User:Nrswanson/DYK

DYK contributions
As of March 27, 2009 I have created or expanded the following 80 articles which have appeared on the DYK section of the mainpage:

Art DYKs

 * ... that the New Orleans based family of master plasterer Earl Barthé has specialized in historical and decorative plasterwork since 1850?August 16, 2008

Classical music DYKs

 * ...that in addition to composing orchestral and chamber music, Joseph R. Wood arranged the Chiquita Banana song for Xavier Cugat?August 30, 2008
 * ... that composer William Turner was kicked out of the Chapel Royal choir when his voice broke?September 08, 2008
 * ... that composer Tom Scott also had a career as a folk singer known as "The American Troubador"?September 13, 2008
 * ... that Erich Walter Sternberg was the first of a wave of professional musicians to flee Germany for Palestine prior to World War II?September 25, 2008
 * ... that the majority of the more than 90 stage works composed by Thomas Arne (pictured) are now lost, probably destroyed in the disastrous fire at Covent Garden in 1808?November 26, 2008
 * ... that Anthony, Charles, Cecilia, Isabella, Sr., Isabella, Jr., Esther, Elizabeth, and Polly Young were part of an English family of musicians that included several professional singers and organists in the 17th and 18th centuries?January 20, 2009
 * ... that composer Michael Arne's obsession for alchemy and the search for the philosopher's stone led him into serious financial problems resulting in his arrest and confinement in a Dublin sponging-house?January 21, 2009
 * ... that composer Jonathan Battishill once performed several airs from Samuel Arnold's oratorio The Prodigal Son without the sheet music, and after not hearing the work for more than 20 years?January 25, 2009
 * ... that Michael Christian Festing was Thomas Arne's mentor and it is through his influence that Arne was able to pursue a music career?January 30, 2009
 * ... that the New York Philharmonic featured cellist Lorne Munroe as a soloist more than 150 times?March 19, 2009
 * ... that the Borromeo String Quartet uses laptops instead of paper sheet music when they perform?March 26, 2009
 * ... that flautist Eugenia Zukerman has been the Classical Music Correspondent for CBS News Sunday Morning since 1980?March 27, 2009

Dance DYKs

 * ... that hula master George Na'ope was designated a "Living Golden Treasure" by the state of Hawaii?August 15, 2008

Food DYKs

 * ... that Glen Ord is the only remaining single malt scotch whisky distillery on the Black Isle in the Highlands of Scotland?November 17, 2008

History DYKs

 * ... that the historic Oak Grove-Freedman's Cemetery in Salisbury, North Carolina was periodically violated causing destruction to all of the headstones and some of the bodies?August 14, 2008


 * ... that Napoleon Bonaparte is said to have visited the St. Peter's Church (pictured) in Jaffa during his campaign in Egypt and Syria in 1799?January,16 2009

Jazz DYKs

 * ... that blues musician Henry Gray (musician) is credited as helping to create the distinctive sound of the Chicago blues piano? August 15, 2008

Opera DYKs

 * ... the the opera Europa riconosciuta was first performed at the opening of La Scala in 1778 and was not performed again for more than two hundred years?July 3, 2007
 * ... that opera singer Rosemary Kuhlmann was an assistant to the international vice-president of PepsiCo for 16 years from the age of 56, despite intending to stay for only four months?February 25, 2008
 * ... that lyric tenor Evan Gorga, who created the role of Rodolfo in the original production of Giacomo Puccini's opera La bohème, reprised the role in several productions, then retired at the age of 34?June 29, 2008
 * ... that lyric coloratura soprano Harolyn Blackwell replaced opera diva Kathleen Battle when she famously got fired from the Metropolitan Opera?July 3, 2008
 * ... that 17th-century Italian composer Filippo Acciaiuoli was also an inventor of machines used for theatrical effects in operas and plays?August 28, 2008
 * ... that soprano Adele Addison stepped into the role of Bess in the 1969 film version of Gershwin's Porgy and Bess as a last-minute replacement of a singer who sounded too shrill?August 31, 2008
 * ... that a riot erupted at the opening night of Adelia, an opera by Gaetano Donizetti, because an unscrupulous promoter sold too many tickets?September 3, 2008
 * ... that opera singer Nell Rankin used her pet jaguar, King Tut, as a negotiating tool at the Metropolitan Opera?September 5, 2008
 * ... that La púrpura de la rosa is the first known opera to be written in and performed in the Americas?September 9, 2008
 * ... that Partenope was the first opera written by an American-born composer?September 25, 2008
 * ... that Udo Zimmermann's opera, Die weisse Rose tells the story of Hans and Sophie Scholl, a brother and sister who were guillotined by the Nazis for leading a non-violent resistance group?September 25, 2008
 * ... that operatic soprano Celestina Boninsegna sang her first leading role at the unusually young age of 15?October 28, 2008
 * ... that an intense rivalry between composers Francisco Asenjo Barbieri and Emilio Arrieta helped rekindle the popularity of Spanish opera during the mid 19th century?October 29, 2008
 * ... that operatic soprano Gail Robinson won the Metropolitan Opera auditions at the young age of 19?November 3, 2008
 * ... that after retiring from the stage opera singer Emma Carelli managed the Rome Opera House for almost 15 years?November 6, 2008
 * ... that French opera singer Gustave Huberdeau performed roles ranging from lead roles to character roles to mute roles?November 15, 2008
 * ... that Julian Konstantinov, the brother of Bulgarian volleyball team captain Plamen Konstantinov, is an opera singer?November 21, 2008
 * ... that although opera singer Rita Fornia began her career as a coloratura soprano, her voice lowered and darkened causing her to sing mostly mezzo-soprano roles?November 21, 2008
 * ... that opera superstar Giuseppe Cremonini ' s career was tragically cut short upon his sudden death at the age of 36?November 22, 2008
 * ... that soprano Cesira Ferrani originated two of the most iconic roles in opera history, Mimì (pictured) in the world premiere of Puccini's La bohème and the title role in the premiere of Puccini's Manon Lescaut?November 22, 2008


