Music Societies in the 19 th Century Oporto : Private Spaces of Amateur and Professional Music Making

A number of private societies and clubs flourished in Oporto in the 19th Century, whose aim was to encourage in their members “benevolence relationships and good society” offering them “an honest and civilized leisure times”. Clearly elitist, these nineteenth century recreational clubs had strict membership admission policies, which generally belonged to the higher echelons of society, more specifically the bourgeois, since the titled aristocracy was scarce in Oporto. It is worth mentioning here in parenthesis that Oporto was an essentially bourgeois, commercial city, unlike the capital, Lisbon, where the court “drags with it the whole official and unofficial world which conceitedly flutters around it”. Each association organised musical concerts, balls and soirées musicales – weekly, twice a week or once a month – which also offered members other amusements, like conversation, reading, playing cards or dancing. Events of a musical character were normally performed by the club members, usually amateurs – referred to as dilettanti – who would be joined by prestigious Portuguese or foreign professionals. The purpose of this article is to describe the musical activity of the five main venues for private socialising in Oporto in the 1800s, and their contribution to the development of the musical taste of the city’s society, taking into account both amateur and professional practice and particularly the repertoire performed. 1 P-Porto, Arquivo Distrital, Arquivo do Governo Civil, Mç. 139, Doc. 81, Estatutos da Assembleia Portuense para o ano de 1867, article 2. 2 Alberto Pimentel, O Porto na berlinda, Porto, Typ. d A. J. Silva Teixeira, 1894, pp. 138-139. 3 This article is based on a communication entitled “Music societies in Oporto in the 2nd half of 19th century”, presented to the 14th International Conference on 19th Century Music, held in Manchester, Manchester University, July 2006. Sociedade Filarmónica Portuense Thanks to the initiative of the pianist, conductor and composer Francisco Eduardo da Costa (18191855), and certainly inspired by associative models of a similar nature that proliferated in central Europe, this private association, called Sociedade Filarmónica Portuense, was founded on 13 March 1840 for “instruction and musical recreation through the performance of Vocal and Instrumental Music”. To became a member of Filarmónica, as it was called in Oporto, it was necessary to demonstrate integrity of character, Article 13 of the Statutes imposing the admission of “people of recognised probity” regardless of nationality. The association admitted members in three categories, according to their musical proficiency: gifted members “versed in music applied to singing, or in any instrument”, who were responsible for electing the Board of Directors and the Conductor of the Orchestra, as well as controlling the Society’s finances; “those people who displayed 4 Rui Vieira Nery and Paulo Ferreira de Castro in História da Música, Lisboa, Imprensa Nacional Casa da Moeda, 1999, p. 139, date the start of musical activity of the Philharmonic Society to 1852. António Duarte da Silva Reis erroneously gives the date of 31st March 1834. However, all the bibliography consulted for this article, contemporary or not, are unanimous in referring to 1840 as the year of the foundation of the Society. The Statutes of 1844 indicate that it was 13th of the third month. (Cf. P-Pm, Ms. 1273, Apontamentos para a verdadeira História antiga e moderna da Cidade do Porto. [...] Escriptos por Henrique Duarte Souza Reis, Sociedade Filarmónicaa, fl. 285v; F. G. Fonseca, Guia Histórico do Viajante no Porto e Arrabaldes, Porto, Livraria e Tipografia de F. G. da Fonseca, 1864, p. 47; Brigadeiro Nunes da Ponte, “O Clube Portuense. Notas várias” in O Tripeiro, 5th series, year IV, no. 7 (November 1948), pp. 156-160; and P-Porto, Private collection of Dr. Manuel Ivo Cruz, Estatutos da Sociedade Phylarmonica Portuense, Porto, Tipografia da Revista, 1844, article 34o). 5 P-Porto, Private collection of Dr. Manuel Ivo Cruz, Estatutos da Sociedade Phylarmonica Portuense, op. cit., article 1. 6 Idem, article 13 and Brigadeiro Nunes da Ponte, “O Club Portuense. Notas várias”, op. cit., p. 156.

