Marcos António da Fonseca Portugal
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| THE COURT COMPOSER ARRIVES | |
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On January 7, 1811 the Prince Regent issued a specific call to the music master Marcos Portugal, who had remained in Lisbon despite already having been summoned to Rio de Janeiro in 1809 2. Son of Manuel António da Ascensão and Joaquina Teresa Rosa, Marcos António da Fonseca Portugal was born in Lisbon on March 24, 1762. His birth name was Marcos Antonio da Ascensão. He studied at the Patriarchal Seminary of Lisbon from 9 years old, having as teachers composers João de Sousa Carvalho and probably José Joaquim dos Santos, Father Nicholas Ribeiro Passo Vedro and António Leal Moreira, all teachers of the seminary at the time. He composed a "Miserere" at the age of 14. He first presented to the public, in 1780, at the Holy Patriarchal Church, two antiphons "a canto d’órgão": "Salve Regina" and "Sub tuum Præsidium". At 20 he was already organist of the Patriarchal, with the salary of 12$500 per month. On July 23, 1783 he was admitted to the Brotherhood of St. Cecilia. The following year he was appointed conductor of the Teatro do Salitre, for which he composed farces, eulogies, interludes and modinhas 3. On September 1, 1787, he was also named composer of the Patriarchal, with his monthly salary increased to 50$000. 1782 marks the beginning of his collaboration with the royal family, as the Queen Mary I ordered him one "Mass with instrumental" for the Feast of St. Barbara, celebrated in the chapel of the Palace of Queluz. In 1792 he was awarded a scholarship to further his studies in Italy, where he remained for eight years. During this period, he wrote at least 21 operas, mostly comic and farcical, which garnered huge success throughout Europe, for in addition to the premieres in theaters for which they were written, in Ferrara, Florence, Milan, Naples, Venice and Verona, there were representations in Vienna, Paris, London, Dublin, St. Petersburg, Berlin, Dresden, Hamburg, Hannover, Leipzig, Nuremberg, Corfu, Barcelona, Madrid, Lisbon and Oporto 4. In 1800 he returned to Portugal and besides retaining the position of composer of the Patriarchal Cathedral, he was named solfeggio master of the Royal Patriarchal Seminary and music master of the Royal Theater of São Carlos 5. He composed for the São Carlos opere serie, and just one opera buffa: "L'oro non compra amore". His music was required in most celebrations and events in the several Royal Chapels and Palaces, particularly Queluz and Mafra, where the court resided since late 1805 until the departure to Brazil two years later. In the years 1806 and 1807, he composed many works dedicated to the male voices of Franciscan monks, and the for the unique set of six organs in Mafra Basilica. Thirty of these works have survived and at least 11 were later reworked for mixed voices and the orchestra of the Royal Chapel of Rio de Janeiro 6. He remained in Lisbon on the occasion of the departure of the royal family to Brazil, in 1807. In that year, he presented an opera to General Junot, in the São Carlos theater, for which he was accused of unpatriotic activities 7. But another of his compositions was a cantata dedicated to the Prince Regent, and the final hymn was sung for many years as the Portuguese national anthem. The composer left his hometown on March 6, 1811, on board of the frigate Princesa Carlota, which at the end of a three months journey, on June 11 arrived in Rio de Janeiro 8. Apparently, he was warmly received by the Prince. On June 23, four decrees were issued 9 stipulating in detail his income and benefits as music master of Their Royal Highnesses. Three days later, on June 26, it was celebrated in the Chapel Royal "a solemn mass for the expulsion Napoleon's troops from Portugal of " in Pontifical celebrated by the Dean with the assistance of the Bishop and First Chaplain. The music was probably the "Mass the great instrumental to the Royal Chapel of Rio de Janeiro", composed in Lisbon