December 24, 1871: "Aida" Premieres

December 24, 1871: Aida premieres at the Khedivial Opera House in Cairo, the capital of the country where the opera takes place, Egypt. Antonietta Anastasi-Pozzoni plays Princess Aida of Ethiopia. Pietro Mongini plays Captain of the Guard Radamès. The conductor is Giovanni Bottesini. The libretto was written by Antonio Ghislanzoni. And the composer is Giuseppi Verdi, making a triumphal return to opera after some time away.

Before I go any further: This is the earliest work of classical music for which I felt it necessary to do one of these entries. Some other notable works that came before my 1869 cutoff date:

* Johann Sebastian Bach: Toccata and Fugue in D Minor (a.k.a. the Phantom of the Opera's song), 1704; the Brandenburg Concertos, 1721.

* George Frideric Handel: Water Music, 1717; Messiah, including its "Hallelujah Chorus," 1741.

* Christian Petzol: Minuet in G, 1720. Long thought to have been written by Bach in 1725, in 1965 it was adapted by Sandy Linzer and Denny Randell as "A Lover's Concerto," a hit by female vocal group The Toys.

* Antonio Vivaldi: The Four Seasons, 1725.

* Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro, 1786; Eine kleine Nachtmusik (A Little Night Music) and Don Giovanni (Don Juan), 1787; Symphony No. 40, 1788; The Magic Flute, 1791.

* Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 14 (a.k.a. the Moonlight Sonata, a name not given to it until long after his death), 1801; Bagatelle No. 25 in A Minor (a.k.a. Für Elise), 1810, although it wasn't published until 1867; and his 9 Symphonies, 1800, 1803, 1805, 1807, 1808, 1808, 1813, 1814, and 1824.

* Niccolo Paganini: Carnival of Venice, 1829.

* Gioachino Rossini: William Tell, including its Overture (a.k.a. the Lone Ranger Theme), 1829.

* Johan Strauss: The Blue Danube, 1867.

* Edvard Grieg: Piano Concerto No. 1, 1869.

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Giuseppe Verdi -- or, as the Danish pianist and comedian Victor Borge liked to call him, Joe Green, for the literal English translation of his name is "Joseph Green" -- was born as Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi on October 9, 1813 in Le Roncole, outside Parma, Italy. He would remain the greatest composer born on an October 9, until 1940, when John Lennon was born in Liverpool, England.

By the age of 8, Verdi was already paid to be the organist at his church. Although he liked to associate himself with the common people, his parents were landowners, so they could afford to assist his love of music. He was writing operas by 1834, and married Margherita Barezzi in the Spring of 1836. By the Summer of 1838, they had a daughter and a son; by the Summer of 1840, Margherita and both children had died. So many operas have been tragic, but, by 27, Verdi had already sustained more tragedy than anyone should.

In 1847, at 34, Verdi wrote I Masnadieri, (The Robbers), based on Friedrich Schiller's play Die Räuber. The female lead was Giuseppina Strepponi. At 32, she was famous for her voice, and infamous for already having had 5 (or 6, depending on who was telling the story) illegitimate pregnancies, although only 2 children survived infancy. She moved in with him, and, in mostly-Catholic, very conservative 19th Century Italy, that caused a scandal that hurt him commercially.

He didn't care, especially since her linguistic skill made her a good translator. From French, she translated Victor Hugo's 1832 play Le Roi S'Amuse (The King Amuses Himself), and it became Verdi's 1851 opera Rigoletto, with perhaps the most famous song in all of Italian opera, the Duke of Mantua's "La Donna è Mobile" ("Woman is Fickle").

From Spanish, she translated the 1836 play El Trovador (The Troubadour) by Antonio García Gutiérrez, and it became Verdi's 1853 opera Il Trovatore, which, thanks in large part to its Anvil Chorus, brought the public back over to his side. Also in 1853, in her honor, he wrote La Traviata (The Fallen Woman), based on La Dame aux Camélias (The Lady of the Camellias) by Alexandre Dumas fils, which eventually became the Greta Garbo film Camille.

In 1859, Verdi stepped back from composing, having married Strepponi, although they had no children together; and inherited his family's lands, and concentrated on running them. He supported the unification of Italy, which occurred in 1861, and became friends with King Victor Emmanuel II, who kept his numbering as King of Piedmont when he became King of united Italy. One of Verdi's few works in this period was La Forza del Destino (The Force of Destiny, or The Power of Fate), in 1862, another of his works to be based on a Spanish play.

