Francisco António de Almeida (c. 1702–1755) was a
Portuguese composer and
organist.
From 1722 to 1726 he was a royal scholar in Rome. In 1724,
Pier Leone Ghezzi drew his caricature, describing him as "a young but excellent composer of concertos and church music who sang with extreme taste". He returned to Portugal in 1726, where he became organist of the
Royal and Patriarchal Chapel.
In
1728
Events
January–March
* January 5 – The '' Real y Pontificia Universidad de San Gerónimo de la Habana'', the oldest university in Cuba, is founded in Havana.
* January 9 – The coronation of Peter II as the Tsar of t ...
, the first of his serenatas, ''Il trionfo della virtù'', was performed in
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. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
at the palace of
Cardinal
Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to:
Animals
* Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds
**''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae
**''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...
João da Mota e Silva
João is the Portuguese equivalent of the given name John. The diminutive is Joãozinho and the feminine is Joana. It is widespread in Portuguese-speaking countries. Notable people with the name are enumerated in the sections below.
Kings
* ...
. His
comic opera, ''La pazienza di Socrate'', was performed at the royal palace in
1733
Events
January–March
* January 13 – Borommarachathirat V becomes King of Siam (now Thailand) upon the death of King Sanphet IX.
* January 27 – George Frideric Handel's classic opera, ''Orlando'' is performed for ...
. It was the first Italian opera in Portugal. A contemporary diarist states that Almeida composed music for the popular performances of
presépios (
Nativity scenes) in the
Mouraria quarter of Lisbon. He probably died in the
Lisbon earthquake of 1755.
Selected works
*Il pentimento di Davidde (componimento sacro), 1722
*La Giuditta (oratorio), 1726 (first modern performances were in 1990, and it was described as a masterpiece.
["Almeida's oratorio La Giuditta, one of the masterpieces of Portuguese 18th-century music, was performed in Rome in 1726" // ''Salwa El-Shawan Castelo-Branco''. Portugal / The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. L.; N.Y., 2001.]
*Il trionfo della virtù (componimento poetico), 1728
*
Il trionfo d'amore (Almeida) (scherzo pastorale), 1729
*Gl'incanti d'Alcina (
dramma per musica da cantarsi), 1730
*
La Spinalba
''La Spinalba'' (''Spinalba, ovvero Il vecchio matto'', in English ''Spinalba or The Mad Old Man'') is an opera ( dramma comico) in three acts, with music by Francisco António de Almeida to an Italian-language libretto whose author is unknown. ...
, ovvero Il vecchio matto (dramma comico), 1739
*L’Ippolito (serenata), 1752
References
Bibliography
*Manuel Carlos de Brito: ''Almeida, Francisco António de'', Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Retrieved 2007-05-05)
Grove Music Online
*Manuel Carlos de Brito: ''Opera in Portugal in the Eighteenth Century'' (Cambridge, 1989)
External links
Sinfonia (in F)- on-going cooperative transcription in th
Wiki-scoreplatform of the score of this symphony by Francisco António de Almeida.
See also
*
Carlos Seixas
*
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 ...
Portuguese Baroque composers
Portuguese classical organists
Male classical organists
18th-century Portuguese people
1700s births
1755 deaths
18th-century classical composers
18th-century male musicians
18th-century musicians
18th-century keyboardists
Portuguese male classical composers
{{Portugal-composer-stub