in 1810 and brought to Rio de Janeiro by the composer. Although, according to the disaffected Luís dos Santos Marrocos, he had "fumos mui subidos" (usually snobbish and unpleasant), his mythical first encounter with Nunes Garcia was apparently cordial 10. The priest, challenged to play a Haydn sonata on the harpsichord, after playing the piece received a hug and the statement: "Beautiful! You are my brother in art! Surely you'll be a friend to me!" 11. On September 1811 Nunes Garcia delivered to the inspector of the Royal Chapel a "Report of the works composed by José Maurício Nunes Garcia up to September 6, 1811" 12, which contained about two hundred compositions, including those composed to the Cathedral of Rio de Janeiro. Nothing states, in this document, it was an account for his dismissment. On October 9, Marcos Portugal was appointed inspector of the theaters, with his detailed obligations stated in a communication of the Earl of Aguiar 13. A few days later, he suffered a brain attack 14. which must have not been very serious, because on December 17 he conducted a "Te Deum" in the Mass which was baptized the infant Sebastião Gabriel, son of the Infanta Maria Teresa and Infant D. Pedro Carlos. Godparents were Queen Maria I and the Prince Regent. In the evening, to celebrate the Queen's birthday, it was sang in the Teatro Regio the opera "L'oro non compra amore" in premiere in Brazil. The work was composed for the Teatro São Carlos in 1804. Most of the singers were Italian, except two: the Brazilian singers João dos Reis Pereira, bass, and Joaquina da Lapa, nicknamed "Lapinha", soprano. |
Nunes Garcia at the piano playing for Prince Regent John, Princess Carlota Joaquina and Marcos Portugal 15 |
The available documentation contradicts what is sustained the Mauritian biographical tradition. Marcos Portugal was never appointed master of the Royal Chapel, and his arrival did not cause the dismissal of Nunes Garcia of the post he held for three years. Despite taking for himself virtually the entire musical life at the court, the music master of Their Royal Highnesses brought relief to the overwork and the various functions the Chapel Master accumulated without an adequate compensation. On Christmas 1811 Nunes Garcia conducted in the Royal Chapel an orchestrated version of his 1808 "Missa Pastoril" (CPM 108), aside with Marcos Portugal and his "Matins of Christmas". From 1812 on, the dedications of some of his compositions from this period show a clear division of functions: Marcos Portugal became responsible for the composition of music in the first order ceremonies of the Royal Chapel. Nunes Garcia continued to compose for the ceremonies at the Royal Palace of Boa Vista and the Royal Farm of Santa Cruz, as evidenced by the dedications of the motet "Tamquam Aurum" (CPM 56), for the Royal Palace, the two "Benedictuses" (CPM 12, 13), and a little later, the "Mass of St. John the Baptist" (CPM XCIX), of which only fragments remain, all for the Royal Farm of Santa Cruz. And, as we shall see, eventual compositions to the Royal Chapel were not discarded. The new situation also brought relief to his personal problems. In 1810 and 1811 his two daughters had been born, Josefina and Panfília, who years later would be declared "in a state of madness." In debt and with six other mouths to feed, it is possible that he was at the time more concerned with survival than with the loss of primacy in the Royal Chapel. The relief of duties made him again able to accept orders from Brotherhoods, increasing his personal income. |
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After 1811, some of the compositions exhibit dedications to the Brotherhoods of St. Peter, Saint Cecilia, and especially of the Thirds of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. In mid-1812, the mortgage of his house was paid, an evidence that he regained financial health. |