 * ... that Italian mezzo-soprano Flora Perini (pictured) originated the role of the Princess in the world premiere of Puccini's Suor Angelica at the Metropolitan Opera in 1918?November 23, 2008
 * ... that before becoming a famous opera singer, Ines Maria Ferraris had a career as a concert pianist beginning at the age of 12?November 26, 2008
 * ... that although Antonio Maria Bononcini's 1718 opera Griselda was successful, his older brother, Giovanni Bononcini, composed a more popular version in 1722?November 27, 2008
 * ... that Vivaldi's opera Griselda is based on the folklore character Griselda as told by Giovanni Boccaccio in the The Decameron?November 27, 2008
 * ... that in spite of her great reputation in Europe, operatic soprano Lucienne Bréval had limited success in America as critics thought her singing lacked polish?December 01, 2008
 * ... that operatic soprano Romilda Pantaleoni sang the role of Desdemona in the original 1887 production of Giuseppe Verdi's Otello?December 17, 2008
 * ... that tenor Albert Reiss sang in 1,070 performances at the Metropolitan Opera?December 23, 2008
 * ... that operatic soprano Maria Zamboni was the first person to record the title role of Puccini's Manon Lescaut in its entirety?January 10, 2009
 * ... that Nino Martini appeared in numerous Hollywood films during the 1930s and 1940s while simultaneously starring regularly in leading tenor roles at the Metropolitan Opera?January 11, 2009
 * ... that composer Egidio Duni was particularly influential in creating a new genre of opera which blended Italian opera elements with traditional French ones?January 25, 2009
 * ... that Isaac Albéniz's opera Pepita Jiménez has been adapted several times by numerous people into different constructs and languages?January 30, 2009
 * ... that Maurice Maeterlinck threatened legal action and physical violence against Claude Debussy after he did not cast Maeterlinck's lover, Georgette Leblanc, in the title role of their opera Pelléas et Mélisande?January 31, 2009
 * ... that operatic tenor Andreas Dippel portrayed the title role in Alberto Franchetti Asrael in its United States premiere at the Metropolitan Opera?February 2, 2009
 * ... that Isidore de Lara ' s Messaline was the first opera by an English composer to be produced at La Scala?February 3, 2009
 * ... that operatic tenor Gustav Walter portrayed the role of Assad in the world premiere of Karl Goldmark's Die Königin von Saba?February 4, 2009
 * ... that Georgette Leblanc portrayed the role of Ariane in the original 1899 play Ariane et Barbe-bleue by Maurice Maeterlinck and in the 1907 opera adaptation by Paul Dukas?February 9, 2009
 * ... that opera singers Johann Nepomuk Beck, Marie Wilt, and Hans von Rokitansky all performed in the world premiere of Karl Goldmark's Die Königin von Saba on 10 March 1875?February 10, 2009
 * ... that Donizetti wrote the title role of his opera Adelia for Giuseppina Strepponi (pictured), the second wife of Giuseppe Verdi?March 04, 2009
 * ... that Camille Saint-Saëns's opera Hélène was recorded in 2008 after not being heard since 1919?March 05, 2009
 * ... that operatic tenor Franz Ferenczy portrayed the role of Samson in the world premiere of Saint-Saëns's Samson et Dalila on 2 December 1877?March 05, 2009
 * ... that Camille Saint-Saëns's 1911 opera Déjanire was originally a 1898 play accompanied by symphonic music, choruses and a ballet?March 06, 2009
 * ... that German bass Hans Herbert Fiedler sang the role of Moses in the original 1954 production of Arnold Schoenberg's Moses und Aron?March 06, 2009
 * ... that baritone Hans von Milde sang for nearly forty years at the Staatskapelle Weimar where he performed the role of the High Priest in the world premiere of Saint-Saëns's Samson et Dalila in 1877?March 07, 2009
 * ... that the librettists for Saint-Saëns's Le timbre d’argent, Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, also wrote the librettos for Gounod’s Faust and Offenbach’s Les contes d'Hoffmann?March 10, 2009
 * ... that American baritone James Billings has portrayed more than 175 opera roles on stage during his long career?March 10, 2009
 * ... that although La princesse jaune is the third opera that Saint-Saëns’ composed, it was his first opera to actually be mounted on the stage?March 10, 2009
 * ... that mezzo-soprano Stephanie Novacek created roles in the premieres of two important operas, the role of Maria Callas in Daugherty's Jackie O and the role of heroine Jo March in Adamo's Little Women?March 25, 2009

Theatre

 * ... that Canadian actress Cara Duff-MacCormick won a Theatre World Award for her role in Moonchildren, a play about coming of age during the Vietnam War era? March 23, 2009