Abstract
This essay describes the installation of a lyrical circuit in Havana in the early 19th century, in order to observe opera and slavery as themes that appear intertwined in three narratives dated from that same time and place: Autobiografía de un esclavo, by Juan Francisco Manzano, Cecilia Valdés, by Cirilo Villaverde, and Viaje a La Habana, by the Countess of Merlin, all of which were authored by the Cuban writers between 1834 and 1844. All three draw a multifaced panorama of 19th century Havana, in which opera is portrayed as an axis in the city's cultural and social gears, and slavery is the element that puts in motion and lubricates those gears.
Keywords:
Juan Francisco Manzano; Cirilo Villaverde; Countess of Merlin; slave narratives; literature and opera