''Donna Bianca'' is an opera in a prologue and four acts composed by

Alfredo Keil Alfredo Cristiano Keil (3 July 1850 – 4 October 1907) was a Portuguese romantic composer and painter. Keil was born in Lisbon, the son of Johann Christian Keil (son of Johann Georg Keil and wife Elisabeth ...) and wife (m. Lisbon, 30 A ...

to an Italian-language libretto by César Féréal. The libretto is based the narrative poem ''Dona Branca'' by

Almeida Garrett João Baptista da Silva Leitão de Almeida Garrett, 1st Viscount of Almeida Garrett (; 4 February 1799 – 9 December 1854) was a Portuguese poet, orator, playwright, novelist, journalist, politician, and a peer of the realm. A major promoter of ...

. The opera premiered on 10 March 1888 at the Teatro São Carlos in Lisbon and had 30 performances between 1888 and 1899. The opera was revived at the Teatro São Carlos in September 2010 in a series of four concert performances sung in the original Italian.Cruz, Manuel Ivo (2008)
''A Ópera em Portugal''
p. 52. Imprensa Nacional–Casa da Moeda ''Diário Digital'' (29 September 2010)
"Ópera «Dona Branca» estreia hoje no São Carlos"
Retrieved 18 January 2014 . Set in Portugal during the reconquest of the

Kingdom of the Algarve The Kingdom of the Algarve (Portuguese: ''Reino do Algarve'', from the Arabic ''Gharb al-Andalus'' ), after 1471 Kingdom of the Algarves (Portuguese: ''Reino dos Algarves''), was a nominal kingdom within the Kingdom of Portugal, located in the sou ...

from the

Moors The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinct or ...

in the second half of the 13th century, the opera recounts the tragic love story between

Afonso III Afonso III (; rare English alternatives: ''Alphonzo'' or ''Alphonse''), or ''Affonso'' (Archaic Portuguese), ''Alfonso'' or ''Alphonso'' (Portuguese-Galician) or ''Alphonsus'' (Latin), the Boulonnais ( Port. ''o Bolonhês''), King of Portugal ( ...

's daughter Dona Branca and the Moor ruler Aben-Afan.

Roles

References

1888 operas Operas by Alfredo Keil Italian-language operas Operas set in Portugal Operas {{Italian-opera-stub