Portugal, Marcus Antonio da Fonseca (1762-1830)

Portuguese composer. He wrote about 50 operas, both Portuguese and Italian. He was court music director at Lisbon, followed the court when it moved to Brazil in 1810, and continued to enjoy success as a composer at Rio de Janeiro.

He was educated at the Patriarchal Seminary at Lisbon, where later he became cantor and organist, and learnt music from Joño de Sousa Carvalho. He was also a theatre conductor and in 1785 produced his first stage work. In 1792, he went to Naples and began to write Italian operas in great numbers. In 1800, he returned to Lisbon to become director of the San Carlos Theatre, where he continued to write for the stage. In 1807, the French invasion drove the court to Brazil, and he followed it in 1810, but was unable to return with it in 1821, being incapacitated by a stroke.

Works Opera 22 Portuguese operas, including Licença pastoril, A Castanheira about 40 Italian operas, including La confusione nata della somiglianza (1793), Demofoonte (1794), Lo spazzacamino principe, La donna di genio volubile (1796), Fernando nel Messico (1799), Alceste, La morte di Semiramide (1801), Non irritare le donne, L'oro non compra amore (1804), Il trionfo di Clelia (1802), Il diavolo a quattro, La pazza giornata (on Beaumarchais's La Folle Journée [Figaro, 1799]).

Choral church music; cantata La speranza; songs.