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Opera in Cuba
Opera has been present in Cuba since the latest part of the 18th century, when the first full-fledged theater, called Coliseo, was built. Since then to present times, the Cuban people have highly enjoyed opera, and many Cuban composers have cultivated the operatic genre, sometimes with great success at an international level.
The first documented operatic event in Havana took place in 1776. That presentation was mentioned in a note published in the newspaper Diario de La Habana on December 19, 1815: "…Today, Wednesday 19th of the current, if the weather allows, the new tragic opera of merit in three acts that contains 17 pieces of music, titled Dido Abandoned will be performed […] This is one of the premiere dramas from the French theater. In Italy, the one composed by renowned Metastasio deserved a singular applause, and was sung in this city on October 12, 1776." On August 9, 1807, another note was published in a Havanese newspaper that announced: "There is a Lyric-heroic drama in this printing shop titled America and Apolo which will be presented at this theater…", and on the following September 8 the premiere of the announced piece took place at the former Coliseo Theater, that had already changed its name to Principal. That was the first lyric piece composed in Cuba that we have information about, and its composer was Manuel de Sequeyra y Arango, Captain of the Havana Infantry Regiment. The piece was really a "dramatic action" in the Metastasian style; a brief composition in which the choir participated occasionally.
From 1810 to 1832 a lyric company performed several operas in Havana, among which were those called Las cuatro columnas del trono español and El major día de La Habana, and in 1811 another company arrived to that city that included the soprano Mariana Galino, contralto Isalbel Gamborino, tenor Juan Palau and the Italian composer Stefano Cristiani. Cristiani and other Spanish composers, such as Manuel Antonio Cocco and José Serrano, were very active, creating, producing and conducting operas in Havana, between 1815 and 1832.
Cristóbal Martínez Corrés was the first Cuban opera composer, but his Works, such as El diablo contrabandista and Don papanero were never premiered and haven't been preserved until the present time. Born in Havana, in 1822, composer and pianist Martínez Corrés established his residence together with his family in France when he was just nine years old; and at a later tame they went to Italy. Due to his premature death, a third opera named Safo, never surpassed an early creative stage. Martínez Corrés died in Genoa, in 1842.
Among the operatic composers that worked in Cuba during the first half of the 19th century we can mention the Spanish José María Trespuentes and Narciso Téllez, as well as the Italian Enea Elia. We should also mention two other renowned Italian composers, which arrived at a very young age to Havana to work as instrumental performers during the season of 1846–1847, and stayed in Cuba several years. One of them, Giovanni Battista Bottesini, composed his first opera, named Colón in Cuba, in the Island; and the other composer, Luigi Arditi, also premiered his opera Gulnara in Cuba, only four days after Bottesini's.
The North-American pianist and composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk lived in Cuba from 1845 to 1862, and there he developed an important work as performer, conductor and composer. Gottschalk utilized Afro-Cuban elements of style in complex classical forms, such as a Caprice di Bravura based on the Cocoyé theme, as well as an opera titled Fiesta campestre Cubana (Cuban countryside feast).
About that opera Gottschalk wrote in his memoires: "Two months later (based on an offer made by the General-in Chief to put at my disposal all the military bands) I had, as I tell you, the idea to offer a great festival, and I came to an arrangement with the Italian Opera conductor, then in possession of the Great Tacón Theater. A contract in which he committed to provide the main soloists, all the choirs, and the entire orchestra, with the purpose to obtain a profit with the result. I set up to work and composed, based on some verses in Spanish written for me by a Havanese poet, an opera in one act titled Fête champêtre Cubaine (Cuban countryside feast)."
It is quite probable that Fiesta campestre Cubana would be the first opera that included elements of autochthonous Cuban music, because it is possible to clearly perceive in its music the Habanera-tango rhythm, previously utilized by Gottschalk so many times in other Cuban style pieces. Cristóbal Díaz Ayala says about this subject: "… "Escenas Campestres" presents a challenge: if it is the first Cuban opera or not; while Saumell envisioned for his "Antonelli" a text in Italian language, "Escenas Campestres" was written in Spanish, and its music has undoubtedly a certain creole flavor. But the critics, even from its time, and later, ignore this fact."
