August 27 — On This Day in Opera

George Frideric Handel returned to London and reached an agreement with theatre manager John Rich to stage his next opera season at Covent Garden. Handel had begun composing "Ariodante" on August 12 and completed its first act the following day.

Jean-Philippe Rameau's one-act acte de ballet "Pigmalion", with a libretto by Ballot de Sauvot, received its world premiere at the Académie Royale de Musique in Paris.

Following the success of "Iphigénie en Aulide" in Paris, Christoph Willibald Gluck was awarded a royal pension of 6,000 livres, with the promise of an equivalent payment for each new opera he produced for the French stage.

Birth of Danish tenor Erik Schmedes in Copenhagen; he debuted as Valentin in Gounod’s *Faust* and became notable in Wagnerian roles at the Met.

Fire severely damaged the original Metropolitan Opera House in New York.

The nineteen-year-old Maria Callas, then performing as Maria Kalogeropoulou, sang her first leading operatic role as Floria Tosca in Puccini's "Tosca" in Athens.

German soprano and composer Pauline Decker, née von Schätzel, was born in Berlin. She came from a prominent operatic family: her mother Juliane Schick and grandmother Margarete Luise Schick were singers associated with the Berlin court opera.

Birth of Italian soprano Teresa Parodi in Genoa; she made her operatic debut in Donizetti’s *Gemma di Vergy* (1845).

Australian soprano Rosina Martha Palmer, née Carandini, was born in Hobart. She began appearing in opera as a teenager, including singing Adalgisa opposite her mother as Norma in Bellini's "Norma".

Danish tenor Erik Schmedes was born in Gentofte. He became an important Wagnerian tenor at the Vienna Court Opera and later appeared at the Metropolitan Opera in roles including Siegfried, Tristan, and Tannhäuser.

Swedish mezzo-soprano and influential singing teacher Henriette Nissen-Saloman died in Bad Harzburg. A successful international opera singer and contemporary of Jenny Lind, she later taught at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory.