Celebrations Today – October 22
Holidays and observances
- Christian feast day:
- Earliest day on which Labour Day can fall, while October 28 is the latest; celebrated on the fourth Monday in October (New Zealand)
- Earliest day on which Make a Difference Day can fall, while October 28 is the latest; celebrated on the fourth Saturday in October (United States)
- Fechner Day (International observance)
- International Caps Lock Day
- International Stuttering Awareness Day
- Jidai Matsuri (Kyoto, Japan)
- Wombat Day (Australia)
Celebrations Today – USA: October 22
National Nut Day
National Color Day
National Mother-in-Law Day – Fourth Sunday in October
National Clean Up the Earth Day
National Eat a Pretzel Day
International Stuttering Awareness Day
National Knee Day
National Smart is Cool Day
Today in US History: October 22
Metropolitan Opera Opens in New York City
Did you knowa…I make every month de arrangements for de Italian opera? It is ten times so much refreshing as de movies…It is marvelous. It causa to swell de heart…you never heard de music so sweeta. Yes, de words are de words of Italy. But de fine music, it isa de same in all language. It conquer de spirit. It maka to soar de soul…De price is fifty cents.”Interview with Vito Cacciola,”
Merton R. Lovett, interviewer,
March 24, 1939.
American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writer’s Project, 1936-1940
Metropolitan Opera House,
Ne[w York City],
c1905.
Touring Turn-of-the-Century America: Photographs from the Detroit Publishing Company, 1880-1920
Geraldine Farrar in La Tosca,
Photograph of a Painting by George Burroughs Torrey,
c[between 1900 and 1920].
Touring Turn-of-the-Century America: Photographs from the Detroit Publishing Company, 1880-1920
The Metropolitan Opera House (Met) in New York City, then located on Broadway at 39th Street in New York City, opened on October 22, 1883, with a performance of Charles Gounod’s Faust, the tale of a German sorcerer who sold his soul to the devil in exchange for knowledge, power, youth, and love. The opera, although composed in French and based on Goethe’s German poem, was sung on this occasion in Italian, the favored language of the Met’s early management.
“O Patria Mia,”
Aria from Aida,
Giuseppe Verdi, composer,
Maria Rappold, performer,
Orange, New Jersey, circa 1916.
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“Vesti la Giubba,”
Aria from I Pagliacci,
Ruggiero Leoncavallo, composer,
Guido Ciccolini, performer,
Orange, New Jersey 1917.
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Edison Sound Recordings,
Inventing Entertainment: The Motion Pictures and Sound Recordings of the Edison Companies
The Metropolitan Opera has attracted talented artists from around the world. In its early days, the Met was graced with such legendary conductors as Arturo Toscanini and Gustav Mahler, and the great singers Enrico Caruso, Geraldine Farrar, and Christine Nilsson. Since 1966, the Metropolitan Opera Association has made its home at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City; opera vocalists such as Placido Domingo, Beverly Sills, Marian Anderson, and Leontyne Price have performed there.
Historically, opera houses have served a variety of functions in towns and cities across the country hosting community dances, fairs, plays, and vaudeville shows as well as operas and other musical events such as Jenny Lind’s tour. “That old Opera House used to be going every night in the week, pretty near, during the winter season,” Arthur Botsford recalled in his recollections of life in Thomaston, Connecticut. Botsford shared especially fond memories of the community dances he had attended at the Thomaston Opera House:
Opera House and American National Bank,
Pensacola, Florida,
[between 1900 and 1906].
Touring Turn-of-the-Century America: Photographs from the Detroit Publishing Company, 1880-1920
Explore the rich collection of photographs of opera houses from the turn-of-the-century. Search the collection Touring Turn-of-the-Century America: Photographs from the Detroit Publishing Company, 1880-1920 on the keywords opera house.
You’d get down to the Opera House just before eight, it wasn’t stylish to be late those days; and when you got there, you’d escort your girl as far as the ladies’ room, and leave her there, and then you’d join the other lads in the gent’s room, and put on your dancing pumps. Then you’d go back and wait…you’d always have to wait…while she finished her primping, and when she came out you’d escort her to a seat, and wait for the grand march to be called…Usually, the dance would break up at midnight, because all the lights in town went out then. Sometimes, for the big affairs, they’d notify the Power House to keep the current on until one.”Folklore of Clockmaking,”
Botsford, Connecticut,
Francis Donovan, interviewer,
December 7, 1938.
