The earliest attempts to stage opera performances in Portugal date back at least to 1731, but it was only at the end of 1735 that the first public opera house in Lisbon was inaugurated, on the initiative of Alessandro Paghetti, a violinist of the Royal Chapel.1 Known as the Accademia della Piazza della Trinità, and located on the site where the Teatro da Trindade would later be built, this venue presented exclusively Italian opera seria, sometimes accompanied by comic intermezzi during the intervals, and quickly gained the favour of audiences, particularly the court aristocracy.2 Its activity was transferred in 1738 to the new Teatro da Rua dos Condes.3
