On 29 November 1807, on the eve before Napoleon's army occupied Lisbon, the Portuguese court set sail for Brazil. Rio de Janeiro became the new capital of the Império Português, which led to profound social and cultural transformations in the city and a redefinition of the colony's political framework. Five months before the premiere of Da Ponte's and Mozart's Don Giovanni on 20 September 1821, King John VI returned to Lisbon, appointing his son Pedro as Prince Regent. Pedro remained in Brazil with his wife, Leopoldina, the daughter of Emperor Francis I. Little more than a year later, on 2 September 1822, under the presidency of Pedro's wife Leopoldina, the Council of State approved Brazil's secession from Portugal, paving the way for independence and the rise of a new empire.

Against this historical background, this volume traces the development of opera in Brazil from the mid-eighteenth century to the reign of Emperor Pedro I, situating it within its wider cultural and political context. The analysis of the 1821 Rio premiere of Don Giovanni is complemented by examinations of the work's subsequent American debuts in Buenos Aires (1827) and Mexico City (1828).



Reinhard Eisendle arbeitet am Don Juan Archiv Wien über die Geschichte des Theaters vom 17. bis zum 19. Jahrhundert: im Besonderen über das Vehältnis von Theater, Politik und Diplomatie, die Figur des Don Juan auf der internationalen Bühne sowie die Inszenierung des Serails im europäischen Theater. Er ist Mitherausgeber der Reihen "Don Juan Studies" und "Diplomatica", zweier neugegründeter Publikationsserien des Don Juan Archivs Wien.

Eisendle kuratierte auch etliche kultur- und theatergeschichtliche Ausstellungen, unter anderem die Ausstellungen "Salieri sulle tracce di Mozart" 2004 im Mailänder Palazzo Reale anlässlich der Wiedereröffnung des Teatro alla Scala sowie "Mozart. Experiment Aufklärung" 2006 in der Albertina Wien.

Als Dramaturg, vornehmlich des zeitgenössichen Theaters, ist Eisendle auch der theatralen Praxis verbunden - so erstellte er eine dramatische Fassung von Aslı Erdogans Roman "Das Haus aus Stein", welche unter dem Titel "Nicht einmal das Schweigen" im November 2019 in Graz uraufgeführt wurde.





Matthias J. Pernerstorfer studierte Theater-, Film- und Medienwissenschaft in Wien und München. DOC-Stipendium der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften (2003-2005), Dissertation zu Menanders "Kolax" (2005). Von 2005 bis 2006 Mitarbeiter am Da Ponte Institut, seit 2007 Mitarbeiter des Don Juan Archivs Wien, seit 2009 Projektleiter, seit 2011 Direktor.



Suna Suner, Dr.phil., theatre scholar, singer, stage artist. Born in Ankara, she studied Translation & Interpreting at Hacettepe University (B.A., 1996). Taught at Istanbul Bilgi University between the years 1996–2002 and in 2004 received her M.A. degree in Performing Arts from Middlesex University in London. Numerous stage works and productions in music, theatre and performance disciplines in Ankara (1990–1996), in Istanbul (1996–2002), in London (2003–2004) and in Vienna (since 2004). Since 2007 she has been a member of the Don Juan Archiv Wien's team, specialising in the history of theatre and diplomacy in the Ottoman-European context. Since 2008 she has co-directed and organized the Don Juan Archiv Wien's international symposia series "Ottoman Empire & European Theatre". In 2013 received her PhD from the Institute of Theatre, Film & Media Studies of the University of Vienna. Co-editor of Don Juan Archiv Wien's publication series Ottomania and Diplomatica.



HONOURS



Embassy of Brazil in Austria

H.E. Embaixador Eduardo Paes Saboia



Embassy of Portugal in Austria

H.E. Ambassador Jorge Silva Lopes



Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Austria

H.E. Ambassador Teresa Indjein



Musica Brasilis – Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brasileiro

Rosana Lanzelotte



Divino Sospiro – Centro de Estudos Musicais Setecentistas de Portugal

Iskrena Yordanova



Mozarteum University Salzburg

Stefan David Hummel



Introduction

Reinhard Eisendle – Matthias J. Pernerstorfer – Suna Suner



I. OPERA IN THE TROPICS



Between Natural and Proper:

Refashioning Opera in Brazil (c.1750–1822)

Rogério Budasz (Riverside/CA)



Italian Opera and the Birth of Theatre Criticism in Rio de Janeiro

(1817–1831)

Fernando Santos Berçot (Rio de Janeiro)



II. LEOPOLDINA AND PEDRO:

ARTS, MUSIC, THEATRE AND POLITICS



Archduchess Leopoldine of Austria, First Empress of Brazil (1797–1826):

Her Childhood and Youth at the Court of Vienna

Käthe Springer-Dissmann (Vienna)



Empress Maria Leopoldina:

Political Action and the Art of Reigning

Paulo de Assunção (Lisbon)



The Musical Legacy of Pedro I of Brazil

Rosana Lanzelotte (Rio de Janeiro)



Opera of Independence:

An "Exhibition" in Two Acts

Julio Bandeira (Rio de Janeiro)



III. SIGISMUND NEUKOMM IN BRAZIL



Sigismund Neukomm on Tour:

Warm-Hearted, Curious, World Traveller

Herbert Lindsberger (Salzburg)



Sigismund Neukomm:

Ein österreichischer Komponist am brasilianischen Hof in Rio de Janeiro

Otto Biba (Vienna)



Sigismund von Neukomm and the Musical Construction

of the Voyage to Brazil (1816):

A Musically Documented Atlantic Crossing

Ricardo Bernardes (Lisbon)



IV. DON JUAN PERFORMANCES

IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY EUROPE



Don Juan in the Contemporary World:

Some Reflections on a Changing Plot

Francesco Cotticelli (Naples)



Mozart tradito:

le versioni ottocentesche del Don Giovanni a Napoli

Paologiovanni Maione (Naples)



Don Giovanni Tenorio by Louis Henry at the San Carlo in Naples (1820)

Maria Venuso (Naples)



V. DA PONTE'S AND MOZART'S DON GIOVANNI

IN BRAZIL, ARGENTINA AND MEXICO



Don Giovanni and Rio de Janeiro:

The Fate of Mozart's Masterpiece in the Brazilian Capital throughout

the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

Rosana De Moraes Marreco Orsini Brescia (Lisbon)



Don Giovanni in Rio de Janeiro, 1821: Touching a White Map

Reinhard Eisendle – Hans Ernst Weidinger



Mozart americanizado:

The Premiere of Don Giovanni in Buenos Aires in 1827

Magnus Tessing Schneider (Gothenburg)



Opera Divos after Colonialism:

Don Giovanni in Mexico City

Francesco Milella (Madrid)



INDEX



Names



Places



Theatres



Musical and Poetic Works