The Marriage of Figaro, K. 492, is an opera buffa in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna on 1 May 1786; the opera's libretto is based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro, first performed in 1784. It tells how the servants Figaro and Susanna succeed in getting married, foiling the efforts of their philandering employer Count Almaviva to seduce Susanna and teaching him a lesson in fidelity; the opera is a cornerstone of the repertoire and appears among the top ten in the Operabase list of most performed operas. Beaumarchais's earlier play The Barber of Seville had made a successful transition to opera in a version by Paisiello. Beaumarchais's Mariage de Figaro was at first banned in Vienna. Mozart's librettist managed to get official approval from the emperor for an operatic version which achieved great success; the opera was the first of three collaborations between Da Ponte.

It was Mozart who selected Beaumarchais's play and brought it to Da Ponte, who turned it into a libretto in six weeks, rewriting it in poetic Italian and removing all of the original's political references. In particular, Da Ponte replaced Figaro's climactic speech against inherited nobility with an angry aria against unfaithful wives; the libretto was approved by the Emperor. The Imperial Italian opera company paid Mozart 450 florins for the work. Da Ponte was paid 200 florins. Figaro premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna on 1 May 1786, with a cast listed in the "Roles" section below. Mozart himself directed the first two performances, conducting seated at the keyboard, the custom of the day. Performances were conducted by Joseph Weigl; the first production was given eight further performances, all in 1786. Although the total of nine performances was nothing like the frequency of performance of Mozart's success, The Magic Flute, which for months was performed every other day, the premiere is judged to have been a success.

The applause of the audience on the first night resulted in five numbers being encored, seven on 8 May. Joseph II, who, in addition to his empire, was in charge of the Burgtheater, was concerned by the length of the performance and directed his aide Count Rosenberg as follows: To prevent the excessive duration of operas, without however prejudicing the fame sought by opera singers from the repetition of vocal pieces, I deem the enclosed notice to the public to be the most reasonable expedient. You will therefore cause some posters to this effect to be printed; the requested posters were printed up and posted in the Burgtheater in time for the third performance on 24 May. The newspaper Wiener Realzeitung carried a review of the opera in its issue of 11 July 1786, it alludes to interference produced by paid hecklers, but praises the work warmly: Mozart's music was admired by connoisseurs at the first performance, if I except only those whose self-love and conceit will not allow them to find merit in anything not written by themselves.

The public, however... did not know on the first day where it stood. It heard many a bravo from unbiased connoisseurs, but obstreperous louts in the uppermost storey exerted their hired lungs with all their might to deafen singers and audience alike with their St! and Pst. Apart from that, it is true that the first performance was none of the best, owing to the difficulties of the composition, but now, after several performances, one would be subscribing either to the cabal or to tastelessness if one were to maintain that Herr Mozart's music is anything but a masterpiece of art. It contains so many beauties, such a wealth of ideas, as can be drawn only from the source of innate genius; the Hungarian poet Ferenc Kazinczy was in the audience for a May performance, remembered the powerful impression the work made on him: Storace, the beautiful singer, enchanted eye and soul. -- Mozart directed the orchestra. Where could words be found that are worthy to describe such joy? Joseph Haydn appreciated the opera writing to a friend that he heard it in his dreams.

In summer 1790 Haydn attempted to produce the work with his own company at Eszterháza, but was prevented from doing so by the death of his patron, Nikolaus Esterházy. The Emperor requested a special performance at his palace theater in Laxenburg, which took place in June 1786; the opera was produced in Prague starting in December 1786 by the Pasquale Bondini company. This production was a tremendous success. Local music lovers paid for Mozart to visit Pr

The Monte Ceneri transmitter was first established as the nationwide medium-wave radio transmission station for Italian-speaking Switzerland in 1933. Located on Monte Ceneri in Ticino, it broadcast on a frequency of 558 kHz; the original transmission mast – a 120-metre-high free-standing lattice tower insulated from the ground – was constructed in the Monte Ceneri pass. Today this tower is used for DAB and DVB-T broadcasting, for which purposes a 15-metre-high antenna has been added at the top, so that the full height of the mast is now 135 metres. In 1978 a new facility for the Monte Ceneri transmitter was built north of Isone; this uses as its main antenna a 220-metre guyed lattice-steel mast insulated from the ground and, as backup, a T-antenna, suspended between two guyed tubular-steel masts. The main mast –, the only tall guyed mast in Switzerland, as well as being the country's second-tallest tower-type structure – is equipped with an elevator, the machinery of, installed in a compartment just above the basement insulator.