Isma'il Pasha, the Khedive (Sultan) of Egypt, offered Verdi 150,000 francs to write an opera for his new Opera House in Cairo. Difficulties led to delays, which resulted in the 1st opera being performed there, on November 1, 1869, being an established Verdi work, Rigoletto. Verdi was living in Paris, and had sets and costumes made for the original work that he had intended to open the Opera House, but the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 prevented him from leaving the country with them. Finally, on December 24, 1871, Aida could premiere at the Khedivial Opera House.

The story tells of a war between Egypt, during its Old Kingdom period (2700-2200 BC, also known as the Age of the Pyramid Builders), and Ethiopia, and the love between Egyptian warrior Radamès and Aida, the captured daughter of the King of Ethiopia.

Verdi did not attend the premiere in Cairo, and was angry that the audience consisted of invited dignitaries, politicians and critics, but no members of the general public. He therefore considered the European premiere, in which he was heavily involved at every stage, to be its real première: February 8, 1872, at the home of Italian opera, Teatro alla Scala (usually written as just "La Scala") in Milan.

He had written the role of Aida for the Czech spinto soprano Teresa Stolz, and she sang it at that premiere. She was then engaged to Angelo Mariani, and asked him to conduct, but he declined, and Bottesini conducted it again. Giuseppe Fancelli played Radamès.

In his later years, having already turned Macbeth into an opera, Verdi wrote some operas based on other works of William Shakespeare, including Otello (the lack of an H differentiates it from the play Othello), The Merry Wives of Windsor, and Falstaff.

Giuseppina died in 1897, and Verdi was heartbroken. He died on January 27, 1901, 6 days after suffering a stroke. He was buried next to his wife at the Casa di Riposo (House of Repose) in Milan.

Isma'il Pasha was deposed as Khedive in 1879, and died in 1895. Pietro Mongini, the Cairo premiere's Radamès, died of a heart ailment in 1874, only 45 years old. Giuseppi Fancelli, the Milan premiere's Radamès, lived until 1887; conductor Giovanni Bottesini, until 1889; librettist Antonio Ghislanzoni, 1893; Teresa Stolz, the Milan premiere's Aida, until 1902; Antonietta Anastasi-Pozzoni, the Cairo premiere's Aida, until 1917. 

The Khedivial Opera House burned down on October 28, 1971, and wasn't replaced until a new Cairo Opera House opened at a different location in 1988. The site of the original building is now a parking garage, but its street is still named Opera Square.

Verdi's operas Rigoletto, Aida, Il Trovatore and La Forza del Destino were mentioned in "Does Your Mother Know You're Out, Rigoletto?" an episode of The Odd Couple that aired on ABC on November 5, 1971, almost exactly 100 years after Aida premiered -- and mere days after the Khedivial Opera House burned down.

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December 24, 1871 was a Sunday. It was Christmas Eve. No major sporting events were held that day.

October 6, 1981: The Assassination of Anwar Sadat

October 6, 1981: Also on this day, Anwar Sadat is assassinated while reviewing a military parade in the Egyptian capital of Cairo. President of Egypt since 1970, and negotiator of the Camp David Peace Accords with President Jimmy Carter and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin in 1978, he was 63.

The assassin, Army Lieutenant Khalid Islambouli, claimed he did it because of the peace with Israel. He was tried, convicted, and executed the following April.

Vice President Hosni Mubarak becomes President, and resumes the repression of Sadat's predecessor, Gamal Abdel Nasser. until his overthrow in 2011. But the promise of the "Arab Spring" falls short, and Egypt remains a repressive country.

Earlier in the year, on March 30, President Ronald Reagan was shot, but survived. And on May 13, Pope John Paul II was shot, but survived. Sadat did not.

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October 6, 1981 was a Tuesday. Football was in midweek. The NBA season didn't start until October 30.

Game 1 of the AL Division Series, forced by the strike season's split-season format, was played. Billy Martin, now managing the Oakland Athletics, becomes the 1st manager to take 4 franchises into the postseason. He had previously done so with the 1969 Minnesota Twins, the 1972 Detroit Tigers, and the 1976 and 1977 New York Yankees.

The A's are facing the Kansas City Royals, at Royals Stadium (later Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City, and due to his exile there from the Yankees in 1957 and his 1976 and '77 Playoff battles against them, Martin hates Kansas City, and, more than usual, wants to win there.

No problem: Mike Norris tosses a 6-hit shutout, and the A's win 4-0, their 1st win in a postseason game in 7 years.

On the same day, Game 1 of the NL Division Series is played. Alan Ashby, a light-hitting catcher, hits a walkoff home run to give the Astros another big win over the Dodgers, 3-1. Rookie sensation Fernando Valenzuela was the winning pitcher. The pitcher who gave up the home run was Dave Stewart. Both he and the Dodgers would have more luck as the postseason went on, first together, then apart. 

