L'Orfeo is an early Baroque opera by Claudio Monteverdi, with a text by Alessandro Striggio. It is based on the Greek legend of Orpheus, and tells the story of his descent to Hades and his fruitless attempt to bring his dead bride Eurydice back to the living world. Written in 1607 for a court performance during the annual Carnival at Mantua, L'Orfeo is one of the earliest music dramas still regularly performed. Its score was published by Monteverdi in 1609 and again in 1615. After the composer's death in 1643 the opera remained unperformed, and was largely forgotten until a revival of interest in the late 19th century led to a spate of modern editions and performances. After the Second World War most new editions sought authenticity through the use of period instruments. Strings, harpsichords and recorders represent the pastoral fields of Thrace with their nymphs and shepherds, heavy brass illustrates the underworld and its denizens. Composed at the point of transition from the Renaissance era to the Baroque, L'Orfeo employs all the resources then known within the art of music, with particularly daring use of polyphony. The work is not orchestrated as such; in the Renaissance tradition instrumentalists followed the composer's general instructions but were given considerable freedom to improvise.

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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1582:

Spain, Portugal, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and most of the Italian states became the first countries to replace the Julian calendar with the Gregorian calendar. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregorian_calendar

1951:

Mexican chemist Luis E. Miramontes conducted the very last step of the first synthesis of norethisterone, the progestin that would later be used in one of the first two oral contraceptives. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_E._Miramontes

1954:

Hurricane Hazel made landfall in The Carolinas in the United States before moving north to Toronto in Canada later the same day, killing a total of 176 people in both countries. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Hazel

1970:

Thirty-five construction workers were killed when a section of the West Gate Bridge in Melbourne collapsed due to structural failure. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Gate_Bridge

2003:

Chinese space program: Shenzhou 5, China's first manned space mission, was launched, carrying astronaut Yang Liwei. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenzhou_5

2007:

New Zealand Police conducted several anti-terrorism raids in relation to the discovery of an alleged paramilitary training camp in the Urewera mountain ranges, arresting 17 people and seizing four guns and 230 rounds of ammunition. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_New_Zealand_anti-terror_raids

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

anadromous (adj): 1. (of a migratory fish) That lives in the sea and breeds in fresh water. 2. (botany) Of a fern in which the first veins in a frond segment are produced towards the apex of the frond http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/anadromous

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership. --John Kenneth Galbraith http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Kenneth_Galbraith