Despite the location change, the old name of the transmitter was retained. On 30 June 2008 the transmitter was shut down; the Voice of Russia subsequently expressed an interest in acquiring a licence to broadcast from the site using the 558 kHz frequency and on 9 February 2011 it received permission from the Swiss Federal Office of Communications to do so. VoR began transmissions from Monte Ceneri on 1 April 2011. In July 2016 the scheduled demolition of the nowadays unused mast has begun. Monte Ceneri-Cima Transmission Tower at Structurae Transmitter data Drawings of Sendemast Monte Ceneri - SkyscraperPage.com Pictures from the antenna

Splash Down Waterpark, a waterpark located within Ben Lomond Regional Park in Sudley, Virginia, is operated by the Prince William County Department of Parks and Recreation. The park was built at the location of the Ben Lomond swimming pool, opening in May 1996. Among slides and wading pools, the facility houses a 25 meter competition pool. Five Water Areas Zero Depth Beach Area Boat Slide, Water Raindrops & Bubblers 770 ft. Lazy River Children's Area with 4 Water Slides Two 4-Story Waterslides Two fast Cannonball Slides 25 Meter Leisure Pool Log Walks & Lily Pad Walk Two Tropical Twister Waterslides Splash Down Waterpark is the home of the Ben Lomond Flying Ducks Swim Team. Splash Down Water Park Ben Lomond Flying Ducks

Lionel Percy Smythe was a British artist, etcher. Lionel Percy Smythe was the illegitimate son of Percy Clinton Sydney Smythe, 6th Viscount Strangford and Katherine Benham, he was born in London in 1839 and spent his early years in France, where his younger sister and brother were born. The family returned to London in 1843 and lived in Gloucester Crescent, Camden). Smythe was educated at King's College School, he was partly educated in France and spent holidays there at Wimereux in Normandy with his stepfather William Morrison Wyllie and family. He trained in art at the Heatherley School of Fine Art, he was half brother of Charles William Wyllie. Smythe exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1863 and the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours from 1881 - he transferred his allegiance to the Royal Watercolour Society in 1892, becoming a member in 1894. Smythe painted rural landscapes and maritime scenes and animals in both oils and watercolours, became associated with the Idyllists. Smythe and his wife Alice made frequent trips to France and settled in Normandy in 1879, in an old Napoleonic fortress on the coast at Wimereux - until the building was inundated by the sea.

Subsequently, they moved, in 1882, to the Château d'Honvault on a hill between Wimereux and Boulogne. The couple had three children, of whom Minnie Smythe became a painter. Smythe lived and worked here until his death in 1918, the countryside and rural life of the area becoming the main inspiration for his art; the Arabian Nights Shorthanded Field of the cloth of gold: Twixt Calais and Guines Mowers with elm trees The First Buds of Spring Springtime Germinal Harvesters returning Children fording a river by a continental town Boulogne fishing folk La Tricoteuse Bleaching linen Caught in the frozen palms of spring Spring outing Under the Greenwood Tree The Farmyard at Château d'Honvault, Wimereux The Adoration The Harvester Summer Shrimpers A Thick Night Off the Goodwins The Bait Digger When life is hard its better to be young Hounds A. L. Baldry. Lionel P. Smythe, A. R. A. R. W. S.. Rosa M. Whitlaw & W. L. Wyllie. Lionel P. Smythe - His Life and Work Scott Wilcox & Christopher Newall. Victorian landscape watercolors, pp166–167.

