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