BRIEF OVERVIEW OF PORTUGUESE MUSIC

BRIEF OVERVIEW OF PORTUGUESE MUSIC

(1450-PRESENT)

The history of Portugal's rise and fall of political and musical supremacy is marked by good luck on the one hand and misfortune on the other. Geographically isolated from the rest of Europe, Portugal, with neighbouring Spain, at one time ruled the entire world due to a papal decree that divided all territories between them. The enormous wealth that came to Portugal from their colonies created the possibility under monarchs who were pre-disposed to the arts to develop cultural patrimony. Portugal's height of artistic glory flourished under the reign of King John V (1707-1750). There was no other court in Europe to equal this one. Short-lived, the decline of this bountiful state came with the deadly earthquake on 1 November 1755 that shook the Portuguese capital and destroyed many of Lisbon's art, artefacts, and architectural treasures, along with many valuable manuscripts and libraries. As a result of this unfortunate tragedy, the need to re-build took on modest proportions. Never again would Portugal witness its historical supremacy. Little by little Portugal's valuable lands in South America, Africa, India, and Asia were lost, leaving the Portuguese people today with deep remorse and fewer natural resources.

Our story begins with Renaissance Portugal, which benefited greatly from the extra-musical events known as the "Age of Discoveries". Contact with the best schools of arts, humanities, and culture were made with Portugal continuing to be influenced by the Franco-Flemish tradition.[1] Portuguese musical trends often followed European norms later than other countries, perhaps due to geographical considerations. Portuguese Renaissance music was classified as "high" or "low". In the first category music for out-of-doors festivities, such as of the ceremonial or military types that used very sonorous instruments, was found. The second category was reserved to describe music at the court, particularly dance music as played on more refined and softer-sounding instruments.

The courts of Afonso V (1432-81) and John II (1455-95) brought many foreign musicians to Portugal, with strong representation coming from Italy and Spain. As might be expected, rivalry between Portugal and Spain was not uncommon. "Leonor of Aragon, the Spanish princess who married Dom Duarte in 1428, delighted the Portuguese court with her singing and playing of the manicorde. Excellent players were trained at Duarte's expense; one of them, Álvaro Fernandes, so pleased John II of Castile that Duarte had to ask sharply for his return." [2] Most notable of the musicians at that time was Tristão de Silva, Afonso’s chapelmaster, who came to Lisbon in the 1470’s and was considered important enough to be cited by theorists until the 17th century.

Like other European courts, the Portuguese court had a predilection for religious music rather than for secular music. The intimate connection between the court and the Catholic Church brought some long-lasting results, such as the creation of musical training centres, situated in the chapels connected to the great Portuguese cathedrals. The formation of a centre that promoted excellence in vocal polyphony performance thus necessitated the creation of a school for the boys' choir where the gifted received a musical education. Primary amongst all of these chapels were those found in the southern city of Évora, where 13 such centres existed in the mid-fifteenth century[3] and where the training of Portuguese composers took place for almost 200 years. This primacy was due to the court of John III, and others, being present there. John III's decree in 1538 to ban secular content of the autos (a type of dramatic play of a religious or serious character, often accompanied by incidental music) in ecclesiastical ceremonies was not very effective and eventually the way was paved for the introduction of opera into Portugal during King John V's reign.

Pedro do Porto, known in Spain as Pedro de Escobar, was an important Portuguese composer serving as cantor from 1489-1499 in the Spanish court during Queen Isabel the Catholic’s reign. From 1507-1514, he served at the Seville Cathedral as the director of the boys’ choir, returning to Évora in 1521 and perhaps remaining there until 1535. His works include more than twenty religious and eighteen secular works, including a Magnificat.

Further north, at the University of Coimbra, the chair was given to the Spanish musician Mateus de Aranda, who published the first part-music of two- and four-parts in his Tratado de canto mesurable (Lisbon, 1535), as well as the first music book to be published in Portugal, the Tractado de cãtollano (1533). Other early 16-century polyphonists active at Coimbra were Fernão Gomes Correia (Bishop’s cantor in 1515), Vasco Pires (Chapelmaster), and João de Noronha (d. 1506) of the Santa Cruz Monastery. Portuguese part-music tended to be more lavish than its Spanish counterpart, as the Spanish Hierónimo Román noted in his Republicas del mundo (Salamanca, 1595): “I will say in brief why the Portuguese exceed us, and that is because the lavishness of their instrumental music and singing during Divine Office gives them pride of place in the Catholic Church.”[4]

Portuguese polyphony flourished in the 17^th century, represented by the masses and Magnificat settings of Manuel Cardoso (1566-1652) and Filipe de Magalhães (1570-1652). Parody masses based on Palestrina and Francisco Guerrero were particularly common. Mention should also be made of the religious polyphonic works of Pedro de Cristo (d. 1618) who was the Chapelmaster in Coimbra and Lisbon. Other 17^th century composers include: Manuel Correa (d. 1653), Manuel de Tavares, Estevão de Brito, Gonçalo Mendes Saldanha (whose works were known in Cartagena and Bogotá), and Manuel Mendés (known in Puebla, Mexico) and others in Évora, Elvas, and Lisbon, such as António Marques Lésbio (1639-1709).

