Joaquina Maria Conceição Lapa: mulher, mestiça e artista no Brasil colonial

Abstract

The present work presents the singer Joaquina Maria Conceição Lapa, an active singer in colonial Brazil and the first lyrical singer to have international prestige. Through this study, we seek to contextualize the role of women and their behavior, the mulatto presence and women performers in the Brazilian colonial period. As far as artistic practice is concerned, Brazil was in contrast to Portugal in terms of the taste of the castrati, which leads us to believe in the importance of this singer, as she performed in Portugal and at court festivities. Lapinha was a coloratura soprano, and her technical vocal mastery allowed her to perform virtuosic works composed by José Maurício Nunes Garcia: Coro in 1808; the drama O Triunfo da América (1809) and the heroic drama Ulissea (1809).