Mission

POP The Portuguese Opera accessibility portal

It is with a special emotion that I see this portal opening, to the past, remote and recent, but also to the present and the future. A portal that comes from a great desire to share and make known to the public in general, the creators of our opera, of our operatic identity and their work, but also of the brave people who ventured to compose in the beautiful and noble Portuguese language, so often fighting against the stigma nurtured for centuries that prevented the composition and representation of opera in Portuguese, even if it was composed by Portuguese composers and based on Portuguese literature, in the main Portuguese theater¹.
It is beautiful to see how the new generations of composers embrace the Portuguese language in their operatic production, without complexes, as a tool of expression and identity, practically three hundred years after the founding of our opera, whose first fruitful fruits were born at the Teatro do Bairro Alto (today on Rua Luisa Todí, in Bairro Alto, in Lisbon) with the duo created by the composer António Teixeira and the playwright António José da Silva, of which Guerras de Alecrim and Manjerona and The Varieties of Proteus, founding pieces of Portuguese theater and opera (1737), available here. Theatre where our most extraordinary opera singer ever took her first steps – a diva renowned throughout Europe: Luísa Todí.
We can consider Gil Vicente (1465-1536) the father of Portuguese theater and a kind of grandfather of Portuguese opera, as his plays systematically included musical and sung moments². But after the prolific work of the Teatro do Bairro Alto, for a long period, the winds of opera took a long time to blow in our country, first through the inquisition and demonization of the musical theater and soon after, through Italian businessmen and artists established in the Royal Theater of São Carlos, whose management and control monopolized artists and works, around Italian bel canto, virtuosistic entertainment, to the detriment of a plural repertoire that reflected the changing times of the time and reflected an art of confrontation and intellectual stimulation. Portuguese composers had to compose in Italian and Portuguese performers found themselves deprived of a stage and the possibility of development³. Meanwhile in Porto, Teatro São João, in addition to intense operatic activity, supported Portuguese opera. New theaters were built, such as the Teatro da Trindade in Lisbon, financed by a group of businessmen, to create a more accessible opera theater that later became a stage for the emergence of new talents and a home for opera companies.
This complex and the symptomatic lack of support for Portuguese composers and artists explain the limited opera production and lack of national edition and diffusion and international recognition. Although there was a flourishing of new creators and repertoire from the 2nd half of the 20th century onwards, with new commissions and support from new Institutions, this still fragile context requires greater strategic support  to leverage existing talent, in the global market.

The Portuguese Opera is just a click away!

A project to meet needs

Until today, access to scores for performing repertoire from the past, as well as its memory – its history and evolution, main interlocutors and works, was conditioned and dispersed, in the hands of private individuals or performers who individually gained access to it, in old manuscripted editions never published and yet to be catalogued, or out-of-print editions never re-edited, as well as information dispersed and included in study and research articles accessible mostly to a public restricted academic.
On the other hand, the lack of systematized and centralized information about which composers of the present focus especially on opera, conditioned the dissemination, appropriation and presentation of their works and contemporary opera in general, not only in academia and teaching, but also among performers and promoters. Carrying out a program with excerpts from operas by contemporary composers or getting to know the existing repertoire was an arduous task to accomplish.

A digital tool that combines research, stage and teaching!

If necessity is the mother of invention, it had its effect here, as this portal was born precisely to fill this lack, asserting itself as a tool that brings together these various aspects: research, stage and teaching, promoting the presence of Portuguese opera in teaching and research, for composers, performers and researchers to come into contact in a richer and more systematic way with this repertoire, as well as getting to know its creators, legitimizing and deepening the tradition of lyrical singing and opera in the language. Portuguese.
POP asserts itself as a digital platform, to enhance access and dissemination of Portuguese Opera to the general public, professionals and amateurs, which brings together information from its beginnings, from the 18th century to the present day, context and evolution, composers and list of operas, with synopses, typology, characters, instrumentation and others. It will also make available scores (the main tool for performing music and opera): vocal scores, for free download of repertoire in the public domain, but also full scores and excerpts from contemporary operas made available by composers and their respective publishers, as well as information regarding their accessibility and acquisition.
It will also have an English version to enhance international diffusion.

More Portuguese opera for everyone

It is being developed by Ópera do Castelo, with a scientific and editorial committee that brings together professionals from various fields of opera and renowned musicologists and researchers, the contribution of various sources and institutions such as the National Library of Portugal, the MIC, the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos, CESEM, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Biblioteca Municipal Florbela Espanca and private individuals. It aims to be a gateway to national and international access to the knowledge and dissemination of Portuguese opera, addressing an audience vast: from students and teachers, to professionals in the field – composers, librettists, singers, conductors, musicians, directors and programmers – and to everyone interested in the lyrical genre.
It is expected that this access and dissemination will increase the widespread performance of Portuguese opera, which will become a constant in concert halls and, in turn, editorial demand, boosting a new repertoire and audience.
Conceived in 2023 and now materializing, thanks to funding from the Directorate-General for the Arts, this “site” starts with around 67 composers, more than 160 operas and will make 60 scores and excerpts available (26 full scores and 15 reductions for voice and piano, for free download). A project that is just beginning, but under construction and with the promise of being fed with new artists, new works and new interlocutors!

POP invites you to discover Portuguese opera, and wishes you a fascinating tasting, just as fascinating its construction was!

Catarina Molder