There was a programme on the BBC last night featuring Michael Palin traveling through Brazil. In the city of Manaus (capital of Amazonas state), there is a magnificent-looking opera house
- a legacy of when it was a major production and trading hub for rubber.
While he was there, they filmed rehearsals for an opera by a Brazilian composer I had never heard of called Antônio Carlos Gomes (1836-1896). He
has been mentioned once in passing on this forum. The rehearsals were for his opera "Il Guarany" ("The Guarany" -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Il_Guarany). It turns out there are a lot of versions of it on youtube. I can't speak expertly about the genre, but to my ears it sounds as if he fills the space between Verdi and Puccini, anyway I like what I have heard, and the overture especially. I have scoured youtube for his other works and have copy-pasted here links mostly to the overtures of his other operas, complete versions of which are also on youtube. After Il Guarany, it seems "Lo Schiavo" ("The Slave" -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lo_schiavo) is his most popular work, premiered in 1889 when slavery was a very hot issue in Brazil which only abolished it in 1888. From it, the 8-minute orchestral piece "Alvorada" (meaning "Dawn") is particularly lovely.
Dawn (“Alvorada”, from Lo Schiavo)
Prelude (Lo Schiavo)
Il Guarany - overture
Il Guarany - ballet
Fosca – overture
Fosca – overture to Act 4
Noite do Castelo - overture
Ave Maria
Quem Sabe
Maria Tudor - overture
Salvator Rosa – overture-sinfonia
Colombo (cantata) - introduction
Missa de Sao Sebastiao
Joana de Flandres - overture
Condor (aka “Odalea”) – overture
Condor – Noturno
Saluto del Brasile
Saudade