«Sacado de un Dúo Serio de Rossini»: Benito Lentini y la recepción de ópera italiana en Las Palmas de Gran Canaria entre 1815 y 1844

Abstract

This paper addresses a case study that documents the integration of Italian operatic music in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria through the work carried out by Benito Lentini (1793-1846), a Sicilian musician linked to the cathedral of this city as an organist and chapel master from 1815 until his death. By means of the contextual and musical analysis of eight sources tie in with this musician, dated between 1839 and 1846, in this article I propose the following two objectives: on the one hand, to identify the operatic passages reused by Lentini in his own compositions and, on the other, to detail the functions that this music fulfilled in its place of reception. In this way, it is possible to affirm the active role played by this musician, since he did not limit himself to copying the operatic numbers, but rather arranged them to enable their interpretation in the local contexts where he developed his professional career.