimboni.

Death of American bass Hermann Devries, who debuted in Meyerbeer’s "L’Africaine" in 1878 and taught future generations of singers.

Canadian lyric tenor Léopold Simoneau died in Victoria, British Columbia. One of the outstanding Mozart tenors of the twentieth century, he was especially celebrated as Don Ottavio in "Don Giovanni", Ferrando in "Così fan tutte", and Tamino in "Die Zauberflöte".