Manuel Machado (c. 1590–1646) 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 and

harpist The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual string (music), strings running at an angle to its sound board (music), soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various way ...

. He was mostly active in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, as he was born when the kingdoms of

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 ...

and Spain were in a

dynastic union A dynastic union is a type of union with only two different states that are governed under the same dynasty, with their boundaries, their laws, and their interests remaining distinct from each other. Historical examples Union of Kingdom of Arag ...

Life

Manuel Machado was born in Lisbon and studied at the Claustra college of the Lisbon Cathedral with the renowned composer

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 ...

. He moved to Spain and in 1610 he became a musician of the royal chapel in Madrid, where his father, Lope Machado, was already a harpist. In 1639, he became a musician in the palace of

Philip IV of Spain Philip IV ( es, Felipe, pt, Filipe; 8 April 160517 September 1665), also called the Planet King (Spanish: ''Rey Planeta''), was King of Spain from 1621 to his death and (as Philip III) King of Portugal from 1621 to 1640. Philip is remembered ...

, and in 1642, he was rewarded "for his long years of service".

Work

Machado composed several

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 ( ...

works, but he is better known for his secular 3- and 4-voice ''

cantiga A ''cantiga'' (''cantica'', ''cantar'') is a medieval monophonic song, characteristic of the Galician-Portuguese lyric. Over 400 extant ''cantigas'' come from the ''Cantigas de Santa Maria'', narrative songs about miracles or hymns in praise of th ...

s'' and

romance Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings * Romance languages, ...

s in

Mannerist Mannerism, which may also be known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Ita ...

style. Unfortunately, very few of his works have survived (most of them were destroyed 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 ...

). His secular music is characterised by great skill in the flexible use of the

meter The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its pref ...

and harmony to reflect the content of the poems. Machado's highly expressive

word-painting Word painting, also known as tone painting or text painting, is the musical technique of composing music that reflects the literal meaning of a song's lyrics or story elements in programmatic music. Historical development Tone painting of words ...

, with rich chromatism, unexpected modulation and

dissonant In music, consonance and dissonance are categorizations of simultaneous or successive Sound, sounds. Within the Western tradition, some listeners associate consonance with sweetness, pleasantness, and acceptability, and dissonance with harshness ...

chords (such as augmented chords or inverted

seventh chord A seventh chord is a chord consisting of a triad plus a note forming an interval of a seventh above the chord's root. When not otherwise specified, a "seventh chord" usually means a dominant seventh chord: a major triad together with a mi ...

s, which would have caused considerable impact in his own time), associated with typical

Petrarchan The Petrarchan sonnet, also known as the Italian sonnet, is a sonnet named after the Italian poet Francesco Petrarca, although it was not developed by Petrarch himself, but rather by a string of Renaissance poets.Spiller, Michael R. G. The Developm ...

love lyrics, make his romances comparable in style and quality to the Italian late-period

madrigal A madrigal is a form of secular vocal music most typical of the Renaissance music, Renaissance (15th–16th c.) and early Baroque music, Baroque (1600–1750) periods, although revisited by some later European composers. The Polyphony, polyphoni ...

s, such as those of

Marenzio Luca Marenzio (also Marentio; October 18, 1553 or 1554 – August 22, 1599) was an Italian composer and singer of the late Renaissance. He was one of the most renowned composers of madrigals, and wrote some of the most famous examples of the f ...

Monteverdi Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi (baptized 15 May 1567 – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, choirmaster and string player. A composer of both secular and sacred music, and a pioneer in the development of opera, he is consider ...

. His known compositions are found in the most important songbooks of his time, such as the ''

Cancionero de la Sablonara The Cancionero de la Sablonara (preserved at the Bavarian State Library in Munich) is a Spanish manuscript (Cod.hisp. 2, formerly also known as Mus.ms. E) containing polyphonic canción, canciones from Spain and Portugal, composed in the first quart ...

'', which indicates that he probably enjoyed a considerable popularity. He died in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

Recordings

The following recordings include works by Machado: *1989 - O Lusitano - Portuguese vilancetes, cantigas and romances.

Gérard Lesne Gérard Lesne (; born 15 July 1956) is a French countertenor. He is also the founder and artistic director of the baroque music ensemble, Il Seminario Musicale. Life and career Gérard Lesne was born in Montmorency, Val-d'Oise. He was originall ...

and Circa 1500. Virgin Veritas 59071. Track 2 "Dos estrellas le siguen", and Track 21 "Paso a paso, empeños mios" *1994 - Canções, Vilancicos e Motetes Portugueses.

Paul Van Nevel Paul Van Nevel (born 4 February 1946) is a Belgian conductor, musicologist and art historian. In 1971 he founded the Huelgas Ensemble, a choir dedicated to polyphony from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Van Nevel is known for hunting out li ...

and

Huelgas Ensemble The Huelgas Ensemble is a Belgian early music group formed by the Flemish conductor Paul Van Nevel in 1971. The group's performance and extensive discography focuses on Renaissance polyphony. The name of the ensemble refers to a manuscript of pol ...

. Sony Classical SK 66288. Track 2 "Qué bien siente Galatea", and Track 3 "Dos estrellas le siguen". *2007 - Entremeses del siglo de oro - Lope de Vega y su tiempo (1550-1650). Hespèrion XX and

Jordi Savall Jordi Savall i Bernadet (; born 1 August 1941) is a Spanish conductor, composer and viol player. He has been one of the major figures in the field of Western early music since the 1970s, largely responsible for popularizing the viol family of ...

. Alia Vox. Track 12 "Que bien siente Galatea", and Track 17 "¡Afuera, afuera! que sale" *2007 - Flores de Lisboa - Canções, vilancicos e romances portugueses. A Corte Musical and

Rogério Gonçalves Rogério de Sousa Gonçalves (born 1 October 1959) is a Portuguese football manager, currently in charge of Mozambican club Clube Ferroviário da Beira. In a career of over three decades, he had brief Primeira Liga spells at Varzim, Naval, ...

. Le Couvent K617195. Track 1 "Dos estrellas le siguen", Track 2 "Paso a paso, empeños mios", and Track 8 "¡Afuera, afuera! que sale"

References

*''Enciclopédia Verbo Luso-Brasileira de Cultura'', ed. Verbo, Lisbon/São Paulo, 1998 *''Manuel Machado - Romances e Canções'', Portugaliae Musica 28, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon, 1998

External links

* Portuguese Baroque composers Portuguese harpists Musicians from Lisbon 1590s births 1646 deaths 17th-century Portuguese people 17th-century classical composers Portuguese male classical composers 17th-century male musicians {{Portugal-composer-stub