December 5 — On This Day in Opera

Death of composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Vienna; his final works included the opera 'Die Zauberflöte' and the unfinished 'Requiem' K.626.

Death of Swedish soprano Marie Jeanette Wässelius, celebrated prima donna of the Royal Swedish Opera in the early 19th century.

Birth of Dutch-born singer and actor Johannes Heesters in Amersfoort; he later became a star of Viennese operetta and German-speaking opera/operetta stages.

Death of Swedish operatic tenor Henning Malm, who had been engaged at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm.

Birth of Spanish/Catalan operatic tenor José Carreras (Josep Maria Carreras Coll) in Barcelona, famed for roles in Donizetti, Verdi and Puccini and later for The Three Tenors.

Birth of Argentine-Spanish operatic tenor and conductor José Cura in Rosario, known for intense portrayals in roles such as Otello, Samson and Canio.

Death of German operatic soprano Isabel Strauss in Bern; active in major opera recordings and productions in the mid-20th century.

Birth of Russian coloratura soprano Julia Mikhaylovna Lezhneva in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, later acclaimed for virtuoso performances of 18th- and early-19th-century opera repertoire.

Royal Opera House (Covent Garden) company premiere of Mozart's early opera 'Mitridate, re di Ponto' K.87 in a new production by The Royal Opera.

World premiere at La Monnaie (Brussels) of Mikael Karlsson's grand opera 'Fanny and Alexander', based on Ingmar Bergman’s film, with an English libretto by Royce Vavrek.