The other ALDS, between the New York Yankees and the Milwaukee Brewers, started the next day. So did the other NLDS, between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Montreal Expos.

This was also the Opening Night of the 1981-82 NHL season, and 5 games were played:

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the New York Rangers lost to the Detroit Red Wings, 5-2 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Quebec Nordiques beat the Hartford Whalers, 6-5 at the Colisée de Québec.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 6-2 at the St. Louis Arena.

* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Winnipeg Jets, 6-1 at the Winnipeg Arena.

* And the Vancouver Canucks beat the Colorado Rockies, 4-2 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver. The next season, the Rockies moved to the Meadowlands, and became the New Jersey Devils.

August 14, 2013: The End of the Arab Spring

August 14, 2013: The Egyptian police and armed forces, under the command of General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi raided two camps of protesters in the national capital of Cairo: One at al-Nahda Square, and a larger one at Rabaa al-Adawiya Square.

The two sites had been occupied by supporters of President Mohamed Morsi, who had been removed from office by the military a little over a month earlier in the Egyptian coup d'état. Initiatives to end the six-week sit-ins by peaceful means had failed, and the camps were cleared out within hours.

Human Rights Watch described the raids as crimes against humanity and "one of the world's largest killings of demonstrators in a single day in recent history." It alleged that at least 904 protesters were killed: 817 in Rabaa Square and 87 in al-Nahda Square. There were strong suggestions that at least 1,000 protesters died during the dispersal.

The Egyptian Health Ministry announced that 595 civilians and 43 police officers were killed, and at least 3,994 were injured. The official Forensic Medical Authority stated that the number of police officers killed was eight. Egypt's National Council for Human Rights announced that at least 624 civilians were killed.

The Muslim Brotherhood and the National Coalition for Supporting Legitimiacy stated the number of deaths from the Rabaa al-Adawiya Mosque sit-in alone was about 2,600. The total casualty count made August 14 the deadliest day in Egypt since the 2011 revolution which toppled former President Hosni Mubarak.

The editors of Time magazine had named "The Protestor," as a generic representative of various causes, as their Person of the Year for 2011. The Arab Spring was a part of that. By 2013, the hope was over.

While this was going on in Egypt, Bashar al-Assad, the dictator of Syria, was launching poison gas on his own citizens who were protesting his evil regime. The civilized world was appalled, but, with the ongoing American occupation of Afghanistan and the recent American withdrawal from Iraq, the desire of the West to intervene in either Egypt or Syria -- especially with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin seeming to support Assad -- means the end of what had been called the Arab Spring, a hopeful period that had suggested a freer future for the Middle East.

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August 14, 2013 was a Wednesday. These Major League Baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, 11-3 at Yankee Stadium. Iván Nova was the winning pitcher. Alfonso Soriano hit 2 home runs.

* The New York Mets lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-4 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Back-to-back doubles by Yasiel Puig and Adrián González won the game in the bottom of the 12th inning.

* The Washington Nationals beat the San Francisco Giants, 6-5 at Nationals Park in Washington.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-3 at Turner Field (now Center Parc Stadium) in Atlanta.

* The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Seattle Mariners, 5-4 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Boston Red Sox, 4-3 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto. Brett Lawrie singled home Rajai Davis to win the game in the bottom of the 10th inning.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago White Sox, 6-4 at U.S. Cellular Field (now Rate Field) in Chicago.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Chicago Cubs, 5-0 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Yes, both Chicago teams were at home on the same day, and both lost. Bronson Arroyo pitched 7 innings of 2-hit shutout ball, and then Alfredo Simon and Jonathan Broxton each pitched a perfect inning.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Minnesota Twins, 9-8 at Target Field in Minneapolis. Michael Brantley drove Nick Swisher home with a sacrifice fly in the top of the 12th inning to win it.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-1 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Miami Marlins beat the Kansas City Royals, 5-2 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-4 at Rangers Ballpark (now Choctaw Stadium) in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* The Colorado Rockies beat the San Diego Padres, 4-2 at Coors Field in Denver.

* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Baltimore Orioles, 5-4 at Chase Field in Phoenix. Aaron Hill singled home Gerardo Parra in the bottom of the 14th inning.

* And the Houston Astros beat the Oakland Athletics, 2-1 at the Oakland Coliseum (then named the O.co Coliseum). Carlos Corporán doubled home José Altuve in the top of the 11th inning.

