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A quick overview of Daniel Catán’s 1996 opera, inspired by the magical realism of author Gabriel García Márquez.

Premiered

1996

Music by

Daniel Catán

Libretto by

Marcela Fuentes-Berain

Language

Spanish

Florencia in the Amazon (Florencia en el Amazonas) is an opera in two acts composed by Daniel Catán. It contains elements of magical realism in the style of Gabriel García Márquez and uses a libretto by Marcela Fuentes-Berain, one of his pupils. The characters are inspired by García Márquez, but the story is not drawn directly from any of his works.

Florencia was co-commissioned by Houston Grand Opera, Los Angeles Opera, and Seattle Opera and premiered in Houston on October 25, 1996. It was the first Spanish-language opera to be commissioned by major United States opera houses.

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Act I

The title character, Florencia Grimaldi, is a famous opera soprano returning to her homeland to sing at the opera house in Manaus with the hope that her performance will attract her lover Cristóbal, a butterfly hunter who has disappeared into the jungle. She boards the steamboat El Dorado for a trip up the Amazon River, along with several passengers who are traveling to hear her sing. The passengers, however, are unaware of her identity. One of them, Rosalba, is a journalist planning to write a book about Grimaldi and hoping to interview her. In preparation, Rosalba has compiled a notebook for two years with information about the diva.

Florencia spends her time on the boat brooding about Cristóbal. She does not interact much with the other passengers initially, and the thread connecting the subplots in the story is provided by the ship’s mate, Ríolobo, who also is the focus for the elements of magical realism. Ríolobo functions as a narrator, one of the characters, and the intermediary between reality and the mystical world of the river.

Meanwhile, Rosalba is beginning to fall in love with the steamboat captain’s nephew, Arcadio, who rescues her notebook when it falls overboard. The two play a card game with Paula and Álvaro, a bickering couple who are also looking forward to Grimaldi’s performance. After the game, a storm develops. Álvaro saves the boat but is thrown overboard. With the captain tragically obliterated and Ríolobo having disappeared, Arcadio takes the helm but the ship runs aground. Ríolobo reappears in the form of a river spirit and the storm stops after he calls upon the river gods.

Act II

The characters recover from the storm. Florencia seems to feel Cristóbal’s presence and is unsure whether he is alive or dead. Rosalba, focused on her objective, resists the attraction she and Arcadio feel for each other. Meanwhile, Paula, in spite of their constant fighting, recognizes that she still loves Álvaro and mourns his loss. Again Ríolobo appeals to the river and Álvaro is suddenly returned to the ship.

In the storm, Rosalba’s precious notebook has been lost again, and when it is recovered again it has been ruined by the water. Distraught, Rosalba argues with Florencia about the meaning and value of its contents when suddenly she discovers that the woman she has been arguing with is the very singer she has been longing to interview. Realizing how Florencia draws inspiration from love, Rosalba decides to give in to her feelings for Arcadio.

The boat arrives in Manaus, but a cholera outbreak keeps the passengers quarantined aboard the ship. Florencia despairs of a reunion with Cristóbal, but in the end she is magically transformed into a butterfly, to represent her spirit going off to be reunited with her lover.

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Listen to the Story

Entrada do Rio Amazonas, c.1903, from A Patria Brazileira by Virgílio Cardoso de Oliveira [].

Presented by Washington National Opera, host Saul Lilienstein takes you through the musical world of Daniel Catán’s 1996 opera, inspired by the magical realism of author Gabriel García Márquez, Florencia in the Amazon.

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