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José António Carlos de Seixas (; 11 June 1704 – 25 August 1742) was a pre-eminent Portuguese composer of the 18th century. An accomplished virtuoso of both the organ and the harpsichord, Seixas succeeded his father as the organist for Coimbra Cathedral at the age of fourteen. In 1720, he departed for the capital, Lisbon, where he was to serve as the organist for the
royal chapel A royal chapel is a chapel associated with a monarch, a royal court, or in a royal palace. A royal chapel may also be a body of clergy or musicians serving at a royal court or employed by a monarch. Commonwealth countries Both the United King ...
, one of the highest offices for a musician in Portugal, a position which earned him a knighthood. Much of Seixas' music rests in an ambiguous transitional period from the learned style of the 17th century to the
galant The galant style was an 18th-century movement in music, visual arts and literature. In Germany a closely related style was called the '' empfindsamer Stil'' (sensitive style). Another close relative is rococo style. The galant style was drawn in ...
style of the 18th century.


Life

Seixas was born in
Coimbra Coimbra (, also , , or ) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2011 census was 143,397, in an area of . The fourth-largest urban area in Portugal after Lisbon, Porto, and Braga, it is the largest cit ...
to Francisco Vaz and Marcelina Nunes. From a young age, he was surrounded by musical activity; his father served as the cathedral organist, and the flurry of musical activity in the local monastery of Santa Cruz had an equally important role in his musical training. In 1718, a few days before his father's death, Seixas succeeded his father as cathedral organist. Two years after, in 1720, he moved to
Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administrative limits w ...
to take up his new position in the court of
John V of Portugal Dom John V ( pt, João Francisco António José Bento Bernardo; 22 October 1689 – 31 July 1750), known as the Magnanimous (''o Magnânimo'') and the Portuguese Sun King (''o Rei-Sol Português''), was King of Portugal from 9 December 17 ...
as court organist and harpsichordist.SANDU, C., and D. C. IBĂNESCU. "SEIXAS AND SOLER, DEFINING FIGURES OF THE PORTUGUESE AND SPANISH BAROQUE MUSIC." ''Bulletin Of The Transilvania University Of Brasov, Series VIII: Performing Arts'' 6, no. 1 (January 2013): 59–64. ''Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost'' (accessed March 21, 2016). Citing his elegance and agility on the keyboard, he was a favorite teacher of many noble families, including the family of Luís Xavier Furtado de Mendonça, the Viscount of Barbacena, where he gave
harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...
lessons to the Viscount's wife and daughters in exchange for artistic patronage. In Lisbon, Seixas met Italian composer
Domenico Scarlatti Giuseppe Domenico Scarlatti, also known as Domingo or Doménico Scarlatti (26 October 1685-23 July 1757), was an Italian composer. He is classified primarily as a Baroque composer chronologically, although his music was influential in the devel ...
, who was working in Portugal from 1719 to 1728 as appointed director of the court cathedral. In an account by José Mazza in his ''Diccionario biographico de Musicos portugueses e noticia das suas composições of 1780,'' the king's brother, Dom António, arranged for Scarlatti to give Seixas harpsichord lessons. Scarlatti, immediately recognizing Seixas' talent, replied, "You can give me lessons." In 1731 he was married at age twenty-eight to D. Maria Joana Tomásia da Silva, with whom he had two sons and three daughters. He was knighted in 1738 by the king, inducted into the Order of Christ. Four years later, in 1742, he died of a rheumatic fever, and was buried in the Santa Maria Basilica in Lisbon.Allison, Brian J., "Carlos Seixas: The Development of the Keyboard Sonata in Eighteenth-Century Portugal. A Lecture Recital Together with Three Recitals of Selected Works of Johann Sebastian Bach, Samuel Barber, Ludwig van Beethoven, Frederic Chopin, Cesar Franck, Sergei Prokofieff, and Alexander Scriabin." Doctoral dissertation, North Texas State University, August 1982.


