August 29 — On This Day in Opera

Joseph Haydn's three-act dramma giocoso "L'incontro improvviso" received its world premiere at the Prince's Opera House at Eszterháza, composed for the visit of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria and Maria Beatrice d'Este.

Mozart's "Le nozze di Figaro" returned to the Burgtheater in Vienna in a substantially revised revival prepared for a new cast. Mozart supplied new music for Adriana Ferrarese del Bene as Susanna, including the rondò "Al desio di chi t'adora".

Excerpts from Hector Berlioz's still-unstaged opera "Les Troyens" were performed at the Baden-Baden Festival, several years before the first staged production of part of the work in Paris.

At the sixteenth and final performance of "Parsifal" at the second Bayreuth Festival, Richard Wagner entered the orchestra pit during Act III, took the baton from Hermann Levi, and conducted the opera to its conclusion. It was Wagner's final appearance as a conductor at Bayreuth.

Giacomo Puccini's "Manon Lescaut" received its United States premiere at the Grand Opera House in Philadelphia, marking the first performance of a Puccini opera in the United States.

Death of Czech opera and classical composer Milan Harašta at the young age of 26.

Birth of American bass-baritone Thomas Stewart, who became a prominent performer at the Metropolitan Opera.

Italian mezzo-soprano Lucia Valentini Terrani was born in Padua. She became one of the leading modern interpreters of Rossini and the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century bel canto repertoire.

Birth of American avant-garde vocalist, composer, and performance artist Diamanda Galás, known for her operatic vocal range and experimental style.

Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin, whose operas include "Dead Souls", "Lolita", "The Enchanted Wanderer", and "Boyarina Morozova", died at the age of 92.