HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Luís Maria da Costa de Freitas Branco (12 October 1890 – 27 November 1955) was a Portuguese
composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...
,
musicologist Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, f ...
, and professor of music who played a pre-eminent part in the development of Portuguese music in the first half of the 20th century.


Life

Luís Maria da Costa de Freitas Branco was born in Lisbon into an aristocratic family who for centuries had had close ties to the royal family in Portugal. His brother, Pedro, was a conductor. Luís had a cosmopolitan education, studied
piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...
and
violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...
beginning in childhood and began composing at a precocious age. He studied music in Berlin and Paris, where he worked with Engelbert Humperdinck and other composers. He returned to Portugal and became professor of composition starting in 1916 at the Lisbon Conservatory of Music, where he became a leading force in restructuring musical education. There he taught, among many others, Joly Braga Santos. During the 1930s he increasingly encountered political difficulties with the authorities and was finally forced into retirement from his official duties in 1939. He continued to compose, however, and to pursue his research into Portuguese early music, publishing several books and numerous articles. His book about the musical works of King
John IV of Portugal ''Dom (honorific), Dom'' John IV (; 19 March 1604 – 6 November 1656), also known by the Portuguese as John the Restorer (), was the List of Portuguese monarchs, King of Portugal from 1640 until his death in 1656. He Portuguese Restoration War, ...
(1603–1656), an accomplished composer who introduced new music to Portugal, was published only in the year after Branco's death. He married Estela Diniz de Ávila e Sousa, born on 18 August 1892, daughter of João Deodato de Ávila e Sousa (b.
São Jorge Island São Jorge (; Portuguese language, Portuguese for 'Saint George') is an island in the central group of the Azores archipelago and part of the autonomous region of Portugal. Separated from its nearest neighbours (Pico Island, Pico and Faial Isl ...
, Velas, 10 November 1861) and wife Margarida Diniz; the couple had no children. Branco had a son out of wedlock by Maria Clara Dambert Filgueiras, of French descent: * João de Freitas Branco (Lisbon, 10 January 1922 – 17 November 1989, Caxias, Lisbon), married first to Maria Helena von Hoffmann de Barros de Abreu, daughter of António de Barros de Abreu, a lawyer, and wife German Marie Anna Helena von Hoffmann, three children; married again in 1954, to Maria Isabel do Nascimento, one son.


Death

Luís Maria da Costa de Freitas Branco died in Lisbon, aged 65.


Works (Selection)


Symphonies

*Symphony No. 1 in F major (1924) *Symphony No. 2 in B flat major (1926) *Symphony No. 3 in E minor (1944) *Symphony No. 4 in D major (1952)


Symphonic Poems

*''Antero de Quental'' –
symphonic poem A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, usually in a single continuous movement, which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape, or other (non-musical) source. The German term ( ...
(1907), named after the poet Antero de Quental (1842–1891) *''After a Reading of Júlio Diniz'', Symphonic Poem (1908; lost) *''After a Reading of Guerra Junqueiro'', Symphonic Poem (1909) *''Paraísos Artificiais'' (Artificial Paradises) – symphonic poem (1910) *''Vathek'', Symphonic Poem in the form of variations on an Oriental Theme (1913) *''Viriato'', Symphonic Poem (1916) *''Solemnia Verba'' – symphonic poem (1951)


Orchestral works

*''Scherzo Fantastique'' (1907) *''Tentações de S. Frei Gil'' ( St. Friar Gil's Temptations), Suite (1911) *Alentejo Suite No. 1 (1919) *Alentejo Suite No. 2 (1927) *''Abertura Solene «1640»'' (1939) *''Hommage to Chopin'' (in the form of a Polka) (1949; lost)


Concertante works

*''Cena Lírica'' (Lyric Scene) for Cello and Orchestra (1916) *Violin Concerto (1916) *Ballade for Piano and Orchestra (1917) *Variations and Triple Fugue on and Original Theme for String Orchestra and Organ (1946-47)


Choir and Orchestra

*''Manfred'', dramatic symphony for soloists, choir and orchestra (1905-6) *''The Temptation of Holy Father Gil'', oratorio for soloists, choir, and orchestra (1911/12; destroyed) *''Canto do Natal'', for choir, orchestra and organ (1926) *''Noemi'', biblical cantata for soloist, choir, orchestra and organ (1937-39)


Solo Voice and Orchestra

*''That Girl'' for soprano or tenor and orchestra (1904) *''Sonnet by Camões / The Beauty of Fresca Serra'' for soprano and orchestra (1907 – orch. 1935) *''Portuguese Song / Song of the Tejo River'' for soprano or tenor and orchestra (1907 – orch. 1929) *''Song of the Sea'' for soprano or tenor and orchestra (1918) *''Commiato / Farewell'', dramatic scene for baritone (or bass) and orchestra (1920 – orch. 1949) *Eight Portuguese Popular Songs for soprano and orchestra (1943 – orch. 1951)


String Orchestra

*''The Death of Manfred'' for strings (1906) *Two melodies for string orchestra (1909) *Lento rom the 1911 String Quartet, version for string orchestra*''Temptation of Death'', from ''The Temptations of Holy Father Gil'' (1911-12) *Variations and Triple Fugue on an Original Theme for string orchestra (1946-47) ersion without organ


Chamber Music

*''The Death of Manfred'' for a sextet of 2 violins, violet, 2 cellos and double bass (1906) *''Commemorative March'' for violin, cello and piano (1908) *Trio for violin, cello and piano (1908) *1st Sonata for Violin and Piano (1908) *Prelude and Fugue for solo violin (1910) ot located*Prelude for violin and piano (1910) *String Quartet (1911) *Sonata for Cello and Piano (1913) *Theme and Variations for three harps and string quartet (s/d – 1920/21?) *2nd Sonata for Violin and Piano (1928)


Selected discography

* ''Madrigais Camonianos''. Three series with total 28 madrigals on texts by
Luís de Camões Luís Vaz de Camões (; or 1525 – 10 June 1580), sometimes rendered in English as Camoens or Camoëns ( ), is considered Portugal's and the Portuguese language's greatest poet. His mastery of verse has been compared to that of William Shakes ...
. , conducted by Fernando Eldoro. PortugalSom PS 5010, 2008. * Violin Sonatas; Carlos Damas, violin; Anna Tomasik, piano, Naxos, 201


Use of his music in film

*''
Douro, Faina Fluvial ''Douro, Faina Fluvial'' (Labor on the Douro River) is a 1931 Cinema of Portugal, Portuguese Documentary film, documentary short film. It was the first film directed by Manoel de Oliveira and is a portrait of his hometown of Porto and the labor ...
'' (1931) by
Manoel de Oliveira Manoel Cândido Pinto de Oliveira (; 11 December 1908 – 2 April 2015) was a Portuguese film director and screenwriter born in Cedofeita, Porto. He first began making films in 1927, when he and some friends attempted to make a film about Wor ...
, in its second version * '' Wild Cattle'' (1934) *'' Mistérios de Lisboa'' (2010) by Raúl Ruiz


References

Sources * *


External links

*
Short biography
Naxos Records
Biography, audio samples, catalogue
{{DEFAULTSORT:Branco, Luis de Freitas 1890 births 1955 deaths 20th-century Portuguese classical composers Musicians from Lisbon Pupils of Engelbert Humperdinck Portuguese male classical composers 20th-century Portuguese male musicians 20th-century musicologists Portuguese musicologists