Fiestas reales, teatro y ópera en La Habana del siglo XVIII

Abstract

The city of Havana experienced a renewal of its political and military institutions during the reign of Carlos III due to its strategic geographical position against English threats. The celebration of parties and public entertainment serves as a testimony of the cultural changes then driven by the illustrated policy of the monarchy. This article analyzes three texts from that time: two parties' relationships and a journal of travel, poorly disclosed, and inserted in a historical period that elapses from the real proclamation of the monarch in 1760 to the construction of the first theater in the 1770s.