Smythe-lionel-c-1830after-1880 9 paintings by or after Lionel Percy Smythe at the Art UK site L. P. Smythe online Paintings by L. P. Smythe L P Smythe "Bleaching line" Photo of L P Smythe Profile on Royal Academy of Arts Collections

The 1971 European Figure Skating Championships were the European Figure Skating Championships of the 1970-1971 season. Elite senior-level figure skaters from European ISU Member Nations competed for the title of European Champion. Skaters competed in the disciplines of ladies' singles, men's singles, pair skating, ice dancing. In 1971, the European Championships were held at the Hallenstadion in Zürich, Switzerland from February 2–7; the pair skating event demonstrated the dominance of the Soviet Union in this discipline. Irina Rodnina and Alexei Ulanov took the title in spite of a fall by Ulanov on a double axel, a side-by-side jump not being attempted by any other team; the ice dance competition was a contrast between the Russian styles of dance. British-trained Angelika and Erich Buck narrowly lost a 5-4 decision to Liudmila Pakhomova and Alexandr Gorshkov, who as usual were criticized for their unequal balance of skills. Ondrej Nepela ran away with the men's title following the withdrawal of his two top challengers, Patrick Péra and Gunter Zoller, due to injuries.

Nepela's victory was more the result of his strong showing in the compulsory figures than for his rather indistinguished free skating. The free skating portion of the competition was won by Haig Oundjian, who landed triple toe loop and triple salchow jumps and moved up from 6th after the figures to take the bronze medal; the ladies event was decided by the compulsory figures as Beatrix Schuba dominated that part of the competition. The free skating was won by Sonja Morgenstern, who landed a triple salchow jump in her program—at that time it was rare for women to attempt triple jumps. Morgenstern had placed a distant 8th in the figures. Schuba was criticized for the poor quality of her free skating, which included a fall on a simple double loop as well as a definite underrotation on her double axel. results "Europeans", Skating magazine, Apr 1971

In Melbourne Today was an early Australian television series, which aired in two versions in the 1950s, on Melbourne station GTV-9. It was Australia's first breakfast television series; the first version aired on Saturdays at 7:30AM, ran from 26 October 1957 to 5 April 1958, with episodes running for 3 hours. At the time, the other Melbourne stations began their broadcasting day in the afternoon, as such In Melbourne Today was an early experiment in morning programming, pre-dating Sydney station ATN-7's October 1958 experiment. However, it would appear viewers weren't ready to watch TV at 7:30AM, as after the series ended GTV-9 stopped offering regular morning programs for several years. Regulars in this version included host Geoff Corke, along with the Tune Twisters, newsreader Eric Pearce, Eric Welch, Shirley Radford, Arlene Forrest, Bill McCormack; the series aired live from a location, for example one of the episodes was broadcast from the beach at Sorrento. A different episode was broadcast from Geelong.

The second version of the series aired on Sundays at 4:00PM, ran from 13 April to 20 July 1958. Again featuring Geoff Corke, Bill McCormack and Eric Pearce, this version featured, Evie Hayes, Gretta Miers and Hal Todd; the Tune-Twisters presented a segment called "Music Shop" while John Casson did a segment called "I'll Tell You a Story". It aired at 2:30PM, with regular features including "Children's Doctor" with Margaret Mackay and piano contest. Four of the segments, The Gallery Comes to You, Children's Doctor, Bill McCormack and the Tunetwisters segments, were spun off into their own series following the end of In Melbourne Today, though the episodes of these series were short. For example, Children's Doctor and The Gallery Comes to You were combined into a single 15-minute time-slot, while Bill McCormack's show was a 15-minute series. Bert Newton, who became famous for his appearances on In Melbourne Tonight, has said he was meant to appear on In Melbourne Today but due to a hold up in production, he never worked on the breakfast program.

After being afforded the opportunity to do a live commercial on In Melbourne Tonight, he impressed executives so much he was told to "forget the breakfast program". In 1989, Denise Drysdale and Ernie Sigley teamed up to host a modern-day version of In Melbourne Today which aired in Melbourne for several years before it aired nationally under its new title, Ernie & Denise