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Dictionary definition: Argentina
- Article from:
- The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera
- Author:
Copyright© The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera 1996, originally published by Oxford University Press 1996. (Hide copyright information)
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Argentina.
For all its present richness, the operatic life of Argentina did not develop until the last third of the 19th cent. The country was then dependent on Italian singers visiting Buenos Aires. As in most countries, the first national operas treated local subjects (Inca stories and, to a lesser degree, popular tales of pampas life) in an Italianate style; later works drew upon folk melodies and national musical characteristics. The first important Argentinian opera was
La gata blanca
(1877) by Francisco Hargreaves (1849–1900), a work in buffo vein that proved very influential. Arturo Berutti (1862–1938) won a popular success with his
Pampa
(1897, after the gaucho ...