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Carmen, illustration in Journal Amusant

Carmen is an opera in four acts which Georges Bizet set to a libretto by the team of 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. (Full article...)

Lil Stoner

• ... that pitcher and "smokeball artist" Lil Stoner (pictured) also enjoyed baking and growing flowers?
• ... that Jia Ling's directorial debut film Hi, Mom has made her the highest-grossing female director in Chinese box-office history?
• ... that George A. Palmer continued his live Morning Cheer radio broadcast from his house while it was on fire?
• ... that Amonovula piriei is a master of camouflage?
• ... that Robert Dean was one of the few Anglophone Quebecers to join the separatist Parti Québécois?
• ... that at the conclusion of the 2006 Football League Two play-off Final, the losing manager said his side did not deserve to win and the winning goalscorer said he did not mean to score?
• ... that Caroline Parker, a deaf performer, signed the song "I Am What I Am" at the 2012 Summer Paralympics opening ceremony?
• ... that Diana, Princess of Wales, wore her revenge dress on the night that her husband admitted to having been unfaithful in a televised interview?

Naomi Osaka and Novak Djokovic

• ​About 300 girls are kidnapped from a secondary school by armed bandits, and later released, in Zamfara, Nigeria.
• In tennis, Naomi Osaka wins the women's singles and Novak Djokovic wins the men's singles at the Australian Open (both winners pictured).
• Porfirije is enthroned as the 46th Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church.
• NASA's Perseverance rover, carrying the Ingenuity helicopter, successfully lands on Mars.

March 3: Liberation Day in Bulgaria (1878); Hinamatsuri in Japan

Rodney King

• 1875 – The first indoor game of ice hockey was played at the Victoria Skating Rink in Montreal by James Creighton and students of McGill University.
• 1891 – Shoshone National Forest, in the U.S. state of Wyoming, was established as the country's first national forest.
• 1924 – The Ottoman Caliphate, the world's last widely recognized caliphate, was abolished.
• 1991 – Motorist Rodney King (pictured) 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.
• 2012 – Two passenger trains collided near Szczekociny, Poland, resulting in 16 deaths and 58 injuries.