recognised merit in the art of music, or who have done relevant service to the Society" were unanimously elected honorary members; and listening members, who were not obliged to have any musical knowledge 7 .Proposals for the admission of new members had to be made in writing by an existing member, for deliberation by the Board of Directors.Three black balls meant the exclusion of a candidate, who could not then be proposed again within a year.The Statutes of 1844 also required members to pay a membership fee of 4,800 réis, plus a monthly subscription of 480 réis, amounts that made membership impossibly beyond the reach of the middle and lower classes 8 .The first headquarters of the Sociedade Filarmónica was on the upper floor of Café das Hortas, on the corner of Rua das Hortas 9 and Rua da Fábrica.Weekly meetings were held there on Mondays, as well as the "extraordinary meeting to celebrate the Society's Founding Day" which took place annually on 13 th March 10 .The musical events featured performances by the 'gifted members', "the best amateur musicians in Oporto" 11 in the opinion of Ernesto Vieira, in which members of the British community excelled.Ramalho Ortigão refers to the British presence in a text dated 2nd May 1859, published in the Crónicas Portuenses: "There was nothing else of note, except, if you like, the concert by Miss Scott in the salon of the Filarmónica, where "the cold" of London was sufficiently represented in the faded beauty of the daughters of Great Britain and in the starched elegance of their tall, sharp gentlemen" 12 .
Besides the dilettantes, various professional musicians also took part in the Filarmónica concerts.Francisco Eduardo da Costa was surrounded by the most esteemed colleagues in the musical life of the city, like, for example, the cellist João António Ribas and his brother the flautist José Maria Ribas, the 7 P-Porto, Private collection of Dr. Manuel Ivo Cruz, Estatutos da Sociedade Phylarmonica Portuense, op.cit., articles  5, 10, 18, 21 and 31.8  Idem, articles 19 and 22. 9 Now Rua do Almada.10 P-Porto, Private collection of Dr. Manuel Ivo Cruz, Estatutos da Sociedade Phylarmonica Portuense, op.cit., articles  2 and 34.11  Dicionário Biográfico de Músicos Portugueses, Lisboa,  Tipografia Matos, Moreira & Pinheiro, 1900, vol.II, p. 387.12  Crónicas Portuenses (1859-1866), Lisboa, Livraria  Clássica Editora, 1944, p. 71.italian pianist and conductor Carlo Dubini, the flautist João Parado, and the clarinettist João Francisco Arroio.Being, at the time, the only musical society in the city whose director was linked to the orchestra of the S. João Theatre, this was no wonder, because it was common practice in European associations of the same kind, that singers from the lyric companies hired by the theatre in Oporto would actively participate in the society's musical events.Luigia Ponti Dell'Armi, Carolina Wietti, Maria Poggi, Etore Corti, Agostino dell'Armi, Emilio Lanovilla, J. Hernández, Nostoni Rossi, and the Portuguese tenor António Maria Celestino, are names that often appeared in the concert programmes of the 1854-55 season 13 .The presence of these prominent names in the weekly meetings and the annual festivities had the aim of guaranteeing the artistic quality of the concerts.But they also offered the Filarmónica social and cultural prestige, which enabled it to boast a certain superiority.One of the most celebrated moments in the life of the society was the public debut of the pianist Artur Napoleão in December 1859, at 6 years of age, in a concert that he himself gratefully recalled in his Memories: "When my turn came to perform, I staggered through the orchestra musicians and as I approached the piano, I turned to the audience so brazenly that it produced a good laugh.The conductor, at my side, lifted me up from behind, with just one hand, and yelled: 'Here is the pianist.'New guffaws, followed by applause.On that memorable night I received my first award, a small ring with a little gemstone with a dedication, plus my first certificate of honorary membership" 14 .
