Historical Events
- Dec 5 Foundation of Maceió in Brazil.
Music History
Dec 15 Italian composer Gioachino Rossini (24) gets commission from Teatro Argentina to write his opera "Almaviva", later known as "Il barbiere di Siviglia" (The Barber of Seville)
Emma
Dec 23 "Emma" novel by Jane Austen is published by John Murray in London [1]
- Dec 24 Karol Kurpiński's melodramatic opera "The Reward, or the Revival of the Polish Kingdom" premieres at the Warsaw Opera
Famous Birthdays
- Dec 8 Adolph Menzel, German painter and graphic artist, born in Breslau, Prussian Silesia (d. 1905)
Ada Lovelace (1815-1852)
Dec 10 English mathematician considered the first computer programmer, born in London
- Dec 21 Thomas Couture, French history painter & teacher, born in Senlis, France (d. 1879)
- Dec 22 Johann Jakob Bachofen, Swiss antiquarian & jurist, born in Basel, Switzerland (d. 1887)
- Dec 22 Lucien Petipa, French ballet dancer, born in Marseille, France (d. 1898)
- Dec 23 Henry Highland Garnet, American minister, abolitionist and diplomat, born in Maryland (d. 1882)
- Dec 25 Temistocle Solera, Italian opera composer, born in Ferrara (d. 1878)
- Dec 26 Israel Bush Richardson, American Major General (Union Army), born in Fairfax, Vermont (d. 1862)
- Dec 31 George Gordon Meade, Spanish-American Major General (Union Army), born in Cádiz, Spain (d. 1872)
Famous Deaths
- Dec 3 John Carroll, first Roman Catholic archbishop in the US, also known as the founder of Georgetown University, dies at 80
- Dec 7 Michel Ney, French marshal (Waterloo), murdered at 46
- Dec 19 Michel Woldemar, French violinist and composer, dies at 65
- Dec 19 Robert Hudson, British tenor, organist, and composer, dies at 83
- Dec 20 Giovanni Meli, Sicilian poet (Buccolica), dies at 75
- Dec 22 Jose Maria Morelos, Mexican revolutionary priest executed by Spaniards
- Dec 29 Saartjie Baartman, Hottentot Venus, dies in Paris
