[1][2] According to conductor Isaac Karabtchevsky, who was the artistic director of OSPA, "there is no greater identity in music in the world than in the population of Porto Alegre".
[4] Porto Alegre was officially founded on March 26, 1772,[5] when the primitive settlement was raised to the status of parish, but in fact its origins are older, having been born due to the colonization of the area by Portuguese estancieiros since the 17th century.
[6] It is taken for granted that at the time of the elevation of the original village in the parish, there was already musical activity of a classical character being practiced on some regular basis.
Athos Damasceno believes that before the conclusion of Theatro São Pedro in 1858, there would have been no conditions to assemble real operas in Porto Alegre, with several singers, a great orchestra and choir.
[7] Although, due to the absence of descriptions, it remains to be seen what the real nature and quality of these so-called operas represented there might have been, everything leads us to believe that they followed the same popular patterns in larger centers such as Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, where on the same night a heterogeneous program was shown to the public, consisting of circus acts and theatrical plays of popular appeal interspersed with pieces of music, including serious works such as piano sonatas and Neapolitan songs, alongside improvisations and ballroom music such as mazurkas and waltzes.