Another high point in the Filarmónica season was the celebration of Saint Cecily Festivity, the society's patron.The festivities included a mass in the Vitória Church, where the 'Missa de Santa Cecília' for 4 voices and mixed choir, composed for the occasion by Francisco Eduardo, was performed.This was a rather important event "for its musical value and for the brilliant constellation of countless ladies there present" 15 .The programmes of the Sociedade Filarmónica followed a typical structure for public concerts in the mid-19th Century: they started and/or ended with an orchestral opera overture, and in between there was a froup of arias, cavatinas and romanzas for voice and piano and/or fantasies, variations or pot-pourris on operatic themes arranged for solo instruments or instrumental ensembles.The Society had a choir and orchestra at its disposal, both very proficient to judge by contemporary critics, directed by Francisco Eduardo, alternating with other professional musicians.Oporto Public Library has kept some of the Philharmonic Society concert programmes in its archives.In table 1 we can see the structure described above if we analyse the programme of the Divertimento of 18 th May 1843 16 .After the death of its founder in 1855, Sociedade Filarmónica moved to a building in Rua da Fábrica, practically across the road from its previous home, specifically constructed to house the musical association.Henrique de Sousa Reis tells us that the owner, "recognising (…) the progress of the Sociedade Filarmónica and the aspirations of its Members to exalt it, agreed (…) to build there on the same land an edifice entirely destined for the use of said Society (…)" 17 .The prestige that the Filarmónica had meanwhile achieved as the driving force behind music in Oporto is very clear in this citation.With the Italian Carlo Dubini taking over the musical direction, the Filarmónica continued to rely on the participation of the next generation of the most well-regarded professional musicians in the city, which had a glittering array of dilettanti musicans.The musical society continued to be governed by the highest standards of musical performance, and to have artists in its ranks of the calibre of Nicolau Ribasson and nephew of João António and José Maria Ribas, respectively Augusto Marques Pinto, António Soller, Miguel Ângelo Pereira, Joaquim Casella, and amateurs as worthy as João António de Miranda Guimarães, Marcos Archer, Ricardo Brown, António Júlio Machado, Maria Henriqueta Viterbo, Giselda Milheiro Guedes, Camila Katzenstein and Adelaide Paula Soares Cardoso, amongst many others.
When, on 14th January 1862, Oporto observed the funeral rites following the death of King Pedro V, it was the Sociedade Filarmónica who were entrusted with the musical side.A choir of 45 women's voices and an orchestra of 200 amateur and professional musicians, conducted, respectively, by Nicolau Ribas and António Soller, performed Cherubini's Mass, in "one of the most important musical ceremonies there had ever been in Oporto" 18 .It also helped the prestige of the Filarmónica that the foreign musicians who came to play in Oporto also came to its hall.The pianist Oscar de La Cinna gave his first concert in the Salon of the Sociedade Filarmónica on 3rd March 1857, an event that the Directors opened to the general public at a price of 960 réis, and was "quite crowded" 19 .De la Cinna played two piano pieces of his own, the Mendelssohn and Weber piano concert's and a Beethoven Violin Sonata 20 with Nicolau Ribas.The concert was a huge success with the public, who gave the performers "frantic and prolonged applause" 21 .The Sociedade Filarmónica had a musical library, notable for both its size and quality, unusual for an association that had developed in a city on the periphery of European musical circuits.A large part of this collection is now owned by the Club Portuense, a recreational society founded in the mid-1800s that is still active today, with whom the Philharmonic merged in 1880 and to where its musical archive was transferred 22 .The Club Portuense will be discussed later in this article.Besides the 99 musical samples it has preserved, almost all in a good state of conservation, the collection also includes two manuscript catalogues, dating from 1841 and 1849 respectively.All this manuscript and printed material enables the repertoire performed by the Sociedade Filarmónica to be analysed in a much more complete and detailed way.

