Agrippina (HWV 6) is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel, from a libretto by Cardinal Vincenzo Grimani. Composed for the 1709–10 Venice Carnevale season, the opera tells the story of Agrippina, the mother of Nero, as she plots the downfall of the Roman Emperor Claudius and the installation of her son as emperor. Grimani's libretto, considered one of the best that Handel set, is an "anti-heroic satirical comedy", full of topical political allusions. It premiered in Venice at the Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo on 26 December 1709, and was an immediate success. Observers were full of praise for the quality of the music—much of which, in keeping with the contemporary custom, had been borrowed and adapted from other works. Despite the evident public enthusiasm for the work, Handel did not promote further stagings. There were occasional productions in the years following its premiere but, when Handel's operas fell out of fashion in the mid-18th century, it and his other dramatic works were generally forgotten. In recent years performances of the work have become more common, with innovative stagings at the New York State Theater and the London Coliseum in 2007. Modern critical opinion is that Agrippina is Handel's first operatic masterpiece, full of freshness and musical invention which have made it one of the most popular operas of the continuing Handel revival.

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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1471:

Wars of the Roses: The Yorkists under Edward IV defeated the Lancastrians near the town of Barnet, killing Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Barnet

1865:

Abraham Lincoln assassination http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln_assassination

1894:

The first ever commercial motion picture house opened in New York City using ten Kinetoscopes , a device for peep-show viewing using photographs that flip in sequence, a precursor to movies. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetoscope

1978:

Thousands of Georgians demonstrated in Tbilisi against an attempt by the Supreme Soviet of the Georgian SSR to change the constitutional status of the Georgian language. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1978_Georgian_demonstrations

1994:

In an American friendly fire incident during Operation Provide Comfort in northern Iraq, two United States Air Force aircraft mistakenly shot down two United States Army helicopters, killing 26 people. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_Black_Hawk_shootdown_incident

1999:

A storm dropped an estimated 500,000 tonnes of hailstones in Sydney and along the east coast of New South Wales, causing about A$2.3 billion in damages, the costliest natural disaster in Australian insurance history. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Sydney_hailstorm

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

zetetic (adj): Preceded by inquiry http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/zetetic

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

What really matters is that there is so much faith and love and kindliness which we can share with and provoke in others, and that by cleanly, simple, generous living we approach perfection in the highest and most lovely of all arts. ... But you, I think, have always comprehended this. --James Branch Cabell http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Branch_Cabell