Opera’s Many Faces in Latin America
AQ’s music columnist traces the paths of a genre that thrived in Latin America, from its colonial courts and Jesuit missions to its revolutions.
This article is adapted from AQ’s special report on Latin America's space race In the Americas, opera has been thriving since at least 1701, when Tomás de Torrejón y Velasco premiered La púrpura de la rosa, in Lima, an opera still performed around the world. The piece, with libretto by Pedro Calderón de la Barca, was commissioned to celebrate the 18th birthday of King Philip V and his first year on the Spanish throne. A decade later, Manuel de Sumaya, the most important Baroque composer born in New Spain, premiered La parténope in Mexico City. Both follow that era’s predilection...
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