With the accession to the throne of King José I in 1750, the organisation of a court opera establishment began, involving the recruitment in Italy of some of the finest singers of the time, the renowned Neapolitan composer David Perez as musical director, and the distinguished theatrical architect Giovanni Carlo Sicinio Bibiena, who was entrusted with the task of building a magnificent opera house in Lisbon.1
The so-called Teatro do Forte was a provisional theatre built in 1752 at the Paço da Ribeira, more precisely in the tower of the Casa da Índia (on the present-day site of the Ministry of Defence tower, west of the Terreiro do Paço). It functioned, alongside other theatres at the Palace of Salvaterra de Magos and at the Quinta de Cima da Ajuda, as an interim venue pending the completion of the future Ópera do Tejo.2
