Librettist: António José da Silva
Date: 1737
Language: Portuguese
Duration: 143 minutes
Small-scale
Proteus: Soprano
Doris: Soprano
Maresia: Soprano
Cyrene: Mezzo‑soprano
Nereus: Tenor
Polybius: Tenor
Crab: Baritone
King Pontus: Bass
Políbio becomes involved in a political revolt in Egypt and is forced to flee to save his life. He takes with him his only daughter, Cirene, but fearing for her safety, he decides to leave her temporarily in a village in Boeotia. Arriving in the city of Flegra, Políbio is well received by King Ponto, who entrusts him with returning to Boeotia to bring his own daughter, also named Cirene, destined to marry Nereu, the king’s son. Upon learning that the princess has died, Políbio tries to alter the fate of his own daughter and takes her to Flegra, pretending that she is the daughter of the King of Boeotia.
Meanwhile, Dórida, princess of Egnido, who is betrothed to Ponto’s other son, Proteu, arrives, but Proteu falls desperately in love with Cirene and tries to win her over. Políbio strives to deter the suitor, and in response, Proteu tries to kill him, but Cirene intervenes and ends up wounded. Políbio is unjustly accused and condemned, forcing Cirene to reveal her true identity. Once the deception is discovered, Nereu rejects Cirene, who is welcomed by Proteu, and decides to marry Dórida. The lovers are swapped, and the two couples achieve a happy ending.
2 Ob | 2 Hn | Cemb | Vln | Vla | Vc | Cb
As Variedades de Proteu, with libretto by António José da Silva, “the Jew,” and music by António Teixeira, was premiered in May 1737 at the Teatro do Bairro Alto, the only Lisbon stage at the time where operas were sung in Portuguese.
Together with Guerras do alecrim e manjerona, it occupies a singular place in the Portuguese musical panorama of the first half of the 18th century. It stands out not only for its use of the Portuguese language, at a time when Italian dominated the national operatic scene, but also for its use of puppets or bonifrates, keeping actors and singers hidden in the scenic space. The recitatives take the form of spoken dialogues without the usual continuo accompaniment, bringing these works closer to genres such as German singspiel, French opéra‑comique and operetta.
In the 20th century, this opera was rescued from more than two hundred years of oblivion and returned to modern audiences thanks to the work of identifying and reconstructing the scores carried out by Filipe de Sousa. The modern premiere took place at the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in 19721.
Its rebirth in the 21st century consolidated from 2005 onwards, the year in which a production of the Cistermúsica festival (in co‑production with S.A. Marionetas) marked the 300th anniversary of “the Jew”’s birth. From this staging, with musical direction by Stephen Bull, the first recording resulted, released on CD in 2008.
In 2007, it was presented in concert version in the Early Music series of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation by the French group Les Caractères, in a French translation.
Date: 1737
Venue: Teatro do Bairro Alto, Lisbon
1. Manuel Ivo Cruz, O Essencial sobre a Ópera em Portugal (Imprensa Nacional-Casa da Moeda, 2008), 19-20.