Between 1630 and 1650 organ playing during religious services, mostly for the educated people, was authorised.[5] Also significant is the publication in 1630 by the court organist Manuel Rodriques Coelho of the first instrumental music collection not in tablature. Frequently the instrumental parts (organ, harpsichord, clavichord, or harp) of religious Renaissance music resulted from transcribing polyphonic vocal parts Primary amongst organ composers may be considered António Carreira (d. 1599), who had a predilection for monothematic (“mannerist”) tentos or fantasias.

In the 17th century, King John IV, a composer and an admirer of Palestrina, distinguished himself as one of the great patrons of the arts and learning, spending lavishly on acquiring one of the best music libraries in all of Europe. One such example shows his cultural dedication when he patronised the Roman publication of João Lourenço Rabelo's (c.1616-1661) Psalmi pro Vesperi in 1657.

The beginning of a significant turning point in Portugal's political, social, and cultural history came during the Baroque reign of King John V.[6] The discovery of gold in Brazil, the first indications of which were felt in Lisbon in 1699, began a period of lavishness and prosperity in Portugal that lasted until the end of the 18th century. Lest it not be forgotten, the origin of the word Baroque probably derives from the Portuguese (barrôco: "pearl of irregular shape") to denote in a derogatory way an overabundance of ornaments. Political peace and economic affluence characterised King John's monarchy. Reformation of royal institutions were undertaken, such as the nomination of the Royal Chapel in Lisbon to that of Patriarchal Cathedral in 1716 and the creation of a royal musical education centre in 1713, known as the Patricarchal Seminary. Italian musical influence became dominant. Portuguese musicians were sent to Italy to apprentice (António Teixeira at the age of 10 in 1717, and Francisco António de Almeida in 1720, for example), while great Italian musicians, such as Domenico Scarlatti (Chapelmaster in Portugal from 1719-1729) were brought to make their contributions to the Portuguese court. Little known is the fact that Scarlatti was a virtuoso singer and composer of cantatas.[7] However, his duty as teacher to the King's gifted daughter, Maria Bárbara (and her brother), led to one of the greatest legacies of 18th century keyboard music - the composition of more than 560 sonatas. His Portuguese keyboard contemporaries included two important composers, Carlos de Seixas (d. 1742, predisposed to Empfindsamer Stil music) and Frei Jacinto.

The rapid substitution of the Spanish tradition by the Italian tradition in Portugal witnessed several changes. The Spanish zarzuela (a type of allegorical opera) would be traded in for Italian opera or Italian serenatas ( a type of semi-operatic production that was sung without costumes or scenery). Italian music was in many ways as opposite to Iberian music as it could be, favouring long recitatives to short coplas; frowning on imitation, of which the Spanish and Portuguese were so fond; and generally preferring major-minor modes to the Iberian predilection for the Church modes. Probably as a result, John V banished the vilancico (small-scale Spanish poetical musical verses) in court musical life.

With Italian opera now the norm in Portugal, Portuguese opera composers writing in the Italian vein began to appear, such as: João de Sousa Carvalho (1745-1798); António Leal Moreira (1758-1819); and Marcos António da Fonseca Portugal (1762-1830), whose operas were sung in 104 cities, from Russia to Brazil. Other Italian composers, such as Giovanni Giorgi and David Perez (1711-1779), were also in the forefront in Lisbon. After an attack that left King John V paralised on one side of his body in 1742, he forbade the production of comic or profane operas in Lisbon theatres, such as that of the Teatro do Bairro Alto.

With the death of John V in 1750 and the devastation of the Lisbon earthquake just five years later, Portugal's future would be drastically changed. The reconstruction of Lisbon under the Marquis de Pombal's orientation focused on modest, if not commercial, expressions of art. Gone was the Opera House, the Royal Chapel and Patriarchal Seminary, the former secular and religious expressions of an absolute power. In their place were less imposing structures, such as the Teatro de Ajuda with seating capacity of approximately 150 people. A small replica of the La Scala Opera House, the Teatro São Carlos, was inaugurated in 1793. The Royal Chamber Orchestra of 51 musicians, which now substituted the Royal Chapel and of which there was no European rival, still consisted of principally Italian instrumentalists (also Spanish and German). Instrumental builders, such as the Haupt family for winds or the Antunes family for pianos, thrived for a time. The Portuguese guitar, similar to the English cittern, became the preferred accompaniment to the popular fado. Modinhos from Brazil were sung while lundums of Afro-Brazilian origin were danced. Figuring important amongst instrumental art music of this period was the unique example of published harpsichord sonatas by Francisco Xavier Baptista (d. 1797). His contemporaries include João de Sousa Carvalho and Frei Manuel de Santo Elias.