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1 FRANCISCO, C. S. MARCOS ANTONIO PORTUGAL - Comendador da Ordem de Christo Mestre de Capella de S.M. o Imperador do Brazil, etc., etc.. Litograph in Biblioteca Nacional, Rio de Janeiro. In MATTOS, Cleofe Person de. José Maurício Nunes Garcia - Biografia [Biography]. Rio de Janeiro: Fundação Biblioteca Nacional, 1997. Photographs section, p. VIII. 2 "HRH The Prince Regent Our Lord was served to order the Master of the Seminar Marcos Portugal to come to Rio de Janeiro to serve the same Lord on that Court; and because he shall get the first Royal vessel to depart to the aforesaid Court, it is necessary that You take the necessary steps for him to be paid the wages he is owed, and three months in advance". MARQUES, António Jorge. D. João VI and Marcos Portugal: the Brazilian Period. Austin: Institute of Latin American Studies, University of Texas, 2005. p. 8. Acess: Apr. 21, 2015. 3 A compilation of titles of works composed for the Teatro do Salitre: "Good Friends" (farce or interlude, 1786); "The Coffee House" (farce or interlude, 1787); "The chestnut or Brites parrot" (interlude, 1788); "Conjugal love" (serious drama, 1789); "The craftsman love" (farce or interlude, based on the libretto "L'amore artigiano" by Carlo Goldoni, 1790); "The mock wedding" (playful drama, libretto translation of "Le trame deluse" Giuseppe Maria Diodati, 1790); "The military Lover" (interlude, the Carlo Goldoni, 1791); "The deluded lunatic (The World of the Moon)" (drama, libretto translation of "Il mondo della luna" by Carlo Goldoni, 1791) 4 Below are the titles of operas written in Italian period: "La confusione della somiglianza o siano I due gobbi" (dramma giocoso, libretto by Cosimo Mazzini, 1793, Florence); "Il poeta in campagna" (dramma giocoso, libretto by Saverio Zini, 1793, Parma); "Il Cinna" (dramma serio, libretto by Angelo Anelli, 1793, Florence); "Rinaldo d'Asti" (commedia per musica, libretto by Giuseppe Maria Foppa, 1794, Venice); "Lo spazzacamino principe" (commedia per musica, libretto by Giuseppe Maria Foppa, 1794, Venice); "Demofoonte" (dramma per musica, libretto by Pietro Metastasio, 1794, Milan); "La vedova raggiratrice o siano I due sciocchi delusi" (dramma giocoso, 1794, Florence); "Lo stratagemma ossiano I due sordi" (intermezzo, libretto by Giuseppe Maria Foppa, 1795, Florence); "L'avventuriere" (farsa, libretto by Caterino Mazzolà, 1795, Florence); "L'inganno poco dura" (commedia, libretto by Saverio Zini, 1796, Naples); Zulima (dramma per musica, libretto by Francesco Gonella di Ferrari, 1796, Florence); "La donna di genio volubile" (dramma giocoso, libretto by Giovanni Bertati, 1796, Venice); "Il ritorno di Serse" (dramma serio, libretto by Francesco Gonella di Ferrari, 1797, Florence); "Le donne cambiate" (farsa, libretto by Giuseppe Maria Foppa, 1797, Venice); "Fernando nel Messico" (dramma per musica, libretto by Filippo Tarducci, 1798, Venice); "La maschera fortunata" (farsa, libretto by Giuseppe Maria Foppa, 1798, Venice); "L'equivoco in equivoco" (farsa, libretto by Giuseppe Maria Foppa, 1798, Verona); "Gli Orazi e Curiazi" (tragedia per musica, libretto by Simeone Antonio Sografi, 1798, Ferrara); "La madre virtuosa" (operetta di sentimento, libretto by Giuseppe Maria Foppa, 1798, Venice); "Alceste" (tragedia per musica, libretto by Simeone Antonio Sografi, 1798, Venice); "Non irritar le donne ossia Il chiamantesi filosofo" (farsa, libretto by Giuseppe Maria Foppa, 1798, Venice); "La pazza giornata ovvero Il matrimonio di Figaro" (dramma comico per musica, libretto by Gaetano Rossi, 1799, Venice); "Idante ovvero I sacrifici d'Eccate" (dramma per musica, libretto by Giovanni Schmidt, 1800, Milan). 5 These are the titles of operas written to premiere in the theater of São Carlos: "Adrasto re d'Egitto" (dramma per música, libretto by Giovanni De Gamerra, 1800); "La morte di Semiramide" (dramma serio, libretto by Giuseppe Caravita, 1801); "La Zaira" (tragedia per música, libretto by Mattia Botturini, 1802); "Il trionfo di Clelia" (dramma serio, libretto by Simeone Antonio Sografi, 1802); "La Sofonisba" (dramma serio, libretto by Del Mare, 1803); "La Merope" (dramma serio, libretto by Mattia Botturini, 1804); "L'oro non compra amore" (dramma giocoso, libretto by Giuseppe Caravita, 1804); "Il duca di Foix" (dramma per música, libretto by Giuseppe Caravita, 1805); "Ginevra di Scozia" (dramma eroico per música, libretto by Gaetano Rossi, 1805); "La morte di Mitridate" (tragedia per música, libretto by Simeone Antonio Sografi, 1806); "Artaserse" (dramma serio, libretto by Pietro Metastasio, 1806). 