February 17, 1974: The Zamalek Stadium Disaster

February 17, 1974: Tragedy strikes the Zamalek Stadium in Egypt, causing the deaths of 48 people.

The Zamalek Stadium opened in 1959, in Giza, across the Nile River from Cairo. It was the home of Zamalek Sporting Club, which won the Egyptian Premier League title the next season. They've won it 13 times. (UPDATE: In 2022, they won a 14th title. In 2026, they won a 15th.)

Their arch-rivals are Cairo team Al-Ahly S.C., and their games are called the Cairo Derby. Al-Ahly are the most successful soccer team on the continent of Africa, having won their national league 43 times. However, they have never won the Confederation of African Football's Champions League, while Zamalek have won it 5 times, most recently in 2002.

In 1959, the stadium's opening was for an exhibition game, a "friendly," between Zamalek and Czech team Dukla Prague. On February 17, 1974, the same 2 teams were set to play another friendly. At the time, Zamalek Stadium had a capacity of 40,000 people. The match was originally set for Egypt's national stadium, the 120,000-seat Nasser Stadium in Cairo. But the site was changed to the Zamalek Stadium.

Because of this many supporters thought they would not be able to enter the newly chosen stadium. There was a stampede before the game, some walls crumbled, and many people were left dead. According to reports, up to 80,000 people tried to access the stadium, twice the capacity. Before the dead could be counted, the decision was made to cancel the game. The death toll has been reported as 48, 49 or 50. Over 800 people reported injuries.

The stadium was seriously renovated, and now seats just 20,000. It has been renamed the Abdel-Latif Abu-Rajelha Stadium, after Zamalek's former team president.

The Nasser Stadium, named for Gamal Abdel Nasser, Egypt's dictatorial President from 1953 until his death in 1970, has also been modernized and converted to all-seater. It is named the Cairo International Stadium, and seats 75,000.

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February 17, 1974 was a Sunday. Actor Jerry O'Connell was born.

Baseball and football were out of season. There were 8 games in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Milwaukee Bucks, 97-86 at the Milwaukee Exposition & Convention Center Arena, a.k.a. The MECCA. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had 32 points and 23 rebounds.

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 118-107 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Capital Bullets -- as the Washington Bullets were known in their 1st season only -- beat the Boston Celtics, 99-95 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Golden State Warriors beat the Chicago Bulls, 108-105 at the Chicago Stadium.

* The Buffalo Braves beat the Houston Rockets, 135-118 at the Hofheinz Pavilion (now the Fertitta Center) in Houston. Bob McAdoo scored 38 points.

* The Phoenix Suns beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 112-100 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 113-110 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California. Gail Goodrich of the Lakers and Lou Hudson of the Hawks each scored 35 points. Pete Maravich of the Hawks scored 32.

* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 106-97 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.

There were 3 games in the American Basketball Association:

* The Virginia Squires beat the Kentucky Colonels, 118-113 at The Scope in Norfolk, Virginia. Jim Eakins scored 41 points.

* The Indiana Pacers beat the Denver Rockets, 93-92 at the Auditorium Arena in Denver.

* And the San Diego Conquistadors beat the Carolina Cougars, 129-123 at the San Diego Sports Arena (now the Pechanga Arena). Travis Grant scored 41.

There were 4 games in the NHL:

* The Montreal Canadiens and the Philadelphia Flyers played to a tie, 2-2 at the Montreal Forum.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Detroit Red Wings, 2-1 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

* The Chicago Black Hawks beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-1 at the Chicago Stadium. Yes, it hosted an NBA game and an NHL game on the same day.

* And the Minnesota North Stars beat the California Golden Seals, 7-1 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

And there were 6 games in the World Hockey Association:

* The Jersey Knights beat the Quebec Nordiques, 10-3 at the Cherry Hill Arena in the Philadelphia suburb of Cherry Hill, New Jersey.

* The Cleveland Crusaders beat the Chicago Cougars, 6-5 at the Cleveland Arena.

* The New England Whalers beat the Winnipeg Jets, 3-2 in overtime at the Winnipeg Arena.

* The Minnesota Fighting Saints beat the Houston Aeros, 6-1 at the Sam Houston Coliseum in Houston.

* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Toronto Toros, 3-2 in overtime at the Edmonton Gardens.

* And the Vancouver Blazers beat the Los Angeles Sharks, 4-0 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena.

One more sports note: On this day, FC Barcelona beat arch-rival Real Madrid, 5-0 at Estadio Santiago Bernabéu in Madrid. It is considered Barcelona's greatest La Liga game, not just for the performance, but for what it represented against the Fascist regime then ruling Spain. I have a separate entry for that event.