Librettist: Carlos Reinaldo Montoro
Libretto based on Um Auto de Gil Vicente by Almeida Garrett
Lyric drama in four acts
Date: 1863
Language: Italian (translation by Luigi Bianchi)
Large-scale opera
Beatriz: soprano
Vasco: baritone
Bernardim Ribeiro: tenor
D. Manuel: bass
D. Claudio de Vallaison: bass
Branca: soprano
Chorus
“The action takes place at the Portuguese court in 1521, during the reign of King Manuel I, at the time of the wedding festivities of the Infanta D. Beatriz with the Duke of Savoy.
The poet Bernardim Ribeiro, in love with the princess, is tasked by the king with persuading her to accept her duty, while Beatriz inwardly resists the idea of leaving. In her first meeting with Cláudio, the ambassador of Savoy, she declares that she is marrying against her will, provoking his anger. Bernardim, who has overheard the conversation, intervenes in her defence.
The two men are on the verge of fighting when Beatriz stops them, rejecting Bernardim’s love and promising to fulfil her duty. Bernardim, in despair, decides to kill himself, but Beatriz returns and declares herself ready to die with him. Vasco, Bernardim’s friend, prevents this. Beatriz is about to depart when Vasco brings Bernardim, disguised as a pilgrim, into her presence. The revelation of his identity leads to another love scene. After the farewells, a rumour announces the king’s arrival. In despair, and to protect the princess’s reputation, Bernardim throws himself into the Tagus just as the royal entourage enters. Beatriz faints.”¹
Orchestra
Score: Biblioteca da Ajuda
Beatrice di Portogallo is the first opera by Francisco de Sá Noronha and an important milestone in the development of nineteenth-century Portuguese opera. With a libretto by Carlos Reinaldo Montoro, itself inspired by the play Um Auto de Gil Vicente by Almeida Garrett, the work began to be composed across the Atlantic, in Brazil, with the intention of being offered to King D. Pedro V. However, more than three years elapsed between the composition of the work and its presentation to the public.
After successive postponements and refusals by the Teatro de São Carlos—and despite announcements, rehearsals, and even the performance of excerpts in concert—the opera moved from Lisbon to Porto and was premiered on 4 March 1863 at the Teatro de São João. As D. Pedro had died in 1861, the work was ultimately dedicated to his successor, D. Luís, who granted the composer an audience and showed greater interest in bringing the project to fruition.²
The opera ran for five performances and was, in general, well received, but it sparked critical debate regarding the need for a truly national—or even regional—opera, inspired by models of popular music. Luísa Cymbron reports that a chronicle by Ramalho Ortigão criticised the
“choice of the Italian model—in which a novice composer would always remain at the mercy of comparisons with others ‘of a most robust hand’—and asked: ‘Could not the author of Beatriz de Portugal avoid such comparison by creating a national opera, writing Portuguese music?’ Furthermore, he urged Noronha to draw inspiration from popular or folk music, ‘especially from our Minho’, where, in his view, there was ‘music of this kind […] entirely neglected by connoisseurs, and it is undoubtedly this music that best defines our character, and which should therefore be studied in order to write Portuguese opera.’”³
Date: 1863
Venue: Teatro de São João, Porto
Cast: Francesco Marinozzi, Giovannina Stella, Pietro Bignardi, Francesco Tagliapietra, Lodovico Butti and Ermelinda da Silva⁴
