Music history of Portugal
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Being one of the most ancient nation-states in Europe, Portugal has a long music history, which accompanied and strongly contributed to the development of the music history in Europe.
Medieval music
Liturgical repertoire
In the early days of the Catholic Church, several local liturgies developed, such as the Gallican in France, the Sarum in England, the antique Roman in Rome and the
The main source of the Hispanic rite is the León Antifonary (tenth century), which was most probably copied from an original collected in
However, the church would start worrying soon about the proliferation of liturgies. From the mixture of the Galician liturgy with the antique Roman one would result, traditionally under pope Gregory I (540–604), the modern Roman liturgy, also known as Gregorian liturgy, comprising the Gregorian chant. This would become the official liturgy of the Catholic Church and gradually substituted for the local ones. In the Iberian Peninsula, the Council of Burgos decreed the substitution of the Hispanic rite by the modern Roman one in 1080. This measure was eased by the fact that, during the Reconquista, most of the bishops were French (Gérard, Maurice Bourdin, Jean Péculier, Bernard, Hughes).
Profane music
In Portugal, an aristocratic poetical-musical genre was cultivated, at least since the independence (1139), whose texts are kept in three main collections (Cancioneiros): Cancioneiro da Ajuda (13th century), Cancioneiro da Biblioteca Nacional (16th, on originals from the 14th), Cancioneiro da Vaticana (16th, on originals from the 14th). The 1680 poems kept in the Cancioneiros are divided in three forms: cantigas de amigo (songs of friend), cantigas de amor (songs of love) and cantigas de escárnio e maldizer (songs of mockery). The link to music is well evidenced in the Cancioneiro da Ajuda, where the staves have been drawn, but no melodies have been written.
The only known musical source known until recently was due to a bookseller in Madrid, who found a parchment with the seven Cantigas de Amigo by Martin Codax, six of them with the respective melodies, in the beginning of the 20th century. Codax was a Galician troubadour from the court of
Development of polyphony
Little is known about the introduction of
The main centers for Portuguese musical development during this period was the
The royal chapel
The Capela Real, royal chapel, was founded by D. Dinis in 1299. D. Duarte (1391–1438) elaborated a Regiment (Ordenaçam) of the Chapel, which indicates that the standard practice was a three-voice singing. His son, Afonso V (1432–1481), sent the Mestre de Capela (Master of the Chapel), Álvaro Afonso, to the court of Henry VI of England (1421–1471) in order to get a copy of the statutes, regiment and liturgy practiced in the English Royal Chapel. The detailed description written by William Say is still kept at Évora.
The court
As with the trovadoresque poetry, we keep important collections of texts of the 15th and 16th century (e.g. Cancioneiro Geral, compiled by Garcia de Resende), but the musical documents are fewer. The main sources of the court music in the Renaissance and Mannerist periods are: Cancioneiro de Elvas (Públia Hortênsia Library, at Elvas), Cancioneiro de Lisboa (National Library, Lisbon), Cancioneiro de Paris (École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris), Cancioneiro de Belém (Museu Nacional de Arqueologia e Etnologia, Lisbon)
The poetical forms are the vilancete (or villancico), the cantiga and the romance. The first two, similar to the French virelai and to the Italian ballata, are generally dedicated to the love thematic, though satire and social criticism are not excluded. They share a refrain and stanzas structure. The romance is dedicated to celebrate historical events, applying the same musical text to all the stanzas of the poem.
The cathedrals
Cardinal-Princes D. Afonso (1509–1540) and D. Henrique (1512–1580), sons of D.
In Évora, D. Afonso attracted high-quality musicians (like Mateus de Aranda, Mestre de Capela from 1528 to 1544) for the cathedral by establishing significant wages;
The main monasteries
The most important monasteries kept a solemn liturgy. From these, the
The university
The Portuguese University was founded in Lisbon by D. Dinis in 1290 and had a Music teacher as early as 1323. After several transfers between Coimbra and Lisbon, King
The Mannerist Period (2nd half 16th and 17th centuries)
Historical context
In the end of the 16th century, the circumstances lead to the disappearing of profane music in Portugal and a taking over by religious music. There are economical and political factors, like the troubles to keep the Portuguese conquests in Morocco and the competition led by Venetians and Turks (later by Dutch and English) to the spice trade, which leads to the closing of the Portuguese feitoria (which was a kind of "spice supermarket") in Antwerp. In cultural terms, the influence of the Counter-Reformation in Portugal is enormous: i) João III introduces the Inquisition in Portugal in 1536; his brother Henrique will be the first General Inquisitor; ii) the Jesuits come to Portugal in 1540 and soon start teaching in their own colleges in Coimbra and Lisbon. In 1555, they are in charge of the Arts College in Coimbra (the superior school in Portugal with most prestige), after the expulsion by the Inquisition of its most reputed teachers (like André de Gouveia); iii) the Portuguese church participated actively in the Council of Trent and, in 1564, Portugal becomes the only Catholic country where the council decisions (namely those concerning the musical practice in the church) are integrally published as laws.
