The Repertory of occasional music-dramatic works in Portugal and Brazil between 1707 and 1834

Since the arrival of Italian singers in Portugal, hired by John V in 1719, until the death of Peter IV of Portugal, first emperor of Brazil in 1834, an extensive repertory of occasional music-dramatic works was produced destined, on the one hand, to celebrate the birthdates of members of the royal family, and on the other, to celebrate other events of social and political relevance, such as the inauguration of the equestrian statue of Joseph I at Terreiro do Paço in Lisbon, in 1775. Despite the musical importance of this group of works, including cantatas, elogios, anthems and serenades, composed in Portugal and in Brazil and presented in court and the theaters, knowledge of its history remains incomplete and the subject requires more sustained study. This post-doctoral project proposes to document the development of this repertory between 1707 and 1834, elaborating a chronology, identifying music characteristics, and discussing its social history. To this end, we shall build, on the basis of the available literary and musical sources, a database featuring the following fields: title, author of text/music, date of presentation, names of characters, incipit of text/music, metric schemes, etc. Critical transcriptions of the most representative compositions will also be completed.