Mariana Alcoforado

Mariana Alcoforado is known as the nun who wrote – or did not write¹ – a series of letters to the French lieutenant Chamilly – which became famous throughout Europe during her lifetime, without her knowledge – after having had a love affair with him – or not* – while a nun at the Convent of Nossa Senhora da Conceição in Beja. This took place during the troubled years of the restoration of Portugal’s independence, a period in which the Alentejo region played a particularly significant role, hosting important battles as well as all sorts of resolutions and conspiracies… The Portuguese cause had military support from different kingdoms – also dealing with territorial and succession problems, and engaged in conflicts with Castile. It is therefore not surprising that foreign men were found in the Alentejo and that convents were not merely places for living out the faith, but also places where noble and wealthy families placed their daughters.

This opera is a sung dramatic representation of the real or fictional loves of the Portuguese nun and the French officer. Mariana Alcoforado is a young woman, a nun, trapped by the circumstances of her time, yet capable of transgressing conventual rules (obedience, enclosure, and chastity).

Love emerges as a response to the awareness of her oppressed situation. The deception and despair that follow her abandonment and neglect – expressed so exasperatedly, movingly, and excessively in the Portuguese Letters – are deeply painful personal events. Mariana has no resources to change the course of her life – that, indeed, is the most dramatic element in this libretto. Mariana eventually discovers other ways of loving within the convent.

Mariana Alcoforado (1640-1723) is believed to have entered the Convent of Nossa Senhora da Conceição in Beja at age 11, and to have taken her vows at 16. She died there at the age of 83.