In the 19^th century, German musical influence began to supplant that of Italian. Many important Portuguese musicians went abroad to study in Berlin, Köln, or other German cities. England and France too became other important destinations for some Portuguese musicians, such as João Domingos Bomtempo (1775-1842), who performed and published abroad. He later returned to his native soil and became the first director of the National Conservatory of Music in Lisbon. Mention must also be made of the composer of the Portuguese national anthem and several operas, Alfredo Keil (1850-1907). Pianist-composer José António Vianna da Motta (1868-1948) went, on the advice of Liszt pupil, Sofie Mentor, to Berlin to study where he encountered the intellectual and musical elite. Later studying with Liszt in Weimar, he returned to Portugal because of the ensuing WWI, becoming Director of the National Conservatory. Liszt's visit to Lisbon in 1845 caused something of a stir, abundantly documented today. An important innovation in Portugal took place with the creation of the Real Academia dos Amadores de Música in Lisbon at the end of the 19th century, which is still in existence today. It had a main objective to encourage the taste for good music through teaching (via a Germanic education), concerts, and conferences. A 62-member orchestra was created. One of the important composers connected to this institution is Alexandre Rey Colaço (1854-1928), from Morocco. In Porto, the creation of the Sociedade de Quartetos in 1874, the Sociedade de Música de Câmara in 1883, the Quarteto Moreira de Sá in 1884 and the Orpheon Portuense in 1891 reflected the growing musical activity in the north of Portugal. Óscar da Silva (1870-1958), former piano pupil of Clara Schumann, spent many of his productive years in Brazil as a composer.

The Revolution of 1910 marked the beginning of a new democratic Republic that, although never stable, lasted until 28 May 1926 when a military coup d'état led by Gomes da Costa took its life. In 1933 the New State was born, led by dictator Oliveira Salazar, similar, at first to fascism in Italy and emphasising hierarchical allegiance to "God, Fatherland and Family". Strict social behavioural codes were endorsed. Gradually artistic standards came to be adopted, such as the development of a "high" art for the upper classes, in which the art forms should sybolise economic, political and intellectual supremacy of these classes. The lower classes could be represented in a dignified manner through popular art forms espousing nationalism and the simplistic rural people.[8] (FM, 5) One of the most important composers in this respect is Fernando Lopes-Graça (1906-1994), whose field work closely paralleled that of Bartók and Kodály and whose prolific compositions reflect the respective influences of Bartók. Falla, and Stravinsky. According to him, "there was no Portuguese music because there was no classical music tradition, no interest in popular music (almost unknown and neglected by the authorities), no interest in the development of a national musical life as it was understood in Germany, France, England..."[9] Only in the mid-20th century does Portuguese music really develop as a national idiom.

Yet many Portuguese composers benefited from sojourns abroad in France, such as Armando José Fernandes (1906-1983), Jorge Croner de Vasconcelos (1910-1974), and Cláudio Carneyro (1895-1963), or in Italy, such as Joly Braga Santos (1924-1988). Portugal's first modern composer may be considered to be Luís de Freitas Branco (1890-1955) who well encapsulated the neo-classic European trends. With claim to democratisation, the Portuguese Revolution of 25 April 1974 gradually broke down barriers and opened doors for global communication, as reflected by composers such as Filipe Pires (b. 1934), Emanuel Nunes (b. 1941), Cândido Lima (b. 1939), António Pinho Vargas, and Jorge Peixinho (1940-1995) who have brought innovations that continue to have ramifications in Portugal today.

Instrumentalists and pedagogues have enriched the musical fabric of Portugal in the 20th century: Bernardo Moreira de Sá (1853-1924), director of the Conservatório de Música do Porto; violoncellist Gullihermina Suggia, intimate of Pablo Casals; pianists such as Fernando Laires (b. 1925 and now residing in upperstate New York) whose cycle of 32 Beethoven sonatas at the age of 19 made history as the second Portuguese to perform the complete opus between Vianna da Motta in 1927 and Florinda Santos) or Helena Sá e Costa (b. 1913) renowned for her Bach "48", Sequiera Costa, Maria João Pires, and Artur Pizarro, who have brought international stature to their country. Mention must also be made of musicologists M. Santiago Kastner and João de Freitas Branco (b. 1922).

The creation of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in 1956 has immensely enhanced the cultural activity of Portugal and its musicians in recent times thorough its financial support. Important also is the creation of music associations (APEM, EPTA, etc.) and music programs in the universities and superior schools that greatly stimulate learning and musical development. In 1970 the founding of the Grupo de Música Contemporânea has had a marked presence. The current generation of composers such as João Pedro Oliveira (b. 1961), Isabel Soveral (b. 1962), António Chagas Rosa (b. 1960) and Tomás Henriques (b. 1963) have already made important contributions to their country in the fields of acoustic and electronic music.

What Portuguese music in the 21st century will offer to the world remains to be seen. However, if the young and gifted generation is any indication, the future is indeed very bright.