In this context, the profane music declined in the courts of João III and his grandson Sebastião I. In 1578, with the death of Sebastião I, Cardinal Henrique becomes king of Portugal. After his death in 1580, Portugal loses its independence, as the throne is inherited by Felipe II, king of Spain (1527–1598). With the disappearance of the court in Lisbon, the aristocracy retired to their homes in the countryside, and the profane music nearly vanishes. The development of the Portuguese music in the end of 16th is thus mainly in the sacred polyphony.
Climax of the Évora school
In 1575, Cardinal Henrique brought Manuel Mendes (1547 - 1605), Mestre de Capela at Portalegre, to Évora, where he took the Mestre de Claustra position. Besides his qualities as a composer, Manuel Mendes is remarkable as a teacher. He formed the most part of the extremely competent professional musicians who would have the most reputed musical positions in Portugal in the next decades. Between his students at Évora, we have the most noted polyphonists of the next generation: Fr. Manuel Cardoso (1566–1650), Filipe de Magalhães ( – 1652) and Duarte Lobo (1564/69-1646) [6]. These continued the pedagogical action of their teacher, worthing him references as «mestre de toda boa musica deste reino» («teacher of every good music in this kingdom») and «el Mendes Sonoroso que de Musicos llena toda a Europa» («the sound Mendes who replenishes Europe with musicians»).
Other centres of musical activity in the 17th century
Santa Cruz at Coimbra
The main composers in the 17th century are D. Pedro de Cristo, D. Pedro da Esperança and D. Gabriel de S. João. The manuscripts kept at the General Library of the University of Coimbra reveal innovative polyphonic practices, such as polychorality, accompanied monody and instrument obligato.
The Royal Chapel
In spite of the absence of the King, it remains an important centre, with Mestres de Capela such as Francisco Garro, Filipe de Magalhães and Marcos Soares Pereira.
Chapel of the Dukes of Bragança at Vila Viçosa
During the Spanish domination, the
Instrumental music
It was in the domain of
Several organ mechanisms were cultivated more in the Iberian peninsula than anywhere else. For example, these organs frequently incorporated a device known as meio-registo ("half-stop"), which, when activated, divided the keyboard into two distinct parts with sharp contrasts in timbre, giving the effect of two manuals instead of one. Another conspicuous feature in both Portugal and Spain was the horizontal placing (em chamada, the Portuguese called it) of particularly powerful, strident
In the 16th century António Carreira was the chief Portuguese organist-composer (his significance to Portugal resembles that of his slightly older contemporary Antonio de Cabezón to Spain). But Carreira's output was never published during his lifetime. The first printed volume of Portuguese instrumental music did not appear until 1620: Flores de Música para o instrumento de tecla e harpa ("Music flowers for the keyboard instrument and harp"), by Manuel Rodrigues Coelho, who died in around 1635. This contains only sacred compositions. Coelho worked as an organist in the cathedrals of Badajoz, Elvas and Lisbon.
During the 17th century a notable school of organists developed in Braga. The main figures in this connection were Gaspar dos Reis, employed at Braga Cathedral; Pedro de Araújo; and a priest-composer, Diogo da Conceição.
Two prominent genres of early Portuguese organ music were the Tento de Meio-Registo (Half-Stop Tento) and the Batalha (Battle). This last form goes back to one of the most famous pieces by Clément Janequin: La bataille de Marignan ou La Guerre, in which the characteristic sounds of a battle are imitated. The Iberian composers would often quote whole phrases from Janequin's original, adding to these phrases distinctive keyboard figuration.
The Baroque period and the Italian influence
João V, the Magnanimous
Around the end of the 17th century, Portuguese composers gradually evolved towards the new musical language that would result in the modern tonalism. The government of
Opera and its beginnings
The first performance of Il Don Chisciotte della Mancia, with music by Scarlatti took place in 1728 in the Ribeira Palace at Lisbon. This was the first operatic-style performance in Portugal and was followed by other opera buffa performances in the Royal Palace in the years to come. However, they had little impact in the music life, not only because the public had extremely limited access, but also because the King did not pay much attention to them. It was in the Trindade Theatre, in 1735, that the Alessandro Paghetti company had permission to perform the first opera seria for a wider (aristocratic) audience. The success was enormous, and the company kept performing until 1742, now in the Rua dos Condes Theatre. At the same time, a set of performances in Portuguese by António José da Silva's (o Judeu) plays had begun (1733) in the Bairro Alto Theatre, with music by António Teixeira. The audience of these plays grew even wider. However, D. João V became ill in 1742, and the mysticism that surrounded him in his last years resulted in a prohibition against all theatrical performances until his death.