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Opera in Cuba
Opera has been present in Cuba since the latest part of the 18th century, when the first full-fledged theater, called Coliseo, was built. Since then to present times, the Cuban people have highly enjoyed opera, and many Cuban composers have cultivated the operatic genre, sometimes with great success at an international level.
The first documented operatic event in Havana took place in 1776. That presentation was mentioned in a note published in the newspaper Diario de La Habana on December 19, 1815: "…Today, Wednesday 19th of the current, if the weather allows, the new tragic opera of merit in three acts that contains 17 pieces of music, titled Dido Abandoned will be performed […] This is one of the premiere dramas from the French theater. In Italy, the one composed by renowned Metastasio deserved a singular applause, and was sung in this city on October 12, 1776." On August 9, 1807, another note was published in a Havanese newspaper that announced: "There is a Lyric-heroic drama in this printing shop titled America and Apolo which will be presented at this theater…", and on the following September 8 the premiere of the announced piece took place at the former Coliseo Theater, that had already changed its name to Principal. That was the first lyric piece composed in Cuba that we have information about, and its composer was Manuel de Sequeyra y Arango, Captain of the Havana Infantry Regiment. The piece was really a "dramatic action" in the Metastasian style; a brief composition in which the choir participated occasionally.
From 1810 to 1832 a lyric company performed several operas in Havana, among which were those called Las cuatro columnas del trono español and El major día de La Habana, and in 1811 another company arrived to that city that included the soprano Mariana Galino, contralto Isalbel Gamborino, tenor Juan Palau and the Italian composer Stefano Cristiani. Cristiani and other Spanish composers, such as Manuel Antonio Cocco and José Serrano, were very active, creating, producing and conducting operas in Havana, between 1815 and 1832.
Cristóbal Martínez Corrés was the first Cuban opera composer, but his Works, such as El diablo contrabandista and Don papanero were never premiered and haven't been preserved until the present time. Born in Havana, in 1822, composer and pianist Martínez Corrés established his residence together with his family in France when he was just nine years old; and at a later tame they went to Italy. Due to his premature death, a third opera named Safo, never surpassed an early creative stage. Martínez Corrés died in Genoa, in 1842.
Among the operatic composers that worked in Cuba during the first half of the 19th century we can mention the Spanish José María Trespuentes and Narciso Téllez, as well as the Italian Enea Elia. We should also mention two other renowned Italian composers, which arrived at a very young age to Havana to work as instrumental performers during the season of 1846–1847, and stayed in Cuba several years. One of them, Giovanni Battista Bottesini, composed his first opera, named Colón in Cuba, in the Island; and the other composer, Luigi Arditi, also premiered his opera Gulnara in Cuba, only four days after Bottesini's.
The North-American pianist and composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk lived in Cuba from 1845 to 1862, and there he developed an important work as performer, conductor and composer. Gottschalk utilized Afro-Cuban elements of style in complex classical forms, such as a Caprice di Bravura based on the Cocoyé theme, as well as an opera titled Fiesta campestre Cubana (Cuban countryside feast).
About that opera Gottschalk wrote in his memoires: "Two months later (based on an offer made by the General-in Chief to put at my disposal all the military bands) I had, as I tell you, the idea to offer a great festival, and I came to an arrangement with the Italian Opera conductor, then in possession of the Great Tacón Theater. A contract in which he committed to provide the main soloists, all the choirs, and the entire orchestra, with the purpose to obtain a profit with the result. I set up to work and composed, based on some verses in Spanish written for me by a Havanese poet, an opera in one act titled Fête champêtre Cubaine (Cuban countryside feast)."
It is quite probable that Fiesta campestre Cubana would be the first opera that included elements of autochthonous Cuban music, because it is possible to clearly perceive in its music the Habanera-tango rhythm, previously utilized by Gottschalk so many times in other Cuban style pieces. Cristóbal Díaz Ayala says about this subject: "… "Escenas Campestres" presents a challenge: if it is the first Cuban opera or not; while Saumell envisioned for his "Antonelli" a text in Italian language, "Escenas Campestres" was written in Spanish, and its music has undoubtedly a certain creole flavor. But the critics, even from its time, and later, ignore this fact."