6 The following works were written for Mafra: a "Laudate Pueri"; two "Magnificat"; a "Dixit...", a "Si Qæris Miracula", "Victimæ Paschali", a "Music in the Motet Way"; a "Litany"; and the "Matins of St. Peter", all for 6 obbligati organs; "De Profundis" and "Beati omnes", for 5 obbligati organs and choir; "Matins de of St Anthony", for 5 obbligati organs; "Matins of St. Francis", for 4 obbligati organs; "Matins of Maundy Thursday" and a "Veni Sancte Spiritus", with no mention of instruments or voices. SARRAUTTE, Jean-Paul. Marcos Portugal - Ensaios [Essays]. Lisboa: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, 1979, 180p. pp. 95-96. 7 Accusation indeed baseless. The Prince Regent had left express instructions to the Regency Assembly and the people to cooperate with the invaders to avoid bloodshed. GOMES, Laurentino. 1808. Como uma rainha louca, um príncipe medroso e uma corte corrupta enganaram Napoleão e mudaram a história de Portugal e do Brasil [1808. Of how a mad queen, a fearful prince and a corrupt court deceived Napoleon and changed the history of Portugal and Brazil]. São Paulo: Editora Planeta do Brasil, 2007, 368p. p. 69. 8 Luís dos Santos Marrocos, assistant librarian, was also on board; under his guard had an unspecified amount of boxes containing part of the volumes of the Royal Library. Marrocos and Marcos Portugal would be later disaffected. 9 "1) Note of Minister Earl de Aguiar to the treasurer of the Royal Chapel: put in the payroll Marcos Portugal, music teacher of His Royal Highnesses, with the amount of six hundred thousand reis each year, that he earned in Lisbon as Seminar Master and composer of the Patriarchal. 2) Notice thereof to the Viscount of Vila Nova da Rainha: there the Prince Regent Our Lord named Marcos Portugal music teacher of Their Royal Highnesses, which is served by this service earn the emolument of forty thousand reis a month and two hundred and forty thousand reis annually for the payment of his dwelling houses. All of these will be satisfied by His Royal Privy Purse, as well as the annuity of two hundred thousand reis which was granted in Lisbon to his wife as survival to him, that he deserves to be continued in this court. 3) Notice thereof to the Earl de Redondo: the Prince Regent Our Lord is served that Your Excellency pass the Necessary orders for the Royal Ucharia to give the Competent daily ration to Marcos Portugal, music master of Their Royal Highnesses. 4) Notice thereof to Marquis de Vagos: the Prince Regent Our Lord is served that Your Excellency should send in every day of lesson, one carriage of the Royal Stables to the door of Marcos Portugal, Their Royal Highnesses music master, in order to lead him to the palace and then to his home after finished the lesson". ANDRADE, Ayres de. Francisco Manuel da Silva e Seu Tempo: 1808-1865: Uma Fase do Passado Musical do Rio de Janeiro à Luz de Novos Documentos [Francisco Manuel da Silva and His Time: 1808-1865: A Phase of of Rio de Janeiro's Musical Past to the Light of New Documents]. Rio de Janeiro: Edições Tempo Brasileiro , 1967, 2v. (Coleção Sala Cecilia Meireles) v. 2, p. 215. 10 "Just arrived, ran Marcos Portugal to the Quinta da Boa Vista to kiss the hands of the august family and of them received such treats and kindness [...]