At London's Covent Garden Theater, Sir Julius Benedict's light opera "The Lily of Killarney" opens

The three-act light opera "The lily of Killarney" with music by Sir Julius Benedict, premiered at the Covent Garden Theater in London in an evening performance. (Other sources cite Monday, February 10, 1862 as its actual public debut) Set in eighteenth century Ireland with a John Oxenford libretto drawn from Dion Boucicault's Colleen Bawn, this production later toured Europe under the title "The Rose of Erin" and became Benedict's most performed opera.  (By John Osborne)