''A noite do castelo'' ("The Night of the Castle") is an

opera seria ''Opera seria'' (; plural: ''opere serie''; usually called ''dramma per musica'' or ''melodramma serio'') is an Italian musical term which refers to the noble and "serious" style of Italian opera that predominated in Europe from the 1710s to abo ...

in three acts by the

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian

Romantic era Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...

composer,

Antônio Carlos Gomes Antônio Carlos Gomes (; July 11, 1836 in Campinas – September 16, 1896 in Belém) was the first New World composer whose work was accepted by Europe. He was the only non-European who was successful as an opera composer in Italy, during the "go ...

. The

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

by Antônio José Fernandes dos Reis was based on

António Feliciano de Castilho António Feliciano de Castilho, 1st Viscount of Castilho (28 January 180018 June 1875) was a Portuguese writer. Life Castilho was born in Lisbon. He lost his sight at the age of six, but the devotion of his brother Augusto, and aided by a retent ...

's 1830 poem of the same name. The work premiered at the Theatro Lyrico Fluminense in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

on September 4, 1861.

Performance history

''A noite do castelo'' was Gomes' first opera and composed during his student years in Rio de Janeiro. He was encouraged to have the opera performed by José Amat, the first administrator of the Imperial Academy of Music and Opera Lyrica Nacional. In 1860, Gomes wrote a letter from Rio de Janeiro to his father, inviting him to the opening night which would take place the following year:

"Meu bom pai. Escrevo esta só para não demorar uma boa notícia. Afinal tenho um libreto. Foi extraído do poema de Castilho - A Noite do Castelo. Hoje mesmo começo a trabalhar na composição da ópera, prepare-se portanto, para vir ao Rio de Janeiro em 1861. Saudades muitas às manas e aos manos, principalmente ao Juca, abençoe-me como a seu filho muito grato. Carlos"

(Translation: "My good father. I write you this so that I do not delay any longer some good news to you. Finally, I have a libretto. It has been taken from a poem by Castilho - ''A Noite do Castelo''. Today, I started working on the composition for the opera. Get yourself ready, then, to come to Rio de Janeiro in 1861. Send my longing love to my sisters and brothers, specially to Juca, bless me as your very thankful son, Carlos.")

The first performance of ''A noite do castelo'' by the Opera Lyrica Nacional at the Theatro Lyrico Fluminense on September 4, 1861, was loudly applauded, with contemporary accounts describing the audience as being "in delirium". Gomes conducted the performance, which coincided with the wedding anniversary of

Emperor Pedro II Dom PedroII (2 December 1825 – 5 December 1891), nicknamed "the Magnanimous" ( pt, O Magnânimo), was the second and last monarch of the Empire of Brazil, reigning for over 58 years. He was born in Rio de Janeiro, the seventh child of Empe ...

, to whom the work was dedicated. Gomes was made a Cavalier of the Imperial Order of the Rose on the stage that night with Pedro II himself pinning the medal on the composer. ''A noite do castelo'' never entered the operatic repertory outside of Brazil and in modern times it is very rarely performed even there. However, there is a 1978 live recording of a performance by the Orquestra Sinfônica da Campinas, the Coral da Universidade Estadual de Campinas and the Coral da Universidade de São Paulo.The documentation on the actual performance is sketchy. Some sources give the actual performance year as 1977, others as 1978. Likewise the performance city has been given as

Campinas Campinas (, ''Plains'' or ''Meadows'') is a Brazilian municipality in São Paulo State, part of the country's Southeast Region. According to the 2020 estimate, the city's population is 1,213,792, making it the fourteenth most populous Brazilian ...

or as Rio de Janeiro. See Shaman ''et al.'' (1999) p. 362.

Roles

References

Notes Sources * *Behar, Eli (1980
''Vultos do Brasil''
Hemus, p. 95. *''Brasil Cultura''
Biography of Carlos Gomes
(in Portuguese). Accessed 1 November 2008. *de Carvalho Ismael, César

''Anais da 58ª Reunião Anual da SBPC'', July 2006. Description of the collection of original letters by the composer at UNICAMP's Centro de Memória and at the Carlos Gomes Museum. *Filho, Manuel Alve
"Lenita Nogueira lança A história de Carlos Gomes por ele mesmo"
Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), September 27, 2007. Press release on the publication of the autobiography of Carlos Gomes with quotes from the original letter the composer wrote in 1860 to his father, inviting him to the opening night of ''A noite do castelo'' (in Portuguese). Accessed 1 November 2008. *Haag, Carlo
"The heavy burden of being a national symbol
''Pesquisa FAPESP'', Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo, November 2007. Accessed 2 November 2008. *Instituto geographico e historico da Bahia
''Revista do Instituto geographico e historico da Bahia''
N. 62, 1936. *Moore, Tom

''Notes'', Music Library Association, June 1999. Accessed via subscription 1 November 2008. *Nogueira, Lenita Waldige Mendes, ''Museu Carlos Gomes: catálogo de manuscritos musicais'', Editora Arte & Ciencia, 415 pages, 1997. Catalogue of Antônio Carlos Gomes´ works in the Carlos Gomes Museum (in Portuguese). *Shaman, William ''et al.'' (1999
''More EJS: Discography of the Edward J. Smith Recordings''
("Unique Opera Records Corporation" (1972–1977), "A.N.N.A. Record Company" (1978–1982), "special-label" Issues (circa 1954-1981), and Addendum to "The Golden Age of Opera" Series), Greenwood Publishing Group. * Alessio Walter De Palma, Antonio Carlos Gomes. L’opera lirica tra il Brasile e l’Italia nel secondo Ottocento, Foggia, Odysseus, 2018.

External links

*Fantinatti, João Marcos

''Pró-Memória de Campinas-SP'', September 29, 2006. Chronology and biography of Carlos Gomes with sources from the Museum Carlos Gomes and other sources from his native city, Campinas (in Portuguese). Accessed 1 November 2008.
Museu Carlos Gomes
The museum, located in the Centro de Ciências Letras e Artes in

, contains the complete and original archive of Antônio Carlos Gomes' compositions, letters and other papers and collections in the Museu Carlos Gomes (in Portuguese). Accessed 30 October 2010. {{DEFAULTSORT:Noite do castelo, A Portuguese-language operas Operas by Carlos Gomes Operas 1861 operas