Category: Composers

By Posted on Posted in Articles, Composers Tagged with , , ,

❧ As is the case with many Portuguese composers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, those whose musical careers were mostly developed in ecclesiastical institutions of lesser importance, when compared to the great cathedrals and monastic and conventual houses, are frequently almost unknown with scarce information circulating besides a name, dates of birth and death (sometimes not even these dates …

The 17th century Portuguese composer Henrique de Faria ❧ read more »

By Posted on Posted in Articles, Composers, Music Compositions Tagged with , , ,

❧ So much has been written about Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina’s compositions that it would be fruitless to follow the same approach to his music as many accomplished scholars have done so. So, in this text I’ll offer a personal perspective to a motet that has eluded me for some time. So much has been written about Giovanni Pierluigi da …

The motet Cantantibus organis by Giovanni P. da Palestrina ❧ read more »

By Posted on Posted in Articles, Composers, Historical Soundscapes Tagged with , , ,

To write about musicians, composers, or even chapel masters in Évora during the sixteenth century frequently represents a challenge, to say the least, due to the scarcity of sources and accounts regarding their professional careers or their own biographies. The case of the singer, composer, and master Francisco Velez is no exception being part of a group of musicians of …

Francisco Velez, a musician in sixteenth century Évora ❧ read more »

By Posted on Posted in Articles, Composers Tagged with

❧ Not much is known about the Portuguese composer António de Oliveira, besides that he was active in the last decades of the sixteenth century. Much of what is known about him comes from the short entry of Diogo Barbosa Machado’s Bibliotheca Lusitana and must be interpreted as accurate as the period in which the author gathered his information. Not …

A biographical note on the composer António de Oliveira ❧ read more »