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Many of these scores were acquired and donated to the Filarmónica by its members.Gaspar Guerner donated about 14 scores; and Rossini's opera La Cenerentola was also donated to the Philharmonic by its member João Nogueira Gandra.Instrumental music -including symphonic music -forms the second largest group in the collection.Classical and Romantic composers from central Europe -Germany, Austria and Bohemia -are the most represented, with Haydn, Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Weber appearing as the cornerstones of the symphonic repertoire.Thirty-four symphonies by Haydn are recorded in the catalogues of 1841 and 1849 25 ; the Philharmonic had Beethoven's symphonies nos. 1, 3, 6, 7, 8 and 9, as well as six symphonic overtures, notably "Coriolanus", "Leonora I" and "Egmont"; there are four symphonic overtures and three symphonies (nos. 1, 2 and 4) by Mendelssohn; Weber is represented by Symphony no. 1 op.19 in C, and five symphonic overtures.The range of composers is broadened by such names as Johann Wenzel Kaliwoda, Reissiger, André, Bergt, the Danish Gade, Himmel, Hummel, Krommer, Lachner, Neukom, Nisle, Pleyel and Spohr, who represent the transition from Viennese Classicism to 'true' Romanticism, as it is called by Dalhaus 26 .Berlioz -with four symphonic overtures -Dancla and Onslow are some of the representatives of French romanticism.The professional musicians who participated in the societies' activities also composed works to be performed on the musical evenings and concerts of these associations, by themselves, by the amateur members or by ensembles formed by both.These works, usually dedicated to the societies to which the composers belonged, were normally written for instrumental groups that included the composer's own instrument; they were based on motifs or themes from the operatic repertoire or ballroom dances, and were often called Sinfonias.The Simphony for Orchestra by José Ernesto de Almeida was performed in December 1847 and the newspaper O Nacional wrote about it that "if it were by a composer with an Italian or German name, many people would have thought it magnificent" 27 .The première of 'Overture composed and offered to the Philharmonic Society' by the honorary member João Medina de Paiva opened the musical entertainment on 30 th April 1857, an event performed totally by amateur members.Roberto Woodhouse and Guilherme Afflalo were also members who ventured to write symphonies for orchestra dedicated to the Sociedade Filarmónica.The activities of the Filarmónica ceased in 1880, the year in which the musical society merged with the Club Portuense.This fusion resulted in the demise of one of the most important musical associations in 19 th Century Oporto society.

Assembleia Portuense and Club Portuense
On 31st May 1834, "on the upper floor of the gentleman's house, on the North side of rua da Fabrica, almost half the façade of the building, between rua do Almada and Travessa da Fabrica", a recreational society called Assembleia Portuense 28 was created.Its genesis was due to the initiative of certain important members of Oporto society, amongst whom were the 1st Viscount of Villar de Allen, the 1 st Viscount and Count of Moser, the 2 nd Baron of Ancede, the politician Bento Ribeiro de Faria, the doctors José Pereira Reis and José Frutuoso Ayres de Gouveia, the lawyer Sebastião de Almeida e Brito and the English business men Graham, Noble and Redpath 29 .The Assembleia Portuense was open from 10 a.m. until 12 p.m. in the Winter, and from 9 a.m. until 12 p.m. in the Summer.Members could use the private reading rooms, the library and the conversation rooms, where tea was served daily between 7.30 p.m. and 9.30 p.m. in October, between 6.30 p.m. and 8.30 p.m. in November, December and January, and from 7.00 p.m. to 9.00 p.m. in February, March and April 30 .In 1867, the society admitted founder, annual and monthly members.There was a joining fee of 8$000 réis that was paid by all members, then founder members would pay an annual subscription of 16$000 réis; annual members an 8$000 réis subscription; and the others were charged a monthly subscription of 2$500 réis 31 .Women were not admitted to the club's activities, except for balls, for which members had the right to bring "lady members of their family" 32 .The events that were most attended and most popular were the balls, especially the annual ball to cel-

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ebrate the founding of the Assembleia, to which almost all members of the association would come.Quite often, the balls were preceded by concerts, at which vocal and instrumental works were performed.
In 1857, due to financial problems, the Directors decided to end the tea service, a decision that led to the formation of two opposing factions who would argue heatedly: those who agreed with the Directors and those who, on the contrary, fought to maintain the tradition.The second group, defeated, left the Society to found the Club Portuense.The new recreational society held its first "solemn founding session" 33 on 24th May 1857, at its premises in rua da Fábrica, later moving to a wing of the Manor House of António Bernardo Ferreira Júnior 34 .
The Club, as it was known, offered its members "honest and civilising recreational activities through regular meetings, dancing, reading, conversation and legal gambling".Members paid a joining fee of 500 réis -a sum that was used to support correctional facilities and gaols -plus an annual subscription of 5$000 réis 35 .
Similarly to what happened at the Assembleia Portuense, the life of the Club "always revolved around the balls" 36 .Whenever they were in Oporto, the royal family would go to the Club.For the occasion of the inauguration of the D. Maria Pia Bridge, in November 1877, the recreational society staged a sumptuous ball which King Luís and Queen Maria Pia attended, which brought a throng of the most distinguished families who belonged to the association.When, three years later, in 1879, the Club stopped organising balls, due to lack of funds, the Directors started organising family meetings -also called 'parties' -in which music played the principal role.The annual report for this year explained the reason for such measures: "As you well know, most members of this house do not attend regularly in the evenings, and, as the coffers do not permit us to offer balls, the Directors resolved to organise some family meetings, in which singing, music and dancing would provide entertainment for members and their families; these meetings have been very well attended and lively, and the Directors would like to take this opportunity to thank the Ladies who have enlivened them with their musical talents" 37 .