. - There's here a colored man, said the Princess Dona Carlota to the famous conductor, who is remarkable in music. - I've heard about him, replied Marcos Portugal. - But I want your opinion... - I'll obey Your Royal Highness ... I think Sunday. - I will not wait for Sunday. Come tomorrow, I will call José Maurício. Bring some new piece for piano. Look that the Prince calls him the new Marcos. [...] - The next day, in fact, the two artists met in the afternoon in São Cristóvão, one of them full of triumphs and glories, of course arrogant, surrounded by the immense prestige given by ovations from audiences all over the civilized world, playing the role of uncontested authority and supreme arbiter; the other, José Maurício, a mulatto, poor, shy, completely unknown personally out of a limited circle, oblivious to the influence of the great centers of Europe, helpless of the example and the hearing of the masters, without ever having left the colony and even his native land, delivered to his own inspirations and having achieved the little he had at the cost of a lot of natural talent, refined study and painful ruminations, counting only with small resources in every way for the sake of expanding his artistic nature. [...] The princes were already seated in a room that flaunted not a modest harpsichord but a superb English manufacturing piano, surrounded by the court people especially invited to this unexpected exhibition. [...] After the due reverences, unfolded Marcos Portugal with calculated solemnity a piece of music he brought and handed it to José Maurício, asking him if had he ever heard about that author. It was one of the most difficult sonatas of Joseph Haydn. With missing and stuttering voice, the priest replied that, since very young, he knew much of the eminent master's repertoire, to whom he had a special devotion. And indeed, in his lectures on art, he would classify Haydn above Handel, side by side with Mozart and just below Beethoven, which he used to refer as divine. [...] - So, Mr. José Maurício, commanded the princess Dona Carlota, make us hear such a great great novelty. - I never played this sonata, objected the priest, and Your Highness... - But they say you play music at first sight, as anyone reading letter round... Sit down, sit down at the piano. There was no way back. The artist obeyed, and at the first chords, there was complete silence. The sonata had begun. In the beginning, José Maurício if not hesitated was at least lukewarm in playing. Gradually, however, he was back to saving calm. In focusing he called to himself all his energy and reacted against the shock that darkened his eyes and held his hands, overcoming all the difficulties of the exquisite work, already forgotten the place where he was and body and soul delivered to the wonderful harmonic deductions of the illustrious German whose pages he played with expression and ease increasingly pronounced. [...] Many, facing Marcos Portugal, read in the proud master's face a succession of impressions that gradually were overwhelming him, initially cold, disdainful, ironic, right after attentive, surprise, and finally filled with this expansive enthusiasm which thetruly artistic soul could not suppress, or obscure, and breaks out with irrepressible force in the loyalty to their rapture. José Maurício saw but nothing. He was all with Haydn. [...] Clarified the motives at four or five voices closely to the end of that fugato style of astounding richness and exuberance, Marcos Portugal had not hand to contain himself, and stood, perhaps in spite of his feet, and dying the last and vigorous sounds of the sonata, rushed to one that suddenly was made his equal and, amidst the warm applause of the princes and the Court, pressed him in his arms with great effusion. - 'Beautiful, cried he, gorgeous! You are my brother in art; surely you shall be to me a friend!'" TAUNAY, Visconde de. José Maurício Nunes Garcia. São Paulo: Ed. Companhia Melhoramentos de São Paulo, 1930. pp. 17-20. 11 Musicologist Marcelo Campos Hazan asserts that this encounter is a mythical construction of the Viscount of Taunay. We agree mentioning the narrative above just because of its historiographical value. HAZAN, Marcelo Campos. José Maurício, Marcos Portugal e a sonata de Haydn: desconstruindo o mito [José Maurício, Marcos Portugal and Haydn's Sonata: Deconstructing the Myth]. In Brasiliana. Revista semestral da Academia Brasileira de Música [Biannual Review of the Brazilian Music Academy]. Rio de Janeiro: Academia Brasileira de Música, n. 28. pp. 2-11, Dec. 2008. 12 "A FAITHFUL COPY / OF THE ORIGINAL in Mr. Dr. J. M. Nunes Garcia's hands / In which can be seen, by notes of the very hands of Father José Maurício, that up to the sixth day of september 1811 had he written the following compositions for the Royal Chapel:
