Carmen is an opera in four acts which Georges Bizet set to a libretto by
the team Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on Prosper Mérimée's
novella. When it was first performed by the Opéra-Comique in Paris on 3
March 1875, its breaking of conventions shocked and scandalized its
first audiences. The opera was originally written with musical numbers
and spoken dialogue. Set in southern Spain, it tells of the downfall of
Don José, a naïve soldier who is seduced by the fiery gypsy Carmen,
and finally kills her in a jealous rage. The depictions of proletarian
life, immorality, and lawlessness broke new ground in French opera.
Bizet died suddenly after the 33rd performance, unaware that the work
would achieve international acclaim within the following ten years.
Carmen has become one of the most frequently performed operas, with the
"Habanera" and the "Toreador Song" among the best known of all
operatic
arias. The music has been acclaimed for its brilliance of melody,
harmony, atmosphere and orchestration, and for Bizet's skill in
expressing the emotions and suffering of his characters.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmen>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1924:
The Ottoman Caliphate, the world's last widely recognized
caliphate, was abolished.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abolition_of_the_Caliphate>
1931:
"The Star-Spangled Banner", originally a poem written by
American author Francis Scott Key after witnessing the Battle of
Baltimore during the War of 1812, became the official national anthem of
the United States.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Star-Spangled_Banner>
1991:
Motorist Rodney King was beaten by Los Angeles Police
Department officers during an arrest, causing public outrage that
increased tensions between the African-American community and the police
department over police brutality and social inequality.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_King>
2012:
Two passenger trains collided near Szczekociny, Poland,
resulting in 16 deaths and 58 injuries.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Szczekociny_rail_crash>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
triangulation:
1. (uncountable, surveying) A technique in which distances and
directions are estimated from an accurately measured baseline and the
principles of trigonometry; (countable) an instance of the use of this
technique.
2. (countable, surveying) The network of triangles so obtained, that are
the basis of a chart or map.
3. (countable, chess) A delaying move in which the king moves in a
triangular path to force the advance of a pawn.
4. (countable, geometry) A subdivision of a planar object into
triangles, and by extension the subdivision of a higher-dimension
geometric object into simplices.
5. (uncountable, navigation, seismology) A process by which an unknown
location is found using three known distances from known locations.
6. (uncountable, politics) The practice of repositioning one's group or
oneself on the political spectrum in an attempt to capture the centre.
7. (uncountable, qualitative research) The use of three (or more)
researchers to interview the same people or to evaluate the same
evidence to reduce the impact of individual bias.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/triangulation>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Nothing is more dangerous than an idea, when it's the only one we
have.
--Émile Chartier
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/%C3%89mile_Chartier>