The opera Nixon in China by John Adams (pictured), with a libretto by
Alice Goodman, premiered at the Houston Grand Opera on October 22, 1987.
Adams' first opera, it was inspired by the 1972 visit to China by US
President Richard Nixon. The composer augmented the usual orchestral
instruments with a large saxophone section, additional percussion, and
an electronic synthesizer. Displaying a variety of musical styles, the
score embraces minimalism alongside passages echoing 19th-century
composers, and mixes Stravinskian 20th-century neoclassicism, jazz
references, and big band sounds reminiscent of Nixon's youth in the
1930s. The opera has been presented on many occasions, in both Europe
and North America, and has been recorded twice. In 2011, the opera was
staged at the Metropolitan Opera, based on the original sets. Recent
critical opinion recognizes the work as a significant and lasting
contribution to American opera.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixon_in_China_(opera)>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1730:
Construction of the Ladoga Canal linking the Neva and the Svir
River, one of the first major canals constructed in Russia, was
completed.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladoga_Canal>
1844:
Millerites, including future members of the Seventh-day
Adventist Church, were greatly disappointed that Jesus did not return as
predicted by American preacher William Miller.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Disappointment>
1895:
A Granville–Paris Express train overran the buffer stop at
Paris' Gare Montparnasse station, careening across the concourse before
crashing out of the station and plummeting onto the Place de Rennes
below.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gare_Montparnasse>
1962:
Cold War: U.S. President John F. Kennedy announced that Soviet
nuclear weapons had been discovered in Cuba and that he had ordered a
naval "quarantine" of the island nation.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Missile_Crisis>
2008:
India launched Chandrayaan-1, the country's first unmanned
lunar mission.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandrayaan-1>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
subduct:
1. (transitive) To draw or push under or below.
2. (intransitive) To move downwards underneath something.
3. (rare) To remove; to deduct; to take away; to disregard.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/subduct>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
To describe externals, you become a scientist. To describe experience,
you become an artist. The old distinction between artists and scientists
must vanish. Every time we teach a child correct usage of an external
symbol, we must spend as much time teaching him how to fission and
reassemble external grammar to communicate the internal.
--Timothy Leary
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Timothy_Leary>