13 "Requesting decorum and decency in the music pieces to be put into stage in public theaters of this court on days when the Prince Regent Our Lord is honored to go watch, to be presented with the regularity and good order which are indispensable in such occasions; and competing in your mercy all circumstances of intelligence and diligence required to govern and regulate all similar shows, the same Lord is served in communicating your mercy the way these inspections and steerings must be done as follows: 1.º Your mercy's inspection and steering will only concern about the music pieces that are to be represented in the presence of His Royal Highness. 2.º It can not be put into play on these occasions some piece of music that is not chosen and approved by your mercy, first receiving orders from His Royal Highness for this purpose. 3.º It will also be under responsibility of your mercy the distribution of the characters and the choice of the musicians to serve in those days, always being the most skilled, and must your mercy in agreement with the theater owner, lay off some of the existing that do not met the requirements, hire others and also increase their number when the composition so requires. 4.º Your Mercy must be sure that the actors and musicians had done all the rehearsals needed, and meet inviolably with all their obligations, so in order to do the recitals in perfection and order. 5.º Also is on the surveillance of your mercy, in agreement with the entrepreneur or owner of the theater, in making point as possible of anything that might lead to the decency of the reciting shows in these occasions. 6.º Your mercy will be required to attend all representations on the day HRH go to the theater, to observe and repair some oversight that may occur. 7.º And finally, happening to any employee in those theaters need to be corrected or punished for the faults committed in those days of rehearsing, your mercy must report them to the Viscount de Vila Nova da Rainha to take the measures he deems appropriate in accordance with orders received from the same Lord about it". ANDRADE, op. cit., 1967. v. 2, p. 215. 14 Marrocos wrote in a letter dated October 29, 1811: "Marcos António Portugal had here a kind of stupor which left numb one of his arms: he had obtained from H.R.H. an effective carriage, wardrobe, food, 600$000 of salary, and from the Royal Privy Purse what H.R.H. considered to be proper and convenient to him; moreover, he became Director-General of all public functions, either the church or the theater in any sense, and for the Royal childbirth he also expects a commission". SARRAUTTE, op. cit., p. 124. 15 BERNARDELLI, Henrique. D. João VI hearing father José Maurício at the harpsichord. Oil painting (sketch), Museu Histórico Nacional, Rio de Janeiro. In MATTOS, op. cit. Photographs section, p. IX. 16 "His Majesty having [...] established the 12th day of the current month to the thanksgiving of the merry [...] Birth of Her Most Serene Lady Princess da Beira [...] H.M. condescended to be carried, [.. .], accompanied by HH.HH. Prince and Princess, and Their Most Serene Infantes Lords D. MICHAEL D. SEBASTIAN, to the elegant and sumptuous temple of S. Francis of Paulas [...]. The mass was celebrated by the illustrious Monsignor Roque da Silva Moreira. The music was the composed by the famous Marcos Portugal, and performed by many Musicians of the Royal Chamber and Chapel, and directed by the Master, Father Jose Mauricio Nunes Garcia". In Grandes Compositores da Música Universal [Great Composers of Universal Music] #46 - José Maurício. São Paulo: Abril Cultural, 1969. p. 8. |
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