The music for three of the four operas written by the youthful composer George Frideric Handel (pictured) between 1703 and 1706, when he lived in the German city of Hamburg, is lost apart from a few orchestral fragments. Only the first, Almira, has survived complete. He was able to get Almira and the less successful Nero performed at Oper am Gänsemarkt, the opera house, during the temporary absence of the theatre's director, Reinhard Keiser. Handel's last two Hamburg operas, Florindo and Daphne, were not produced before Handel left the city. No music that can be definitively traced to Nero has been identified, although some of it may have been used in later works, particularly Agrippina, which has a similar plot and characters. Fragments of music from Florindo and Daphne have been preserved without the vocal parts, and some of these elements were incorporated into an orchestral suite first recorded in 2012.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handel%27s_lost_Hamburg_operas

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1893:

Lorrin A. Thurston and the Citizens' Committee of Public Safety led the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom and the government of Queen Liliʻuokalani (pictured). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overthrow_of_the_Hawaiian_Kingdom

1945:

World War II: Australian troops advanced along the northern part of Bougainville Island (in present-day Papua New Guinea) and began fighting Japanese forces in the Battle of Tsimba Ridge. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tsimba_Ridge

1948:

Indonesian National Revolution: The Renville Agreement between the Netherlands and Indonesian republicans was ratified, in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to resolve disputes arising from the Linggadjati Agreement of 1946. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renville_Agreement

1999:

In Little Saigon, California, a series of protests began when the owner of a video rental store displayed an image of Ho Chi Minh. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hi-Tek_incident

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

venomous: 1. Of an animal (specifically a snake) or parts of its body: producing venom (“a toxin intended for defensive or offensive use”) which is usually injected into an enemy or prey by biting or stinging; hence, of a bite or sting: injecting venom. 2. Of or pertaining to venom. 3. (archaic) Consisting of, or containing or full of, venom or some other poison; hence, harmful to health due to this. 4. (figurative) 5. Posing a threat; dangerous, threatening. 6. Hateful; malignant; spiteful. 7. (obsolete) 8. Of a weapon such as an arrow or dart: dosed with venom or poison; envenomed, poisoned. 9. (figurative) Harmful, hurtful, injurious; specifically, morally or spiritually harmful; evil, noxious, pernicious. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/venomous

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

All Wars are Follies, very expensive & very mischievous ones. When will Mankind be convinc’d of this, and agree to settle their Differences by Arbitration? Were they to do it even by the Cast of a Dye, it would be better than by Fighting & destroying each other.   --Benjamin Franklin https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin