Five Melon-Headed Whales Are Dead and Six Alive After Hawaii Stranding

Summary: Hawaiian melon-headed whales add up to five fewer after four euthanizations in a 10-whale stranding Aug. 29, 2019, and a lone-stranding death, on Maui.

The Aug. 29, 2019, mass stranding of whales at Sugar Beach, South Maui, included a deceased calf, who washed ashore seven hours later, about one mile from the adults; David Schofield, NOAA's (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Regional Marine Mammal Health & Response Program coordinator, told Maui Now News Director Wendy Osher that the strandees are believed to be melon-headed whales: MauiNow.com @mauinow via Facebook Aug. 29, 2019

Hawaiian melon-headed whales are five fewer after a mass stranding Aug. 29, 2019, of 10 Hawaiian melon-headed whales on Sugar Beach, Kihei coastal resort community, Maui, Hawaii, and a lone stranding nearby.

One whale calf beached one mile (1.61 kilometers) away from the Maui beach that bore two compromised, four healthy and four subsequently tranquilized, euthanized melon-headed whales. The two compromised melon-headed whales convinced National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) veterinarians of their capabilities to refloat with the healthy quartet by Aug. 31, 2019. Every three to four years sexually mature seven-plus-year-old females deliver, 12 months after mating with sexually mature 12 to 15-year-old males, 3-foot (0.921-meter) newborn melon-headed whales.

Forty-five-year life expectancies entail mature females educating immature melon-headed whales in resting mornings; leaping above-surface and socializing afternoons; and foraging cuttlefish, fish, shrimp and squid nights.

Physical and sexual maturity furnishes melon-headed whales dark bodies with dark-sided, small heads; rounded forehead organs; large dorsal capes and fins; and pointed, tapering pectoral fins.

Melon-headed whales, grouped as Peponocephala electra (from Greek πέπων, "pumpkin," κεφαλή, "head" and ἤλεκτρον, "amber") get 9-foot (9.84-meter-) long, 460-pound (208.65-kilogram) physically and sexually mature bodies. Perhaps matrilinear social structures have physically and sexually mature male melon-headed whales head out of, and physically and sexually mature females herd with, their birth groups. Melon-headed whales, identified by John Gray (Feb. 12, 1800-March 7, 1875), interact with related false killer (Pseudorca crassidens), pygmy killer (Feresa attenuata) and short-finned pilot whales.

Melon-headed whales sometimes journey with mixed bottlenose (Tursiops truncatus), pantropical spotted (Stenella attenuata), rough-toothed (Steno bredanensis), short-finned pilot (Globicephala macrorhynchus) and spinner (Stenella longirostris) whale schools.

NOAA species profiles and reports know of Unitedstatesian populations of melon-headed whales off New England and mid-Atlantic, southeast and west coastal states and off Pacific islands.

Commercial and governmental activities locate within the 4,593.18 to 5,905.51-foot (1,400 to 1,800-meter) breeding and feeding depths of the larger, non-resident group of Hawaiian melon-headed whales. They menace, at 492.13 to 1,312.34-foot (150 to 400-meter) breeding, feeding and socializing subsurface depths, resident, smaller group of the two populations of Hawaiian melon-headed whales. Commercial and governmental activities net dead, declining, disoriented melon-headed whales when the former nestle into the latter's 656.17 to 3,280.84-foot (200 to 1,000-meter) subsurface feeding depths.

NOAA species profiles and reports observe light, noise and particulate pollution and tuna purse seine nets as obstructing above-surface, surface and subsurface orientations of melon-headed whales.

NOAA species profiles and reports present mammal-unfriendly Caribbean, Indian, Indonesian Malaysian, Philippine and West African drift net fisheries; Japanese driver fisheries; and Philippine directed harpoon fisheries.

NOAA species profiles and reports queue up such eastern tropical high-intensity underwater noise pollution as United States Navy Rim of the Pacific military exercises and sonar. They reveal the Japanese archipelago's heavy metal and human-made concentrations of perfluorocarbons, flame retardants and polychlorinated biphenyls that render eastern tropical Pacific Ocean habitats marine mammal-unfriendly. The International Union for Conserva

One dead of 150 near-stranded and five dead of 11 stranded Hawaiian melon-headed whales in 2004 and 2019 respectively trouble diverse, sustainable Hawaiian ecosystems and ecotourism.

breaching pod of melon-headed whales (Peponocepha electra) near Kauai, Hawai'i; July 7, 2016; NOAA Photo Library Image ID anim2623, NOAA's Ark Collection; Laura Morse / NOAA / NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service) / PIFSC (Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center): NOAA Photo Library, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

The Aug. 29, 2019, mass stranding of whales at Sugar Beach, South Maui, included a deceased calf, who washed ashore seven hours later, about one mile from the adults; David Schofield, NOAA's (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Regional Marine Mammal Health & Response Program coordinator, told Maui Now News Director Wendy Osher that the strandees are believed to be melon-headed whales: MauiNow.com @mauinow via Facebook Aug. 29, 2019, @ https://www.facebook.com/mauinow/videos/vb.128039724866/375778019777806/

breaching pod of melon-headed whales (Peponocepha electra) near Kauai, Hawai'i; July 7, 2016; NOAA Photo Library Image ID anim2623, NOAA's Ark Collection; Laura Morse / NOAA / NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service) / PIFSC (Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center): NOAA Photo Library, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/noaaphotolib/33910332184/

For further information:

Armbruster, Nicole Jacqueline. "Peponocephala electra Melon-Headed Whale" (On-line). Animal Diversity Web. Ann Arbor MI: University of Michigan Museum of Zoology.
Available @ https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Peponocephala_electra/

Associated Press. 30 August 2019. "The Latest: Whale Calf Found Dead in Hawaii Mass Stranding." U.S. News > Civic.
Available @ https://www.usnews.com/news/news/articles/2019-08-29/the-latest-4-stranded-whales-euthanized-on-maui-beach

"Dolphins." Encyclopedia of Mammals. Volume 5 Dog-Gal: 626-651. Tarrytown NY: Marshall Cavendish Corporation, 1997.

Gray, John Edward. 1846. "The Electra Lagenorhynchus Electra. Tab. 13. Skull." Pages 35-36. In "On the Cetaceous Animals." The Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Erebus and Terror, under the Command of Capt. Sir James Clark Ross, R.N., F.R.S., during the Years 1839 to 1843. By Authority of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. Edited by John Richardson, M.D., F.R.S; and John Edward Gray, Esq., PhD., F.R.S. Vol. I. Mammalia, Birds. London, England: E. W. Janson, M.DCCCXLIV-M.DCCC.LXXV [1844-1875].
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Kiszka, J.; and Brownell Jr., R.L. 2019. Peponocephala electra." The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2019: e.T16564A50369125. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-2.RLTS.T16564A50369125.en.
Available @ https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/16564/50369125

MauiNow.com @mauinow. 29 August 2019. "Tourists staying in the Sugar Beach area woke up to find 10 stranded whales in front of their beachfront condos this morning. MauiNow's Wendy Osher reports. Full Story: http://mauinow.com/?p=310649." Facebook.
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"McAvoy, Audrey. 29 August 2019. "5 Whales Dead After Mass Stranding on Maui Beach." ABC News.
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"Melon-Headed Whale." NOAA Fisheries > Species Directory.
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"Melon-Headed Whale Peponocephala electra." Whale and Dolphin Conservation > About Whales & Dolphins > Whale and Dolphin Species Guide > Show All Species.
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Mandana Wall Paintings: 200th Anniversary of Ajanta Cave Wall Paintings

Summary: Perhaps Ajanta cave wall paintings, now in their 200th anniversary year in central-west India anticipate Mandana wall paintings in north India.

Mandana wall painting at Shilpgram Rural Arts and Crafts Complex, Udaipur, southernmost Rajasthan, northwestern India; Jan. 13, 2015: Chinmayisk, CC BY SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Abstract and animal appearances and feminine artistry in Mandana wall paintings in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan perhaps arose ancestrally from Ajanta cave wall paintings, now in their 200th anniversary year in Maharashtra.

Mandana floor and wall paintings in Rajasthan and Mandana wall paintings in Madhya Pradesh bespeak the ancient cultural traditions of the Meena tribeswomen of north-central India. Mandana wall paintings, Pithora wall paintings by the Bhil peoples and Warli wall paintings by the same-named peoples perhaps conserve 2,100- to 30,000-year-old cave art traditions. They perhaps descend from the 243-shelter art in seven-hill, 6.2-plus-mile- (10-plus-kilometer-) long Bhimbetka (from Sanskrit भीमबेटका, "[tall hero-god] Bhima's sitting place") rock shelters in Madhya Pradesh.

Ajanta's black, blue, green, red, white and yellow artistry versus Bhimbetka's red artistry on pale surfaces respectively endure in Pithora and, reversed, in Mandana and Warli.

Douglas Barrett and Basil Gray of Oriental Antiquities at the British Museum, in Painting of India, fit Ajanta cave wall paintings within north Indian artistic traditions.

Koshilaya Devi, conservationist in Baran city, Rajasthan, grounds Mandana floor and wall paintings within artistic contexts whereby "The art is typically passed from mother to daughter." Itinerant artisans honed Ajanta cave wall paintings whereas family men versus women traditionally and men since the 1970s handle Pithora wall paintings versus Warli wall paintings. Perhaps a female patron involved female itinerant artisans, models, novices and nuns in iterating feminine motifs throughout the Ajanta cave wall paintings in Ajanta cave 2.

Perhaps Mandana wall paintings juggle in the 200th anniversary year of European-accessed Ajanta cave wall paintings ancient journeys from and to Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan.

Rajasthani women in Sawai Madhopur and Tonk keep up Mandana floor and wall paintings as good omens, for familial and property protection and to welcome deities.

Looking after their families and houses traditionally leads Madhya Pradeshi and Rajasthani women to layer plastered clay, cow dung and red ocher over floors and walls. Meena (from Sanskrit मत्स्य, mátsya, "fish") tribeswomen manipulate chuna (from Hindi चूना, "lime") or khariya (from Sanskrit खड़िया, "chalk") over geru (from Hindi गेरू, "red ocher"). Their brush-like cotton swabs, date palm twigs, hair tufts or palm tree fronds net white-pigmented animals such as cats, lions, peacocks and tigers and flowering plants.

Madan Meena, freelance artist in Kota, Rajasthan, observes regarding geometric patterns, "Architectural and scientific significance exists in Mandana art forms and it needs to be studied."

Mandana floor and wall paintings, bhuma chitra (भूमि चित्र) and bhitti chitra (from Hindi भित्ति चित्र), plot geometric shapes, such as rectangles, rhombuses, squares and triangles.

An Utsavpedia article by Utsav Fashion of New Delhi qualifies Tapki Ke Mandanas as architecture-like, geometrical, graph-plotted, jaali-like (lattice-screened, from Hindi जाली, "net") Mandana floor paintings. Mandana floor and wall paintings realize Sanskrit-relayed (मण्डन, mandana, "embellishment") responsibilities in altar-like and temple floor-like designs for births, field and house responsibilities, harvests and marriages. They seek elephant god Ganesha's (from Sanskrit गणेश, "group ruler") intelligence, prosperity, success and wisdom and goddess Lakshmi's (from Sanskrit लक्ष्मी, "auspiciousness") fortune, money and wealth.

Itinerant artisans, theorized among women still in Ajanta cave wall paintings on their 200th anniversary, turned out Mandana wall paintings before and after their Ajanta tenures.

Mandana painting may descend from Bhimbetka rock shelter art; paintings in Rock Shelter 8, Bhimbetka rock shelters, central Madhya Pradesh, central India; Dec. 4, 2013: Bernard Gagnon (Bgag), CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Mandana wall painting at Shilpgram Rural Arts and Crafts Complex, Udaipur, southernmost Rajasthan, northwestern India; Jan. 13, 2015: Chinmayisk, CC BY SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mandana_art_work_at_shilpgram_,_udaipur.JPG

Mandana painting may descend from Bhimbetka rock shelter art; paintings in Rock Shelter 8, Bhimbetka rock shelters, central Madhya Pradesh, central India; Dec. 4, 2013: Bernard Gagnon (Bgag), CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rock_Shelter_8,_Bhimbetka_02.jpg

For further information:

"Ajanta Caves." UNESCO > Culture > World Heritage Centre > The List > World Heritage List.
Available @ http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/242

"Ajanta Caves Vulnerable to Landslides, Says Study." NDTV > India > News > August 6, 2014 15:50 IST.
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Burgess, J. (James). 1879. "Notes on the Bauddha Rock-Temples of Ajanta, Their Paintings and Sculptures, and on the Paintings of the Bagh Caves, Modern Bauddha Mythology, &c." Archaeological Society of Western India, no. 9. Bombay, India: Government Central Press.
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Marriner, Derdriu. 29 March 2019. "Thich Nhat Hanh, Walking Meditations and Ajanta Cave Wall Paintings." Earth and Space News. Friday.
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Marriner, Derdriu. 22 March 2019. “200th Anniversary Year of Ajanta Cave Wall Paintings: Ajanta Cave 13.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
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Marriner, Derdriu. 15 March 2019. “200th Anniversary Year of Ajanta Cave Wall Paintings: Ajanta Cave 12.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
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Marriner, Derdriu. 8 March 2019. “200th Anniversary Year of Ajanta Cave Wall Paintings: Ajanta Cave 8.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
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Marriner, Derdriu. 22 February 2019. “200th Anniversary Year of Ajanta Cave Wall Paintings: Pithora Wall Art.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
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Marriner, Derdriu. 15 February 2019. “200th Anniversary Year of Ajanta Cave Wall Paintings: Ajanta Cave 29.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
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Marriner, Derdriu. 8 February 2019. “Ajanta Cave 26 in 200th Anniversary Year of Ajanta Cave Wall Paintings.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
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Marriner, Derdriu. 1 February 2019. “Ajanta Cave 19 in 200th Anniversary Year of Ajanta Cave Wall Paintings.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2019/02/ajanta-cave-19-in-200th-anniversary.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 25 January 2019. “200th Anniversary Year of Ajanta Cave Wall Paintings in Ajanta Cave 9.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2019/01/200th-anniversary-year-of-ajanta-cave.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 18 January 2019. “Ancient Ajanta Cave Wall Paintings and Inscriptions in Ajanta Cave 10.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
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Marriner, Derdriu. 11 January 2019. “Ajanta Cave Wall Paintings Ailing at World Heritage Centre Site.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
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Marriner, Derdriu. 4 January 2019. “Accurate, Ancient, Artistic Ajanta Cave Wall Paintings to Buddha.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
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William Herschel Discovered Lenticular Galaxy NGC 665 Sept. 4, 1786

Summary: Uranus discoverer William Herschel discovered lenticular galaxy NGC 665 Sept. 4, 1786, five years five-plus months after discovering Uranus March 13, 1781.

NGC 665 appears as II-588 in Uranus discoverer Sir William Herschel’s list of “II. Second Class. Faint Nebulae” discoveries; the lenticular galaxy in Pisces was the first of two galaxies that he discovered Sept. 4, 1786: Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Uranus discoverer William Herschel discovered lenticular galaxy NGC 665 Sept. 4, 1786, five years five-plus months after his discovery of the solar system’s seventh planet, Uranus, which happened March 13, 1781.

German-British astronomer and composer Sir Frederick William Herschel (Nov. 15, 1738-Aug. 25, 1822) made his discovery of NGC 665 at his observatory residence, Observatory House, on Windsor Road in Slough, Royal County of Berkshire, south east England. Wolfgang Steinecke, Director of the Webb Deep-Sky Society’s Nebulae and Clusters Section, identifies the instrument used for the two consecutive discoveries as Herschel’s 20-foot, long-focus Newtonian reflector telescope. The model’s mirror measured 18.7 inches.

Sir William’s discovery Sept. 4, 1786, appear as number 588 under “II. Second Class. Faint Nebulae” in his Catalogue of a Second Thousand of New Nebulae and Clusters of Stars, published in 1789. He organized his discoveries of new nebulae and star clusters into eight classes. The first class comprised “Bright nebulae.” Classes three through eight itemized, respectively, “Very faint nebulae”; “Planetary nebulae”; “Very large nebulae”; “Very compressed and rich clusters of stars”; “Pretty much compressed clusters of large or small stars”; “Coarsely scattered clusters of stars.”

Sir William’s three deep-sky catalogues, published in 1786, 1789 and 1802, followed an identical format that included identifying “the star, or other object” that “is either preceding or following” the nebula. Object II-588 precedes “24 (ξ) Ariet,” a binary star in Aries the Ram constellation.

Sir William referenced the “determining star” by both Bayer and Flamsteed stellar designations. German celestial cartographer Johann Bayer (1572-March 7, 1625) specified stars with designators comprising a Greek or Latin letter preceding the genitive form of the parent constellation’s Latin name. The Bayer designation for the “determining star” is ξ Arietis (Xi Arietis), which is abbreviated as ξ Ari (Xi Ari). Devised by the United Kingdom’s first Astronomer Royal, John Flamsteed (Aug. 19, 1646-Dec. 31, 1719), the Flamsteed system
designates stars with a number preceding the Latin genitive of the parent constellation. The Flamsteed designation for Xi Arietis is 24 Arietis.

According to Sir William’s observations, II-588 precedes Xi Arietis by a sidereal time of 39 minutes 40 seconds. His calculations determined the location of II-588 as 0 degrees 17 minutes south of the “determining star.”

Sir William indicated that he had made two observations of II-588. He used a system of abbreviations for describing his observations. Sir William perceived II-588 as “F. S. lE r. bM.” According to his code of abbreviations, his description of 588 translates as: “Faint. Small. A little extended, resolvable. Brighter in the middle.”

Sir William’s faint nebula number 588 is identified as NGC 665 in the New General Catalogue, published in 1888 by Danish-Irish astronomer John Louis Emil Dreyer (Feb. 13, 1852-Sept. 14, 1926). Dreyer’s compilation assigns NGC (New General Catalog) numbers to discoveries and observations by Sir William; his son, Sir John Frederick William Herschel, 1st Baronet (March 7, 1792-May 11, 1871); his sister, Caroline Herschel (March 16, 1750-Jan. 9, 1848); and other observational astronomers. The entries are presented in order of right ascension (celestial equivalent of terrestrial longitude).

NGC 665 is located in celestial equatorial constellation Pisces the Fishes. The galaxy’s equatorial coordinates are right ascension of 01 hour 44 minutes 56.10 seconds, declination of plus 10 degrees 25 minutes 22.9 seconds (epoch J2000.0), according to NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED).

The NED Database indicates that NGC 665 falls within the galaxy morphological classification designated as (R)S0^0, a lenticular galaxy with an outer ring. Ronald J. Buta, a University of Alabama astronomy professor specializing in galactic morphology, explains that outer rings are “occasionally seen enveloping the main bodies of early-type spirals and lenticulars.”

A lenticular galaxy (designated S0) displays an extended, disk-like structure surrounding a bright, central concentration, known as the bulge. NGC 665 is a 12th magnitude lenticular galaxy, according to the online Celestial Atlas of NGC Objects maintained by Courtney Seligman, Professor Emeritus of Astronomy at California’s Long Beach City College.

Object II-588 was the first of two galaxies discovered Sept. 4, 1786, by William Herschel. The second galaxy, object II-589, is now known as NGC 673 and lies in the neighboring constellation of Aries the Ram.

The takeaway for NGC 665, discovered Sept. 4, 1786, as II-588 by Uranus discoverer Sir William Herschel, is that lenticular galaxy claims Pisces the Fishes as parent constellation.

Hubble Space Telescope image of NGC 665; RA 01:44:56.49, DEC 10:25:28.3; Nov. 7, 2016; image ICV408JJQ: HLA (Hubble Legacy Archive) via HLA-STScI (Space Telescope Science Institute)

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

NGC 665 appeared as II.588 in Uranus discoverer Sir William Herschel’s list of “II. Second Class. Faint Nebulae” discoveries; the lenticular galaxy in Pisces was the first of two galaxies that he discovered Sept. 4, 1786: Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NGC665_-_SDSS_DR14.png

Hubble Space Telescope image of NGC 665; RA 01:44:56.49, DEC 10:25:28.3; Nov. 7, 2016; image ICV408JJQ: HLA (Hubble Legacy Archive) via HLA-STScI (Space Telescope Science Institute) @ https://hla.stsci.edu/hlaview.html#Inventory|filterText%3D%24filterTypes%3D|query_string=ngc%20665

For further information:

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Available via Harvard ADSABS (NASA Astrophysics Data System Abstracts) @ http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1976JHA.....7...75B

Buta, Ronald. “Galaxy Morphology and Classification.” Pages 29-47. In: Harold G. Corwin, Jr., and Lucette Bottinelli, eds. The World of Galaxies: Prcoeedings of the Conference “Le Monde des Galaxies” Held 12-14 April 1988 at the Institute d’Astrophysique de Paris in Honor of Gérard and Antoinette de Vaucouleurs on the Occasion of His 70th Birthday. New York NY: Springer-Verlag, 1989.
Available via NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) @ https://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/March01/Buta/frames.html

Dreyer, J.L.E. (John Louis Emil). “No. 665.” In: “A New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars, Being the Catalogue of the Late Sir John F.W. Herschel, Bart., Revised, Corrected, and Enlarged.” Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. XLIX, part I: 30. London, England: Royal Astronomical Society, 1888.
Available @ https://ia800501.us.archive.org/14/items/newgeneralcatalo00dreyrich/newgeneralcatalo00dreyrich.pdf
Available via HathiTrust @ https://hdl.handle.net/2027/osu.32435078053089?urlappend=%3Bseq=38

Dreyer, J.L.E. (John Louis Emil). “A New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars, Being the Catalogue of the Late Sir John F.W. Herschel, Bart., Revised, Corrected, and Enlarged.” Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. XLIX, part I. London, England: Royal Astronomical Society, 1888.
Available @ https://ia800501.us.archive.org/14/items/newgeneralcatalo00dreyrich/newgeneralcatalo00dreyrich.pdf
Available via HathiTrust @ https://hdl.handle.net/2027/osu.32435078053089

Dreyer, J.L.E. (John Louis Emil). “A Supplement to Sir John Herschel’s ‘General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars.’ (Read February 26, 1877.).” The Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, vol. XXVI (March 1878). Dublin, Ireland: Royal Irish Academy, 1878.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/supplementtosirj00dreyrich/

Herschel, Sir John F.W. (Frederick William). “394.” In: “A General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars, Arranged in Order of Right Ascension and Reduced to the Common Epoch 1860.0 (With Precessions Computed for the Epoch 1880.0). Received October 16, -- Read November 19, 1863.” Philosophical Transactions, Part I (1864): 52. London, England: Taylor and Francis, 1864.
Available via HathiTrust @ https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.c3118173?urlappend=%3Bseq=60

Herschel, Sir John Frederick William. “Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars. Received October 16, -- Read November 19, 1863.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. For the Year MDCCCLXIV [1864]. Vol. 154: 1-137. London, England: Taylor and Francis, MDCCCLXV (1865).
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library (Natural History Museum Library, London) @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/54093164
Available via JSTOR @ https://www.jstor.org/stable/108864

Herschel, Sir John Frederick William. “Observations of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars, Made at Slough, With a Twenty-Feet Reflector, Between the Years 1825 and 1833. Received July 1, -- Read November 21, 1833.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, vol. 123 (1833): 359-505.
Available via JSTOR @ https://www.jstor.org/stable/108003

Herschel, William. “II. 588.” In: “Catalogue of a Second Thousand of New Nebulae and Clusters of Stars; With a Few Introductory Remarks on the Construction of the Heavens. Read June 11, 1789.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, vol. LXXIX, part II (1789): 234. London, England: Lockyer Davis and Peter Elmsly, Printers to The Royal Society, MDCCLXXXIX.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/51828764
Available via JSTOR @https://www.jstor.org/stable/106695

Herschel, William. “Catalogue of 500 New Nebulae, Nebulous Stars, Planetary Nebulae, and Clusters of Stars; With Remarks on the Construction of the Heavens. Read July 1, 1802.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. For the Year MDCCCII [1802] [vol. 92], part II: 477-528. London, England: W. Bulmer and Co., MDCCCII.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library (Smithsonian Libraries) @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/49130796
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library (University of Toronto -- Robarts Library) @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/22894665
Available via JSTOR @ https://www.jstor.org/stable/107131

Herschel, William. “Catalogue of a Second Thousand of New Nebulae and Clusters of Stars; With a Few Introductory Remarks on the Construction of the Heavens. Read June 11, 1789.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, vol. LXXIX, part II (1789): 212-255. London, England: Lockyer Davis and Peter Elmsly, Printers to The Royal Society, MDCCLXXXIX.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/51828742
Available via JSTOR @ https://www.jstor.org/stable/106695

Herschel, William. “Catalogue of One Thousand New Nebulae and Clusters of Stars. Read April 27, 1786.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, vol. LXXVI, part II (1786): 457-499. London, England: Lockyer Davis and Peter Elmsly, Printers to The Royal Society, MDCCLXXXVI.
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Available via JSTOR @ https://www.jstor.org/stable/106639

Holden, Edward S. (Singleton). Sir William Herschel, His Life and Works. New York NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1881.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/sirwilliamhersch00holduoft/

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology. “Index for NGC 0665.” NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED).
Available @ http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/cgi-bin/nph-objsearch?objname=ngc+665

MacEvoy, Bruce. “The William Herschel Double Star Catalogs Restored.” Handprint > Astronomical Files From Black Oak Observatory. 2011.
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MacEvoy, Bruce. “William Herschel’s Double Star Catalog.” Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge.
Available @ ftp://ftp.ast.cam.ac.uk/rwa/outgoing/herschelds.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Globular Cluster NGC 5634 Lies Midway Between Iota and Mu Virginis.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2019.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2019/02/globular-cluster-ngc-5634-lies-midway.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Herschel Crater Hosts Eight Satellites in South Central Lunar Near Side." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2011.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/08/herschel-crater-hosts-eight-satellites.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Lunar Crater Herschel Honors German-British Astronomer William Herschel." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2011.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/08/lunar-crater-herschel-honors-german.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Uranus the Blue Green Ice Giant: Sideways Seventh Planet From the Sun.” Earth and Space News. Friday, March 13, 2015.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/03/uranus-blue-green-ice-giant-sideways.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Uranus Discovery 234 Years Ago on March 13, 1781, by Sir William Herschel.” Earth and Space News. Friday, March 13, 2015.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/03/uranus-discovery-234-years-ago-on-march.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "William Herschel Discovered NGC 6818, Little Gem Nebula, Aug. 8, 1787." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2019.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2019/08/william-herschel-discovered-ngc-6818.html

Mullaney, James. The Herschel Objects and How to Observe Them. AST Astronomers’ Observing Guides. New York NY: Springer Science+Business Media LLC, 2007.

O’Meara, Steve. Herschel 400 Observing Guide: How to Find and Explore 400 Star Clusters, Nebulae, and Galaxies Discovered by William and Caroline Herschel. Cambridge, England; New York NY; Melbourne, Australia; Madrid, Spain; Cape Town, South Africa; Singapore; São Paulo, Brazil: Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Papendiek, Mrs. (Charlotte Louise Henrietta). Court and Private Life in the Time of Queen Charlotte: Being the Journals of Mrs. Papendiek, Assistant Keeper of the Wardrobe and Reader to Her Majesty. Edited by Her Grand-Daughter, Mrs. Vernon Delves Broughton. Volume I. London, England: Richard Bentley & Son, MDCCCLXXXVII (1887).
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Seligman, Courtney. “NGC 665 (= PGC 6415).” Courtney Seligmen Website > Online Astronomy Text > Sky Atlas > NGC Objects > NGC 650-699.
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Umberto Giordano, Born Aug. 28, 1867, Composed Madame Sans-Gêne

Summary: Italian composer Umberto Giordano, born Aug. 28, 1867, composed Madame Sans-Gêne, which had its world premiere Jan. 25, 1915, at Met Opera.

Enrico Caruso and Umberto Giordano, with line from aria “Amor ti victa” in Giordano's Fedora; caricatures drawn May 5, 1905, by Enrico Caruso on stationery of Le Grand Hotel, 12 Boulevard des Capucines, Paris, France; P.V.R. Key and B. Zirato, Enrico Caruso (1922), opposite page 194: Public Domain, via Internet Archive

Italian composer Umberto Giordano, born Aug. 28, 1867, composed Madame Sans-Gêne, which was the only one of Giordano’s 14 operas to have its world premiere at the Metropolitan Opera.

The world premiere of Madame Sans-Gêne took place Jan. 25, 1915, at the Metropolitan Opera. American soprano Geraldine Farrar (Feb. 28, 1882-March 11, 1967) sang the title role of Caterina, a laundress who becomes a duchess. Italian operatic tenor Giovanni Martinelli (Oct. 22, 1885-Feb. 2, 1969) performed as François-Joseph Lefebvre, a sergeant who marries Caterina and becomes a duke.

Madame Sans-Gêne received nine performances during the 1914-1915 Met Opera season. Italian maestro Arturo Toscanini (March 25, 1867-Jan. 16, 1957) conducted the first eight performances. Italian operatic conductor Gennaro Papi (Jan. 21, 1885-Nov. 29, 1941) conducted closing night, May 1, 1915.

The Napoleonic-themed opera was directed by Jules Speck, the Metropolitan Opera’s stage manager for French and Italian operas from 1908 to 1917. Italian painter and scenic designer Odoardo Antònio Rovescalli (Dec. 21, 1864-Dec. 21, 1936) designed the opera’s sets. Costumes were designed by Italian painter and theatre costume designer Luigi Sapelli (Feb. 25, 1865-Oct. 11, 1936), known as Caramba.

The Metropolitan Opera revived Madame Sans-Gêne for the next season, 1915-1916. Geraldine Farrar and Giovanni Martinelli reprised the principal roles. The orchestra was conducted by Giorgio Polacco (April 12, 1875-April 30, 1960), who was the Met Opera’s conductor from 1915 to 1917. The opera received four performances during this season.

The second revival of Madame Sans-Gêne succeeded the opera’s first revival. Geraldine Farrar and Giovanni Martinelli reprised their roles. Giorgio Polacco reprised the conductorship. The opera received three performances in the 1916-1917 Met Opera season.

The Metropolitan Opera’s third and last revival of Madame Sans-Gêne immediately followed the second revival. Geraldine Farrar and Giovanni Martinelli reprised their roles.

In the 1917-1918 Met Opera season, Madame Sans-Gêne received three performances. Gennaro Papi, who had conducted the world premiere season’s closing night, May 1, 1915, returned as conductor for the season’s three performances of Madame Sans-Gêne. Polish film and theatre director Richard Ordynski (Oct. 5, 1878-Aug. 13, 1953) directed the revival.

The 1917-1918 Met Opera season’s third and last performance of Madame Sans-Gêne took place April 8, 1918. The season’s closing night numbered as the opera’s 19th performance at the Metropolitan Opera and also marked the opera house’s last staging of Madame Sans-Gêne.

Umberto Giordano’s historical opera concerns four historical personnages. French military leader and statesman Napoléon Bonaparte (Aug. 15, 1769-May 5, 1821) was promoted to captain July 13, 1792. By September 1811, he had been Emperor for seven years. He proclaimed himself emperor May 18, 1804, and his coronation ceremony took place Dec. 2, 1804. Caterina Hubscher (Catherine Hubscher, Feb. 2, 1753-Dec. 29, 1935), a laundress, married François Joseph Lefebvre (Oct. 25, 1755-Sept. 14, 1820), then a sergeant, in 1783. Lefebvre’s many titles included Duke of Danzig, gained in 1807 for his successful Siege of Danzig (March 19-May 24, 1807) during the Napoleonic Wars (May 18, 1803-Nov. 20, 1815). Adam Albert, Count von Neipperg (April 8, 1775-Feb. 22, 1829), cleared of a suspected affair with Napoleon’s second wife, Marie Louise of Austria (Dec. 12, 1791-Dec. 17, 1847), in Giordano’s opera, married her, in real life, as his second wife in 1821, four month’s after Napoleon’s death.

BBC classical music journalist Michael Oliver poses the question of the English translation of Madame Sans-Gêne. "'Madame Carefree' says Grove Opera, 'Madame Indiscreet' says my nearest French dictionary," he explains. Caterina Hubscher's actions and words are unaffected by the elevation of her status from laundress to duchess.

Madame Sans-Gêne takes place between Aug. 10, 1792, and September 1811. The opening date marks the capture of the Tuileries Palace in Paris during the French Revolution (May 5, 1789-Nov. 9, 1799). Act I takes place in the laundry of Caterina Hubscher (Catherine Hubscher, Feb. 2, 1753-Dec. 29, 1935). Acts II and III take place 19 years later at Château de Compiègne, one of Napoleon’s imperial residences, located in northern France’s Oise department.

Umberto Giordano set his score for Madame Sans-Gêne to an Italian libretto by Italian librettist and theatre critic Renato Simoni (Sept. 5, 1875-July 5, 1952). Simoni’s libretto adapted the same-named French comedy by French playwrights Victorien Sardou (Sept. 5, 1831-Nov. 8, 1908) and Émile Moreau. Sardou and Moreau’s historical comedy-drama had premiered Oct. 27, 1893, at the Théâtre du Vaudeville. The theatre was located at 2, Boulevard des Capucines, in Paris’ ninth arrondissement (le 9e arrondissement de Paris), on the Seine’s right bank (la rive droite de la Seine).

Umberto Giordano was born Wednesday, Aug. 28, 1867, in Foggia, capital of the same-named province in Southern Italy’s Apulia region. He passed away Friday, Nov. 12, 1948, two and one-half months after his 81st birthday, in Milan, capital of north central Italy’s Lombardy region.

The takeaway for Umberto Giordano, born Aug. 28, 1867, is that Madame Sans-Gêne is the only one of the Italian composers to have its world premiere hosted by the Metropolitan Opera.

Geraldine Farrar in title role of Caterina Hubscher in world premiere of Umberto Giordano’s Madame Sans-Gêne, staged Jan. 25, 1915, by the Metropolitan Opera; photograph of cartoon drawn by Enrico Caruso, New York City, January 1915; George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington DC: Public Domain, via Library of Congress

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Enrico Caruso and Umberto Giordano, with line from aria “Amor ti victa” in Giordano's Fedora; caricatures drawn May 5, 1905, by Enrico Caruso on stationery of Le Grand Hotel, 12 Boulevard des Capucines, Paris, France; P.V.R. Key and B. Zirato, Enrico Caruso (1922), opposite page 194: Public Domain, via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/enricocarusobiog00keypuoft/page/n238

Geraldine Farrar in title role of Caterina Hubscher in world premiere of Umberto Giordano’s Madame Sans-Gêne, staged Jan. 25, 1915, by the Metropolitan Opera; photograph of cartoon drawn by Enrico Caruso, New York City, January 1915; George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington DC: Public Domain, via Library of Congress @ https://www.loc.gov/item/2014698185/

For further information:

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Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/enricocarusobiog00keypuoft/

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