Meticci all’opera

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The long history of European music has been influenced since the eighteenth century by hybrid musical productions, such as, for example, Mozart’s Zauberflöte and Rameau’s Indes Galantes. But the appearance on stage of the mestizo character is more typical of Italian Romanticism, as it is shown in Verdi’s La forza del destino for Piave’s libretto, based on Saavedra’s Don Alvaro. The musical métissage in the operatic tradition had its zenith at the end of the nineteenth century, with Carlo Gomes’ Guarany and Cornaro’s La creola, both being a triumph of colonial dreams and prejudices.