Instrumental music
Undoubtedly, the most important Portuguese keyboard composer of the time is José António Carlos Seixas (1704–1742). Son of Francisco Vaz, organist of the Coimbra Cathedral, Carlos Seixas goes, with only sixteen years of age, but already very famous, to Lisbon, where he is appointed as organist of the Patriarchal Cathedral. There, he would soon be appointed as Vice-Mestre de Capela (the Mestre de Capela was Scarlatti himself and Seixas was, at the time, the only Portuguese member of the Royal Chapel). Seixas has left us 105 two-part baroque Sonatas (or Tocatas) for keyboard. He also wrote religious and orchestral music. However, his most original contribution is a Concert for harpsichord and strings, one of the first examples of this form in Europe.
Opera and Sacred music under D. José I and D. Maria I
With D.
The 19th century
With the Napoleonic invasions, the Royal family goes to Brazil and the court establishes in the
The 20th century
The turn of the 20th century
Throughout the 19th century, there is a proliferation of concert societies. Bernardo Moreira de Sá (1853–1924), in Oporto, is the director, among others, of the Quartet Society and forms the Moreira de Sá Quartet, which will have an international career. He will have a decisive influence in the Formation of the Oporto Conservatory (1917). However, opera remained as the favourite activity of Portuguese composers, though the creative activity moved slowly towards the symphonic and chamber music fields. The two most significant lyric composers are Alfredo Keil (1850–1907) and Augusto Machado (1845–1924). José Vianna da Motta (1868–1948) and Luís de Freitas Branco (1890–1955) have a special place in the Portuguese musical life in the turn of the 20th century.
Vianna da Motta
Luís de Freitas Branco
Other composers
In the turn of the 20th century, other relevant composers are Francisco de Lacerda (1869–1934), Óscar da Silva (1870–1958), Luiz Costa (1879–1960) and
The Estado Novo régime
The military coup of 1926 installed in Portugal a dictatorship (self-called Estado Novo, "the new state") which would condition the Portuguese life for near half century. The concept of culture is substituted, in the mainstream of European fascisms, by the concept of propaganda. This propaganda had its maximum height at the Nationality Centenary in 1940; the S. Carlos Theatre was then reopened after a restoration with an opera by the regime semi-official composer Ruy Coelho. Curiously, the most important figure of Portuguese musical life in that period is a composer who openly contested the régime and its aesthetic orientations and who, consequently, was forced to do his entire activity outside the institutional circuits: Fernando Lopes Graça.
Lopes Graça
Fernando Lopes Graça (1906–1995) was student of Tomás Borba, Luiz de Freitas Branco and Vianna da Motta at the National Conservatory and finished the Superior Course on Composition in 1931. He tried to get a position at that institution, but was arrested by political reasons and the place was not conceded to him. He taught for some time in the Music Academy in Coimbra and, in 1937, went to Paris at his expenses, where he studied musicology. There he composed the first works of his musical maturity (2nd Piano Sonata, Quartet for Violin, Viola, Cello and Piano). After coming back to Portugal in 1939, Lopes Graça taught at the Academia de Amadores de Música at Lisbon. Of his production, it worth mentioning the numerous harmonizations or adaptations of popular Portuguese songs for choir or soloist, the songs for voice and piano over the poems of the most important Portuguese poets, the numerous political songs, as well as the symphonic music, chamber music and piano music production. Lopes Graça undertook, with the Corsican ethnologist Michael Giacometti, a systematic study of Portuguese folk music, which he assimilated and used thoroughly in his musical speech. His view from the folklore is far from the regime bucolic or picturesque view, rather strengthening the hard dimensions of rural life. The contemporaries of Lopes Graça generally choose a more pacific conservative "neo-classic" style: these were the cases of Armando José Fernandes (1906–1983), Jorge Croner de Vasconcelos (1910–1974), Frederico de Freitas (1902–1980), Joly Braga Santos (1924–1988) and Cláudio Carneyro (1895–1963).
Contemporary trends
The coup on 25 April 1974 restored democracy in Portugal. The country knew a great development since then, particularly after the adhesion to the European Economic Community (now European Union) in 1986. The intellectual and cultural life had particular improvements. Music has also benefited from the increasing number of Conservatories and specialized superior schools, in a freedom context, as well as from the generalization of music festivals. The role of Foundation Calouste Gulbenkian (founded in 1953) has been of outstanding importance in every aspect of the cultural life, particularly the musical one.
References
– Nery, Rui Vieira and Castro, Paulo Ferreira de, História da Música, 2nd edition, «Sínteses da cultura portuguesa», Lisbon: Imprensa Nacional Casa da Moeda (1999)
– Branco, João de Freitas, História da Música Portuguesa, 3rd edition, Lisbon: Publicações Europa-América (1995)