Filipe de Magalhães (c. 1571–1652) was a

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

composer of

sacred Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects ( ...

polyphony Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords, ...

Life

Filipe de Magalhães was born in Azeitão,

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 ...

, in 1571. He studied music at the Cathedral of

Évora Évora ( , ) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. It has 53,591 inhabitants (2021), in an area of 1307.08 km2. It is the historic capital of the Alentejo and serves as the seat of the Évora District. Due to its well-preserved old ...

with

Manuel Mendes Manuel Mendes (or Manoel Mendes; c. 1547 – 24 September 1605) was a Portuguese composer and teacher of the Renaissance. While his music remains obscure, he was important as the teacher of several of the composers of the golden age of Portugu ...

where he was a colleague of the equally renowned polyphonists

Duarte Lobo Duarte Lobo (ca. 1565 – 24 September 1646; Latinized as ''Eduardus Lupus'') was a Portuguese composer of the late Renaissance and early Baroque. He was one of the most famous Portuguese composers of the time, together with Filipe de Magalh ...

and Manuel Cardoso. He was apparently considered by his master Manuel Mendes as his favourite student; the latter left his own manuscripts to Magalhães, in the hope that these would be eventually published. In 1589 Magalhães replaced Manuel Mendes as ''mestre do Claustro da Sé''. Later, he went to Lisbon to become a member of the ''Capela Real'' (Royal Chapel's) choir and then ''mestre de Capela da Misericórdia''. On the 27th of March 1623 he was appointed '' Mestre da Capela Real'', a position he held until 1641. While at Évora, he was the teacher of Estêvão Lopes Morago, Estêvão de Brito and Manuel Correia, who carried on with the music school of the Cathedral of Évora in the 16th and 17th centuries. He died in Lisbon.

Musical work

Magalhães dedicated himself to the composition of sacred polyphonic works for the liturgy. Most of them were published in collections such as the ''Missarum Liber'', which was dedicated to

Philip II of Portugal Philip III ( es, Felipe III; 14 April 1578 – 31 March 1621) was King of Spain. As Philip II, he was also King of Portugal, Naples, Sicily and Sardinia and Duke of Milan from 1598 until his death in 1621. A member of the House of Habsburg, Phi ...

, and the ''Cantica Beatissima Virgines'', published in Lisbon in 1639. He also wrote a book of

plainsong Plainsong or plainchant (calque from the French ''plain-chant''; la, cantus planus) is a body of chants used in the liturgies of the Western Church. When referring to the term plainsong, it is those sacred pieces that are composed in Latin text ...

, ''Cantus Ecclesiasticus'', which was published in five different editions (the first ones in Lisbon in 1614 and in Antwerp in 1642, and the last one in 1724). The catalogue of the Music Library of King

John IV of Portugal John IV ( pt, João, ; 19 March 1604 – 6 November 1656), nicknamed John the Restorer ( pt, João, o Restaurador), was the King of Portugal whose reign, lasting from 1640 until his death, began the Portuguese restoration of independence from H ...

also mentions one 8-voice Mass, 6-voice Lamentations for

Maundy Thursday Maundy Thursday or Holy Thursday (also known as Great and Holy Thursday, Holy and Great Thursday, Covenant Thursday, Sheer Thursday, and Thursday of Mysteries, among other names) is the day during Holy Week that commemorates the Washing of the ...

, one 7-voice

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

villancico The ''villancico'' (Spanish, ) or vilancete ( Portuguese, ) was a common poetic and musical form of the Iberian Peninsula and Latin America popular from the late 15th to 18th centuries. Important composers of villancicos were Juan del Encina, Ped ...

'' and five 5- and 6-voice motets. All these works are believed to have been lost during the

1755 Lisbon earthquake The 1755 Lisbon earthquake, also known as the Great Lisbon earthquake, impacted Portugal, the Iberian Peninsula, and Northwest Africa on the morning of Saturday, 1 November, Feast of All Saints, at around 09:40 local time. In combination with ...

Sources

*https://web.archive.org/web/20110825043418/http://projecto.evoradistritodigital.pt/noticias/noticia_2005.10.25_01/view?searchterm=xvi

External links

* * 1570s births 1652 deaths Portuguese Baroque composers Renaissance composers 16th-century Portuguese people 17th-century Portuguese people Mestres da Capela Real People from Setúbal 17th-century classical composers Portuguese male classical composers 17th-century male musicians {{Portugal-composer-stub