In 1880 the Club merged with the Sociedade Filarmónica, into the Grémio do Porto, a name that lasted for only two years, because in 1882 the association reverted to its former name, which it has maintained until today 38 .

Club de Cadouços and Club da Foz
These two clubs, Cadouços and Foz were in the parish of S. João da Foz do Douro, a fishing neighbourhood by the sea, that in the last quarter of the 19 th Century was transformed into "an eccentric, distant and elegant quarter" 39 .Many of the wealthiest families in the city "would close their town houses (...) and come to spend some months by the sea" 40 .The principle that governed the creation of the Cadouços and Foz Clubs was the same as their counterparts, that is, "to provide subscribers and their families with agreeable pastimes, such as: reading, playing cards, billiards, dominos, chess, dramatic shows, concerts, dances, instruction and charitable activities" 41 .The same elitist attitude could be detected in the way new members were admitted: an existing member had to make a proposal in writing in which he had to state, in addition to the personal information about the proposed member, "any further details necessary for the Directors to know if he will meet the conditions required for being admitted" 42 .In 1884, the Club de Cadouços had three membership categories: 'annual subscribers', on payment of a 1$000 1. réis joining fee and an annual subscription of 6$000 réis, paid monthly;

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'summer season members', on payment of 2. a fee of 2$250 réis for three months, plus a monthly subscription of 500 réis for each extra month; 'presented members', who were charged 3. 1$000 réis per visit, and had the right to visit the Club for a period of seven days.These members had to be introduced by one of the Directors who was obliged to take responsibility for all acts of the member under their guardianship.
Those members that were invited by the Directors to "honour the Club with their talents" were exempt from any payment, as long as they participated in any event of any nature that was promoted by the association 43 .The admission of members to the Club da Foz was, inevitably, similar in every way to the Club de Cadouços.So, the Foz association admitted "ordinary" or "honorary" members, requiring from the former a joining fee of 9$000 réis, plus an annual subscription of 6$000 réis paid in two instalments of 3$000 réis.Similarly to what happened at the Club de Cadouços, only "those people who by their merit or services to the Club were judged to be worthy" could become honorary members, which effectively meant to be recommended by the Board of Directors 44 .For those families who moved to Foz, for the Summer, both clubs created special membership categories: "bathing season subscribers" 45 at Club de Cadouços; and "seasonal subscribers" 46 at Club da Foz.Both allowed members to pay a fixed amount for three months plus an extra amount for each additional month.All the bourgeois recreational associations of the 1800s had a philanthropic aspect, that meant they engaged in charitable activities for the protection and support of the poor and the disadvantaged.As Maria de Lourdes Lima dos Santos rightly points out, in an act of "disinterested generosity of the elites towards the weak and inferior" 47 , the two Clubs were statutorily bound to hold an annual -usually in December -charitable feast for the needy of the Parish 48 .In the bathing season -August, September and October -there were concerts, musical soirées and balls twice each week, something common to both associations.The performers in the musical events were, of course, the members, usually amateur musicians, with a strong representation from the English and German communities 49 .These dedicated dilettanti were accompanied by professional musicians, who were often their 'music masters'.Both Club da Foz and Club de Cadouços were guided musically by an illustrious group of profissionals who were ardent followers of German music and culture, which excessively influenced the repertoire of the two societies, particularly from the 1880s: Bernardo Moreira de Sá, Augusto Marques Pinto, Nicolau Ribas, Miguel Ângelo Pereira, Joaquim Casella, Círiaco de Cardoso, Augusto Suggia, Alfredo Napoleão, Xisto Lopes, Ernesto Maia and António Soller.This metamorphosis in the repertoire cannot be analysed without mentioning the Sociedade de Quartetos.In fact, the chamber music group that emerged in Oporto between 1874 and 1881, formed by the five musicians at the head of the list above to "foster a taste for classical music, by means of concerts and musical sessions" 50 significantly altered the musical panorama of the city, particularly in terms of musical taste and repertoire.The 'group of five', as they were called, played in a series of concerts for about 6 years, which afforded the Oporto public the enjoyment of the best European solo and chamber music, almost always for the first time, which says a lot for the innovative and pedagogical nature of the Sociedade de Quartetos.The concert programmes of the two clubs reflected the shift in musical sensitivity operated by the chamber music ensemble.It is very clear from an analysis of those programmes that the fantasies and potpourris on themes from Italian operas were relegated to second place, and the concerts became filled O Commercio do Porto, 6th May 1874.

