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Events on Wednesday 31 December 1879 2
1879Benz's petrol engine runs on New Year's EveA workshop in MannheimAfter a night of failed attempts, Karl Benz's two-stroke petrol engine finally runs on the last evening of 1879. His wife Bertha, who has funded much of the work with her dowry, is there to hear it. He patents it the following year and it becomes the financial foundation for everything that follows.
1879The Pirates of Penzance PremieresGilbert and Sullivan's comic opera opens in New YorkGilbert and Sullivan's comic opera The Pirates of Penzance received its official premiere at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York, staged there first to secure American copyright. The work became one of the pair's most popular operas, known for songs including 'I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General.' It has remained a staple of the comic opera repertoire ever since.