September 16 — On This Day in Opera

World premiere of Joseph Haydn’s dramma giocoso "Le pescatrici" at the Eszterháza court theatre, the work being composed to a libretto by Carlo Goldoni.

François-Adrien Boieldieu's opéra-comique "Le calife de Bagdad", with a libretto by Claude Godard d'Aucourt de Saint-Just, received its world premiere at the Opéra-Comique, Salle Favart, in Paris.

Ruggero Leoncavallo's two-act opera "Zingari", with a libretto by Enrico Cavacchioli and Guglielmo Emanuel after Pushkin's poem "The Gypsies", received its world premiere at the London Hippodrome, conducted by Leoncavallo.

Elliott Carter's only opera, "What Next?", with a libretto by Paul Griffiths, received its world premiere at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, conducted by Daniel Barenboim.

Antônio Carlos Gomes, Brazilian composer whose operas include "Il Guarany", "Fosca", "Salvator Rosa", "Maria Tudor", and "Lo schiavo", died in Belém, Pará.

Birth of Czech opera and classical composer Milan Harašta, known for his contributions to opera before his early death.

Maria Callas, the Greek-American soprano whose interpretations of "Norma", "Tosca", "Lucia di Lammermoor", "La traviata", and other operas made her one of the defining opera singers of the twentieth century, died in Paris.