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with chamber music by Boccherini, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, Weber and Mendelssohn, piano works by Gottschalk, Rubinstein and Chopin, and violin pieces by Sarasate, Wieniawski and Vieuxtemps.The programme for the "last musical soirée of the bathing season" at the Club de Cadouços, held on 17th October 1882 mirrored this transformation 51 in Table 2.

Conclusion
From everything that has been said, we can conclude that private clubs and musical societies played an important role in Oporto musical environment.The Assembleia Portuense, the Club Portuense, the Club de Cadouços and the Club da Foz, with the noble aim of promoting social development through the organisation of regular concerts and balls, suc-
ceeded in cultivating and spreading musical taste amongst the Oporto dilettanti.
But it was, above all, the Sociedade Filarmónica that was the most fruitful of the five studied here.Its activities and the richness of its musical collection, along with the great erudition and initiative of its Directors -Francisco Eduardo da Costa and Carlo Dubini -made an indelible mark in Oporto's musical environment in the last quarter of the 19 th Century, sowing the seeds for Oporto to make the transition from the 19 th to the 20 th Centuries, one of the most glorious periods in its history and in the of Portuguese music.
The Ctalogo / das / Músicas pertencentes à / Sociedade Filarmónica Portuense / 1841 lists 42 different composers, both Portuguese and for- JOÃO NEPOMUCENO MEDINA DE PAIVA Symphony GAMBARO Fantasy on a theme from the opera Il Pirata for clarinet and piano played by Mr. J. B. Pereira and J. E. d'Almeida DONIZETTI Cavatina from the opera Gemma de Vergy performed by Mrs. D. L. S. Friedlein accompanied by orchestra F. KALKBRENNE Variations on a theme from the opera Il Pirata for piano and orchestra, played by Mrs. D. A. E. de C. Malta DONIZETTI Trio from Roberto Devereux with piano accompaniment performed by Mrs. D. L. S. Friedlein and by Mr. A. J. de S. Silva and J. E. da Costa ARTÔT Adagio and variations for violin on themes from Norma with piano accompaniment performed by the Marquis of Chardonnay CLINTON Big concert trio for piano and two flutes performed by Mrs. D. C. de Brito e Cunha, and Messrs. J. E. de Brito e Cunha and A. I. da S. Toscano BELLINI Final aria from La Straniera with choir and orchestral accompaniment, performed by Mrs. D. A. E. Heller SECOND PART J. E. DE ALMEIDA 1st Allegro from the Symphony DONIZETTI Duet from Lucia with orchestral accompaniment, performed by Mrs. D. A. E. Heller and Mr. J.E da Costa HERZ E LAFONT Concert duet for violin and piano on the theme C'est une larme performed by the Marquis of Chardonnay and Mrs. D. E. de Roure DONIZETTI Cavatina from La Regina di Golconda with orchestral accompaniment, performed by Mrs. D. M. I. de Oliveira JOSÉ MARIA RIBAS Polka for flute and piano, performed by Messrs. A. J. de Sousa e Silva and F. E. da Costa F. KALKBRENNE Fantasy for piano and oboe performed by Messrs. F. E. da Costa and A. A. Campos ROSSINI Figaro's aria from Il Barbieri di Siviglia, performed by Mr. J. Sollari At the piano, Mr Francisco Eduardo da Costa.