American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers’ Project, 1936-1940
Dances such as those described by Botsford followed an established pattern of etiquette described in detail in many how-to books published in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. They began, as he recalls, with a Grand March such as that described in the section on “The March” in the 1890 manual, The Way to Dance: A Book Which Teaches the Art of Dancing Without a Master. The Grand March was followed by sets of quadrilles, contra-dances, round dances, waltzes, polkas, and other dances.
During the Depression, the Works Progress Administration provided jobs for unemployed composers, musicians, and singers through the Federal Music Project which provided classical opera and operetta performances, as well as orchestra and band concerts and free music lessons to the public in cities and towns across America. Works Progress Administration employed artists through the Federal Art Project to create colorful theatrical posters advertising the Federal Music Project performances.
WPA in Ohio Federal Music Project…,
Poster,
March 1, 1937.
“Carmen“: Presented by Cuyahoga County Opera Association and the Federal Music Project…,
Poster,
John LaQuatra, artist,
March 27, 1939.
Cavalry Guild Presbyterian Church presents Gilbert & Sullivan’s “H.M.S. Pinafore“,
Poster,
Earl Schuler, artist,
May 18, 1939.
By the People, For the People: Posters from the WPA, 1936-1943
- See a sampling of the types of entertainment which were witnessed on the stages of the local opera houses, usually performed by travelling companies. Browse the collection American Variety Stage: Vaudeville and Popular Entertainment, 1870-1920 or search on the term opera, to find examples of comedy routines and musical plays.
- Search the following sheet music collections on Nilsson to find music performed by Christine Nilsson and several cover pictures of the singer:
- In 1877 Thomas Edison discovered a way to record sound. Eventually his company offered a variety of recorded selections to the public, including operatic arias. Listen to some of these original recordings. Browse the list Selected Diamond Disc Recordings by Genre in the special presentation Edison Sound Recordings from the collection Inventing Entertainment: The Motion Pictures and Sound Recordings of the Edison Companies.
- Find more descriptions of dances and ballroom etiquette in the American Memory collection, An American Ballroom Companion: Dance Instruction Manuals, ca. 1490-1920.
- Browse the Occupational Index of the collection Creative Americans: Portraits by Carl Van Vechten, 1932-1964 for more photographs of performing artists such as the Italian opera composer Gian Carlo Menotti.
- Search the Today in History Archive to find features on performing arts and artists for example, composer George Gershwin’s opera Porgy and Bess; singers Jenny Lind, Leontyne Price, and Marian Anderson; composer Victor Herbert; and the formation of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers.
- View artifacts of the world of “Music, Theatre, and Dance,” such as Lucille Ballard’s Costume Design for a Dancer created for the 1946 revival of Show Boat, in the Imagination section of the American Treasures of the Library of Congress online exhibition.
- Search the collection Traveling Culture: Circuit Chautauqua in the Twentieth Century on Metropolitan Opera Company to find publicity brochures, flyers, and advertisements pertaining to the Metropolitan Opera Company.
- Search the collection Newspaper Pictorials: World War I Rotogravures, 1914-1919 on Metropolitan Opera to find newspaper highlights about the Metropolitan Opera Company.
- Search the collections Photographs from the Chicago Daily News and History of the American West, 1860-1920: Photographs from the Collection of the Denver Public Library on opera, opera singer, or opera house to find a wide variety of images.
- Built in America: Historic American Buildings Survey/Historical American Engineering Record, 1933-Present also links to information on opera houses.
- Music, Theater & Dance, a performing arts digital library, contains growing collections of scores, sheet music, audio recordings, films, photographs, maps, and other materials. A search on opera yields operatic sheet music, correspondence, finding aids, and links to collections with operatic materials.
Today in History – October 22-External Links
Today’s Weather in History
Today in Earthquake History
This Day in Naval History
Today’s Document from the National Archives
Today’s Events, Births & Deaths –Wikipedia
Today in History by AP
On this Day -1950 to 2005 – Today’s Story–BBC
On This Day: The New York Times
This Day in History –History.com
Today in Canadian History – Canada Channel
History of Britain that took place On This Day
Russia in History –Russiapedia