H.M.S. Pinafore is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur
Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It opened at the Opera
Comique in London, England, on 25 May 1878 and ran for
571 performances, which was the second-longest run of any musical
theatre piece up to that time. H.M.S. Pinafore was Gilbert and
Sullivan's fourth operatic collaboration and their first international
sensation. The story takes place aboard the titular ship, H.M.S.
Pinafore. The captain's daughter, Josephine, is in love with a
lower-class sailor, Ralph Rackstraw, although her father intends her to
marry Sir Joseph Porter, the First Lord of the Admiralty. Drawing on
several of his earlier "Bab Ballad" poems, Gilbert imbued this plot
with mirth and silliness. The opera's humour focuses on love between
members of different social classes and lampoons the British class
system in general. Pinafore also pokes good-natured fun at patriotism,
party politics, the rise of unqualified people to positions of
authority and the Royal Navy. Pinafore's extraordinary popularity in
Britain, America and elsewhere was followed by the similar success of a
series of Gilbert and Sullivan works. Their works, later known as the
Savoy operas, dominated the musical stage on both sides of the Atlantic
for more than a decade and continue to be performed today.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.M.S._Pinafore>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
3114 BC:
The epoch of the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, a non-repeating,
vigesimal calendar used by the Maya civilization and several other
Mesoamerican cultures, occurred.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesoamerican_Long_Count_calendar>
1492:
The first Papal conclave held in the Sistine Chapel elected Roderic
Borja as Pope Alexander VI to succeed Pope Innocent VIII.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papal_conclave%2C_1492>
1828:
William Corder was hanged at Bury St Edmunds, England for murdering
Maria Marten at the Red Barn.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Barn_Murder>
1952:
King Talal of Jordan abdicated due to health reasons and was succeeded
by his eldest son Hussein .
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hussein_of_Jordan>
1965:
Violent race rioting began in the Watts district of Los Angeles,
lasting for six days and left 34 people dead and 1,032 others injured.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watts_Riots>
1988:
Osama bin Laden, Abdullah Azzam and several senior leaders of the
Egyptian Islamic Jihad formed what is now known as Al-Qaeda to continue
jihad elsewhere around the world after the Soviet war in Afghanistan
ended.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Qaeda>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
propinquity (n):
1. Nearness or proximity.
2. Affiliation or similarity
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/propinquity>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
There is no slavery but ignorance. Liberty is the child of
intelligence.
--Robert G. Ingersoll
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_G._Ingersoll>