TABLE 1 -
OPORTO PHILARMONIC SOCIETY PROGRAMME FOR DIVERTIMENTO ON 18TH MAY 1843 Century 23 .Table3, based on the three documents, lists all the works that made up the musical archive of the Sociedade Filarmónica Portuense.There, it is possible to see the dominance of the operatic repertoire in the whole archive, especially the strong presence of Italian composers -along with the celebrated and extremely popular Rossini, Donizetti, Mercadante, Bellini and early Verdi, there are also lesser known composers like Paer, Cherubini, European circuit of theatres that received the operatic repertoire imported from Italy.So operas by Italian composers as well as operas in the Italian style by French and German composers, were touring to the principal European opera houses.The large number of composers from the end of the 18 th Century and the first half of the 19 th Century demonstrates a contemporaneity and an awareness of what was happening in Europe.On the other hand, we must bear in mind that Francisco Eduardo da Costa and Carlo Dubini were conductors at Oporto's lyric Two particular manuscript scores from this operatic core deserve special mention: the opera La Donna di Genio Volubile by Marcos Portugal and the opera Gonzalo di Córdova by António Reparaz.The opera by the Portuguese composer with the greatest international renown is the only existing manuscript version of it -not autographed -in Portugal and this copy was, according to Frederico de Freitas, copied purposefully for the performance staged at the S.João Theatre in 1805.The opera Gonzalo di Córdova had its première in Porto in 1857, when the Spanish composer was directing the orchestra of the lyric theatre.The manuscript was a gift to the Sociedade Filarmónica by the composer, and the existence of underlinings and crossings out in blue pencil in the score lead us to suppose that the copy in the archive was used in the S. João performances.The written notes in some scores confirm the notion that various operas that were performed on the stage of the lyric theatre were subsequently, at some point, sung at the Sociedade Filarmónica.The instrumental parts for the opera Beatrice di Tenda by Bellini, although incomplete 24 , allow us to confirm that the opera was performed in 1854, 6 years after its production in S. João; they also enable us to identify some of the musicians who were society's in the orchestra: the violinists João Alves Pereira Canedo Júnior, Costa Moura, Demétrio Isidoro Franco and Domingos Cardozo and the cellist João Nepomuceno Medina Paiva.A lady by the first name of Raquel -a member, certainly, of the society -and a male singer called José António performed the parts of 2nd soprano and bass, respectively.Amongst the operatic core of the musical collection are a number of transcriptions for voice and piano.These transcriptions, offering a simplified version of the orchestral accompaniment, allowed the performance of this repertoire in a more intimate, salon-like context.These are scores published abroad by the Italians Ricordi and Francesco Lucca, by the French Auguste Leduc, Pacini, Carli, Launes and Schonenberger, by the Germans Schott, Günter & Böhme, Verlag and Breitkopf, and by the English Monzani & Hill and Birchall.Sales were the responsibility of Portuguese publishers, like Villa Nova Filhos & C.ª, Eduardo da Fonseca, Casa da Viuva Costa Mesquita and Júlio da Fonseca in Oporto; and Paulo Zancla, Lence and Sassetti in Lisbon.The opera Elena da Feltre by Saverio Mercadante was probably bought from the publisher Francesco Lucca through the Villa Nova Filhos & C.ª house.
eign; the second volume, which is inscribed on the fly leaf: "Oferecido em 17de Setembro / de Cimarosa, Spontini, Coccia, Coppola, Gazzaniga,  Marliani, Morlacchi, Pacini, Paini, Petrella, Ponchielli,  Luigi and Federico Ricci, and Vaccai.French opera is represented by Adam, Auber, Thomas, Halevy, Berlioz, Méhul, Berton and Boieldieu; and there is a significant core of composers from central Europe: Meyerbeer, Mozart -with two versions of Don Giovanni Reissiger, Thalberg, Winter, Marschner and Weber.The opera Haydée by the Italian singer and composer of French origin, Felicita Casella, which was premièred at the S. João Theatre in 1849, is also part of the Filarmónica collection.More than listing the different composers, though, it is worth analysing their presence in the light of what was happening at the S. João Theatre.It is important to note that the main Oporto opera theatre, alongside its counterpart in Lisbon, was integrated within a theatre, which contributed to a deeper understanding of the operatic repertoire.It seems clear to us that there was a strong link between the repertoire staged at the S. João Theatre and that performed in the Filarmónica's musical events.
Opera Beatrice di TendaOpera I Montecchi e i Capuleti for voice and piano Opera La Straniera for voice and piano Deux divertissements militaires à quatre mains pour le piano sur des motifs favoris de l'opera La Fille du Regiment de Donizetti Les trois jeunes filles au piano.Recreations à six mains sur les operas La Traviata et Les Vêpres Siciliens