FULL Os Bacharéis Opereta Porto Alegre 2023 Flávio Leite, Sérgio Sisto, Henrique Cambraia, Felipe Bertol
Information on the Performance
- Work Title: Os Bacharéis
- Composer: Manuel Acosta y Olivera
- Libretto: João Simões Lopes Neto Libretto Text, Libretto Index
- Venue & Opera Company: Casa da OSPA, Porto Alegre, Brazil
- Recorded: September 2, 2023
- Type: Staged Opera Live
- Singers: Flávio Leite, Sérgio Sisto, Henrique Cambraia, Felipe Bertol, Elisa Machado, Guilherme Roman, Roger Nunez, Cristine Guse, Carolina Braga, Ricardo Barpp
- Conductor: Evandro Matté
- Orchestra: Orquestra Sinfônica de Porto Alegre
- Stage Director: Marcelo Ádams
- Stage Designer: Yara Balboni
- Costume Designer: Daniel Lion
- Lighting Designer: Maurício Moura
Information about the Recording
- Published by: OSPA
- Date Published: 2023
- Format: Streaming
- Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
- Subtitles: yessubs, gensubs, othersubs
- Video Recording from: YouTube FULL VIDEO
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE
130 years after its premiere, OSPA recreates the operetta “Os Bacharéis”, by João Simões Lopes Neto
Using the pseudonym Serafim Bemol, Simões Lopes Neto from Pelotas shared the authorship of “Os Bacharéis” with fellow countryman José Gomes Mendes , who signed as Mouta Rara. In addition to being Simões Lopes’ brother-in-law, Mendes was an important artistic partner in several theatrical productions. The musical part of “Os Bacharéis” was done by Manoel Acosta y Oliveira , a black and foreign musician (his origin is not known), who, despite the prejudice in post-abolition Brazil, had a prolific and praised performance as a cellist, conductor and composer throughout the country.
After its successful debut, on June 23, 1894, at Theatro Sete de Abril, in Pelotas, the show was re-staged on a few occasions, but eventually fell into oblivion. In 2005, extensive research work made a new assembly possible. Cláudia Antunes researched the original scores and documents, Márcio de Souza reconstituted the scores that had been partially lost and Élcio Rossini adapted the text and signed the direction. The sessions, which took place in Porto Alegre and Pelotas , caused a commotion. On that occasion, Marcelo Ádams played one of the protagonists, Cincinatus. He returns as the project’s scenic director.
“The Bachelors” is a comedy-operetta, that is, an art form that combines spoken text with singing and derives from opera, which explores solely singing. In Brazil, the artistic genre was very popular at the end of the 19th century and combined Brazilian and European rhythms. In operettas, the relaxed text often uses humor as a tool of social criticism. In “Os Bacharéis”, the authors’ target was the hypocrisy and conservative customs of Pelotas society, even though the text is not located in a specific place or time.
Although the plot is built around a classic love story, complete with a villain, the real protagonists are three brothers, the bachelors of the title. One of them, Cincinatus, prevents the marriage between the newlyweds Pombinho and Caricina, claiming that the two were related and, therefore, could not get married. Heartbroken, Pombinho leaves the city and only returns years later, with a bachelor’s degree. The return shakes up the plans of Cincinatus, who was trying to conquer Caricina. As the audience watches the unscrupulous actions of the characters, the hypocrisy of conservative customs is revealed, causing comical effects.