The Lisbon Royal Opera House
A Ópera do Tejo 15 March — 1 November 1755
Six months. That's the short lived career of the unfortunate Lisbon Royal Opera House. The sumptuous theater was commissioned by king José I, following his father and predecessor king João V´s footsteps of praising the Italian style of theater and music which had become so popular throughout the royal courts in Europe. But this was no ordinary theater. It was supposed to mark the comeback of the once powerful seafaring nation, which, in the midst of decline, chaos and debt saw a slight resurgence of its former glory with the finding of gold in Brazil during the 18th century. This gold was put to use in numerous buildings and infrastructure like the Lisbon aqueduct and the most famous work of that time, the Palace of Mafra.
During the 17th century Portugal, the music of Spanish tradition, customary during the years of the Iberian Union, gave way to the Italian style. Domenico Scarlatti was the composer responsible for entertaining the court of João V with his own serenades. Simple soirées, mostly musical without any kind of act or scenario. These events became very popular among the wealthy families at the time and so it was that the Italian style was established and would reign until the 20th century. From 1733 and on a violinist from the Royal Chapel named Alessandro Paghetti had been performing with his two daughters, who were exceptional singers know as the “Paquetas”, in every important palace of the kingdom. It is the same Paghetti who's responsible for the introduction of the first opera in Portugal when he established the Accademia alla Piazza della Trinitá and later the theater at Rua dos Condes.
His Ópera Séria style, or serious opera, became the norm amongst the aristocratic society thirsty for the grandeur of the Baroque period. By this time audiences in Portugal were familiar with the Italian opera. In the mean time something else was brewing in the lower classes. The plays of the “Jew” António José da Silva, a lawyer born in Brazil, were captivating the imagination of the common people. Funny and light hearted with instrumental music accompaniment, these shows became popular at the Teatro do Bairro Alto. His plays “Don Quixote” and “Alecrim e Mangerona” are considered the first Portuguese written operas. António José da Silva Coutinho was soon after condemned to death by the Inquisition on charges of “Judaism”. And thus was gone the most prominent Portuguese play writer since Gil Vicente.
King João V had become increasingly paranoid and filled with religious fervour after an attack that left him hemiplegic. All forms of theater and entertainment deemed immoral where violently repressed and the Holy Office of the Inquisition was granted full power to do its bidding. This paved way for the Ópera Séria which continued its expansion with the monarchs dispensing huge sums of money to import Italian performers and composers. With king José I, the Neapolitan David Perez was appointed master of the Capela Real and instructor of the young princess Maria. In the opposite direction João de Sousa Carvalho and Jerónimo Francisco de Lima were sent to Italy to study the counterpoint. If not Italian then at least Italian trained they thought. These composers became the masters and teachers of the next generation of Portuguese musicians.
With king José a new era for the Portuguese opera emerged. It was he who commissioned the Ópera do Tejo, the Royal Opera House, and entrusted its construction to Giovanni Carlo Bibiena an Italian architect whose scenarios and complex stages where known throughout Europe. It was inaugurated in March 1755 to celebrate the anniversary of queen Mariana Vitória with a libretto from Pietro Metastasio and music by David Perez. Allesandro nelle´Indie tells the story and exploits of Alexander the Great in India. Numerous copies of the libretto have survived which illustrate the effort put into this play. It is said that real elephants were used and in one scene up to four hundred horses crossed the stage re-enacting one of Alexander´s epic battles against the Hindu warriors.
With capacity for 600 people the Ópera do Tejo was located next to the Paço da Ribeira, the Royal Palace which was also destroyed during the earthquake and tsunami that ensued, and next to the river Tagus ou Tejo, hence the name, Ópera do Tejo. The stage had a direct opening to the river which provided dramatic lighting and scenery. The masonry was white with golden decoration. Some similarities between the Theatre de Nancy, projected by Francesco Bibiena, Giovanni Carlo´s father, and the architectural drawings of the Ópera do Tejo found in 1933 in the National Archives, helped in the virtual reconstruction of the Ópera do Tejo by students of the Universities of Évora and Lisboa.
On the 1st of November 1755 a powerful earthquake with its epicenter some 200 km southwest of Lisbon in the Atlantic Ocean wrecked havoc. The tsunami and then the fire that burned for days afterwards left the city in ruins. The Royal Opera House was totally destroyed. After the inaugural play there had been a few more plays but the days of magnificent luxury at the opera were over. A reconstruction of the city took place at the hands of Sebastião de Carvalho e Melo 1st Marquis of Pombal, but the reconstruction of the opera house never took place. It was seen by the Marquis as a symbol of the absolutist monarchies which he so much despised and was left behind. King José went insane after the earthquake. Frightened of heavy stone structures and of deadly waves from the river he moved to a wooden palace constructed high above the margins of the Tagus on the hills of Ajuda.
For the next 10 years after the earthquake the reconstruction of the city took all the effort and no music and theater was seen. Even David Perez who had written some of the most amazing operas of the time was left out of a patronage and turned to church music. Eventually two new theaters, Teatro da Ajuda and Teatro de Salvaterra, were build but on a small scale for the noble classe who still enjoyed the serious style of the Ópera Séria. From now on another style emerged out of the ashes, the opera buffa.
This Italicization of the music and style of opera in Portugal reflected the 18th century social and political ideals of the Enlightenment movement, which Europe was going through but that never fully established itself in the country as it did elsewhere. While the rest of Europe was listening to Mozart, Haydn and Bach, Portugal was still using and copying older Metastasio works. This carried on well into the 20th century with the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos presenting exclusively Italian operas even though such names as Luis de Freitas Branco, Vianna da Mota and Alfredo Keil were pushing for reforms in the music institutions and ushering in the modern era of orchestral music.
Further reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_history_of_Portugal
