Performance history

The world premiere was at La Scala, Milan on March 19, 1870. The opera received additional European productions. The first Brazilian performance was in Rio de Janeiro on 2 December 1870, at the Teatro Lírico Fluminense. The opera is notable as the first Brazilian opera to gain international acclaim outside of Brazil.

Maria Alice Volpe has analysed the historical subtext of the Indianismo movement behind the opera.

Roles

• Don Antonio de Mariz, a Portuguese nobleman, bass Teodoro Coloni
• Cecilia, his daughter soprano Marie Constance Sass
• Peri, son of the Guarani tribal chief tenor Giuseppe Villani
• Gonzales. a Spanish adventurer baritone Enrico Storti
• Cacico, chief of the Aymoré Indians bass Victor Maurel
• Alonso, bass Severino Mazza
• Don Alvaro, tenor Giuseppe Masato
• Ruy-Bento, tenor Annibale Micheloni
• Pedro, bass Severino Mazza

References

Sources

• Amadeus Almanac
• Guarany, Il by Gerard Béhague, in 'The New Grove Dictionary of Opera', ed. Stanley Sadie (London, 1992) ISBN 0-333-73432-7