Works

Seixas' keyboard works were written for a variety of instruments, including the organ, harpsichord, and the
clavichord The clavichord is a stringed rectangular keyboard instrument that was used largely in the Late Middle Ages, through the Renaissance, Baroque and Classical eras. Historically, it was mostly used as a practice instrument and as an aid to compositi ...
. Stylistically speaking, however, his sonatas showcase a range of musical styles: some are exemplary of a Baroque toccata; some are firmly in the galant style; some are clearly influenced by the
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
'' Empfindsamer Stil'' (literally 'sensitive style'). Despite rarely, if ever, traveling outside of Lisbon, his work also includes various geographical styles, such as the German Mannheim school, the French minuet, and the Italian style as composed by Scarlatti, his colleague and contemporary. Santiago Kastner, Seixas' biographer and editor of his pieces, describes Seixas' works as "unoccupied" with a particular form, and given over to frequent improvisation. Much of his work was destroyed in the
earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, fr ...
that devastated Lisbon in 1755. Only three orchestral pieces and around one hundred keyboard sonatas out of over an alleged seven hundred survived, plus a handful of choral works for liturgical use (much more conservative than what one would expect from his instrumental music).
Macario Santiago Kastner Macario is a Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Filipino name. It may refer to: People * Catarina Macario, Brazilian-American footballer * Erminio Macario, Italian actor and comedian * Macario Peralta, Jr., Filipino soldier and lawyer * Macario S ...
published collections of the sonatas in '' Portugaliae Musica.''


Choral works


Mass
in G. *Tantum ergo; *Ardebat vincentius; *Conceptio gloriosa; *Gloriosa virginis Mariae; *Hodie mobis caelorum; *Sicut cedrus; *Verbum caro; *Dythyrambus in honorem et laudem Div. Antonii Olissiponensis.


Instrumental works


Overture
in D;
Harpsichord Concerto
in A major;
Harpsichord Concerto
in G minor;
Symphony
in B flat; *Harpsichord and orga
sonatas
an
toccatas


Selected recordings



Amon Ra CD-SAR 43 Harpsichord Sonatas played by Robert Woolley (musician), Robert Woolley on a
harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...
made by
Joaquim José Antunes The Antunes family were Portuguese harpsichord- and early piano builders in the 18th and 19th centuries. Known builders of the family Julião was the father of Joaquim José; he was a maker of string instruments for the royal chapel in Lisbon :Joa ...
in Portugal in 1785. The instrument is in the Finchcocks collection,
Goudhurst Goudhurst is a village and civil parish in the borough of Tunbridge Wells in Kent, England. It lies in the Weald, around south of Maidstone, on the crossroads of the A262 and B2079. The parish consists of three wards: Goudhurst, Kilndown and ...
,
Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
,
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...
. The recording was made at Finchcocks in December 1988.

Deutsche Grammophon 453-182. Two motets (''Ardebat Vincentius'' and ''Tantum Ergo''), in a two-disc collection also containing sacred music by
Sousa Carvalho Sousa refers to * John Philip Sousa (1854–1932), American composer of marches Sousa also may refer to: People * Sousa (surname), including other Portuguese variants such as Souza, de Sousa, D'Souza, etc. * João Sousa, Portuguese tennis playe ...
,
António Teixeira António Teixeira (14 May 1707 – after 1769) was a Portuguese composer. Teixeira was born and died in Lisbon. He was a royal scholar in Rome from 1714 until 11 June 1728, when he was elected chaplain-singer of Lisbon Cathedral and exami ...
, and F. A. de Almeida. Originally recorded in 1970, with the Gulbenkian Chamber Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Pierre Salzman and Michel Corboz.

Stradivarius STR 33544 Keyboard Sonatas played by Bernard Brauchli on a copy of a
clavichord The clavichord is a stringed rectangular keyboard instrument that was used largely in the Late Middle Ages, through the Renaissance, Baroque and Classical eras. Historically, it was mostly used as a practice instrument and as an aid to compositi ...
after Manuel Carmo,
Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropo ...
1796. The recording was made in
Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
in December 1998.

Virgin Veritas 45114 Harpsichord Concerto, etc. played by Norwegian Baroque Orchestra - Ketil Haugsand.

Virgin Veritas 45115 Missa Dixit Dominus, etc. played by Camara de Lisboa / Norwegian Baroque Orchestra - Ketil Haugsand.

Portugaler 20102 SPA Música Sacra, Segréis de Lisboa, Coral Lisboa Cantat, Manuel Morais dir. * Vox Records, Vox PVT 7171 Minuet and Toccata (Largo-Allegro) played by Elena Polanska * Fandango - Scarlatti in Iberia - 6 sonatas played by Sophie Yates- UPC:095115063521 cf theclassicalshop.net CHAN 635

Numerica, 2007. Fortepiano Sonatas played by Cremilde Rosado Fernandes on a copy by Denzel Wright of an original pianoforte built by Bartolomeo Cristofori. Recorded in
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...
in 2005.

Melographia Portugueza, 2012. Harpsichord Sonatas (Complete Recording, vol. I), played by José Carlos Araújo on a historic
harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...
made by
Joaquim José Antunes The Antunes family were Portuguese harpsichord- and early piano builders in the 18th and 19th centuries. Known builders of the family Julião was the father of Joaquim José; he was a maker of string instruments for the royal chapel in Lisbon :Joa ...
in Lisbon in 1758, the earliest surviving Antunes harpsichord. The instrument is in the
Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administrative limits w ...
Music Museum collection,
Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...
.

Melographia Portugueza, 2012. Organ Sonatas (Complete Recording, vol. II), played by José Carlos Araújo (musician), José Carlos Araújo on a historic
organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...
built by Fr. Manuel de São Bento in the Benedictine Monastery of São Bento da Vitória (Porto) in 1719, the largest and most important historic organ in Porto. This is the world premiere recording of this historic organ and the first complete CD recording of Seixas' organ sonatas.

Melographia Portugueza, 2013. Harpsichord Sonatas (Complete Recording, vol. III), played by José Carlos Araújo on a historic
harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...
made by
Joaquim José Antunes The Antunes family were Portuguese harpsichord- and early piano builders in the 18th and 19th centuries. Known builders of the family Julião was the father of Joaquim José; he was a maker of string instruments for the royal chapel in Lisbon :Joa ...
in Lisbon in 1758. The instrument is in the
Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administrative limits w ...
Music Museum collection,
Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...
.

Melographia Portugueza, 2013. Harpsichord Sonatas (Complete Recording, vol. IV), played by José Carlos Araújo (harpsichords by Ton Amir and Johannes Klinkhamer (2006) after Chr. Vater, 1738, and Reinhard von Nagel (1992) after G. B. Giusti, 1693).

Melographia Portugueza, 2013. Pianoforte Sonatas (Complete Recording, vol. V), played by José Carlos Araújo on a historical pianoforte made by Henri-Joseph van Casteel in Lisbon in 1763. The instrument is in the
Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administrative limits w ...
Music Museum collection,
Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...
.

Melographia Portugueza, 2014. Organ Sonatas (Complete Recording, vol. VI), played by José Carlos Araújo on a historic
organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...
built by D. Manuel Benito Gomez de Herrera in the Monastery of Arouca in 1739, one of the most important 18th-century organs in the Iberian Peninsula.


Scores

* Alvarenga, João Pedro: ''Carlos Seixas: 12 Sonatas'' (Lisbon: Musicoteca, 1995). * Doderer, Gerhard: ''Carlos Seixas: Ausgewählte Sonaten I-XV'' (= ''Organa Hispanica: Iberische Musik des 16., 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts für Tasteninstrumente'', volume 7) (Heidelberg: Süddeutscher Musikverlag, 1982). * Doderer, Gerhard: ''Carlos Seixas: Ausgewählte Sonaten XVI-XXX'' (= ''Organa Hispanica: Iberische Musik des 16., 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts für Tasteninstrumente'', volume 8) (Heidelberg: Süddeutscher Musikverlag, 1982). * Kastner, Macário Santiago: ''Cravistas Portugueses'', volume 1 (Mainz: B. Schott's Söhne, 1935). * Kastner, Macário Santiago: ''Cravistas Portugueses'', volume 2 (Mainz: B. Schott's Söhne, 1950). * Kastner, Macário Santiago: ''Carlos Seixas. 80 Sonatas para Tecla'' (= ''Portugaliae Musica'', vol. 10) (Lisbon: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, 1965). * Kastner, Macário Santiago and João Valeriano: ''Carlos Seixas. 25 Sonatas para Instrumentos de Tecla'' (= ''Portugaliae Musica'', vol. 34) (Lisbon: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, 1980). * Lourenço, José (ed.): ''12 Toccatas: Carlos Seixas'' (Ava Musical Editions, 2007). * Vasconcellos, Jorge Croner de and Fernandes, Armando José: ''Carlos Seixas: Tocatas e Minuetes'' (Lisbon: Biblioteca Nacional de Lisboa, 1975).


References


Bibliography

* Allison, Brian J.: "Carlos Seixas. The Development of the Keyboard Sonata in Eighteenth-Century Portugal. A Lecture Recital Together with Three Recitals of Selected Works of Johann Sebastian Bach, Samuel Barber, Ludwig van Beethoven, Frederic Chopin, Cesar Franck, Sergei Prokofieff, and Alexander Scriabin", doctoral dissertation, North Texas State University, August 1982. * d'Alvarenga, Joao Pedro: "Some Preliminaries in Approaching Carlos Seixas' Keyboard Sonatas", in: ''Ad Parnassum. A Journal of Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Instrumental Music'' vol. 7 (2009), no. 13, pp. 95–128, ''academia.edu'' (accessed March 18, 2016). * Bernardes, J. M. R. and Bernardes, I. R. S.: ''Uma Discografia de Cds da Composição Musical em Portugal: Do Século XIII aos Nossos Dias (INCM, 2003) ontém 45 referências discográficas pp. 222–234. * Cruz, Maria Antonieta de Lima: ''Carlos de Seixas'' (Lisbon: Parceria António Maria Pereira, 1943). * Doderer, Gerhard and Alvarenga, João Pedro: ''Comemorações Seixas - Bomtempo'' (Lisbon: Secretaria de Estado da Cultura, Direcção Geral dos Espectáculos e das Artes, 1992). * Heimes, K. F.: ''Carlos Seixas's Keyboard Sonatas'', diss., University of South Africa, 1967. * Heimes, K. F.: "Carlos Seixas's Keyboard Sonatas: The Question of D. Scarlatti's Influence", in: ''Congresso A Arte em Portugal no Século XVIII'' (Braga, 1973), pp. 447–471. * Kastner, Macario Santiago: ''Carlos de Seixas'' (Coimbra: Coimbra Editora, 1947). * Kastner, Macario Santiago: "Carlos Seixas: Sus inquietudes entre lo barroco y lo prerromántico", in: ''Anuário Musical'' (Barcelona: CSIC), no. 43 (1988), pp. 163–187. * Machado, Diogo Barbosa: ''Biblioteca Lusitana'', 4 volumes (Coimbra: Atlântida Editora, 1965–1967). * Mazza, José: ''Dicionário Biográfico de Músicos Portugueses'', ed. José Augusto Alegria (Lisbon: Tipografia da Editorial Império, 1944–1945). * Nery, Rui Vieira: ''A Música no Ciclo da Bibliotheca Lusitana'' (Lisbon: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, 1984). * Pedrosa Cardoso, José Maria (ed.): ''Carlos Seixas, de Coimbra'' (Coimbra: Imprensa da Universidade, 2004). * Ribeiro, Mário de Sampaio: ''José António Carlos de Seixas'' (Coimbra: Coimbra Editora, Separata de "Biblos", volume 14 (1939). * Sandu, Constantin: "Notes for a History of Portugues Piano Music", in: ''Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Brasov'', series VIII: Art & Sport, vol. 3, no. 52 (January 2010), pp. 29–36 (accessed March 19, 2016). * SANDU, C., and D. C. Ibănescu: "Seixas and Soler, Defining Figures of the Portuguese and Spanish Baroque Music", in: ''Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Brasov'', series VIII: Performing Arts, vol. 6, no. 1 (January 2013), pp. 59–64 (accessed March 21, 2016). * Sarrautte, Jean-Paul: "Un compositeur portugais au XVIIIème siècle: Carlos Seixas", in: ''Arquivos do Centro cultural português'', vol. 1 (1969), pp. 236–249. * Thompson, Wendy, and Lalage Cochrane: "Seixas, (José António) Carlos de", in: ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' ( Oxford University Press, http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199579037.001.0001/acref-9780199579037-e-6069). * Vasconcelos, Joaquim de: ''Os Músicos Portuguezes: Biografia, Bibliografia'', 2 volumes (Porto: Imprensa Portugueza, 1870). * Vieira, Ernesto: ''Diccionario Biographico de Musicos Portuguezes'' (Lisboa: Lambertini, Edição Facsimilada de Arquimedes Livros, 2007/1900).


External links

*
Bio, Audio Files, Videos, Links, Opus
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seixas, Carlos 1704 births 1742 deaths 18th-century classical composers 18th-century keyboardists 18th-century male musicians 18th-century Portuguese musicians Composers for harpsichord People from Coimbra Portuguese Baroque composers Portuguese harpsichordists Portuguese male classical composers