Mário Simões Dias de Figueiredo (2 July 1903 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 Metropolitan Area, Porto, and Bra ...

– 8 July 1974 in Lourenço Marques) was a Portuguese musicologist and professional violinist (a disciple of

Lucien Capet Lucien Louis Capet (8 January 1873 – 18 December 1928) was a French violinist, pedagogue and composer. Career Capet came from the Paris proletariat. By the age of fifteen, he had to maintain himself by playing in bistros and cafes. He studied ...

and collaborator of Fernando Lopes Graça, among others), as well as a prolific music critic and poet. He was blind from the age of 10.''Mário Simões Dias'', entry in ''Dicionário de Música'' (Lisboa: Edições Cosmos, 1958), vol. ''I-Z'', p. 552 As an academic affiliated with the

University of Coimbra The University of Coimbra (UC; pt, Universidade de Coimbra, ) is a Public university, public research university in Coimbra, Portugal. First established in Lisbon in 1290, it went through a number of relocations until moving permanently to Coi ...

, he authored works on music theory and the history of music as well as introductory texts concerned with raising public awareness of classical music; his collection of essays ''A Música, essa desconhecida'' became a popular introduction to music history in Portugal.Simões Dias, M. ''A Música, essa desconhecida'' (Coimbra, Centro Universitário de Coimbra da Mocidade Portuguesa, 1951
entry at Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal (Portuguese)
/ref>''Mário Simões Dias'', entry in ''Dicionário de Música'' (Lisboa: Edições Cosmos, 1958), vol. I-Z, pp. 552–553 For 13 years (from 1950 to 1963) he maintained a series of weekly

live radio Live radio is radio broadcast without delay. Before the days of television, audiences listened to live dramas, comedies, quiz shows and concerts on the radio much the same way that they now do on television. Most talk radio is live radio where peo ...

shows devoted to the divulgation of classical music, broadcast by the former ''Emissora Nacional''.''Cf.'' Simões Dias, M. ''Vida e Obra de Mozart: notas para uma rubrica da Emissora Nacional'' (unpublished, collection of notebooks submitted to the ''Emissora Nacional'', 1953–1957) As a poet, he was affiliated with the Portuguese neo-realist tradition and is celebrated chiefly for his book-length poem ''Cântico das Urzes'' (''The Song of the Heathers'').

Early life and education

Simões Dias was born in Coimbra in 1903 to a family of the local

landed gentry The landed gentry, or the ''gentry'', is a largely historical British social class of landowners who could live entirely from rental income, or at least had a country estate. While distinct from, and socially below, the British peerage, th ...

, originally rooted in the nearby '' Beirão'' countryside. His father, Carlos Simões Dias, was a doctor and entrepreneur whose initiatives included, among other things, importing Buick automobiles. His maternal grandfather was the

Romantic Romantic may refer to: Genres and eras * The Romantic era, an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement of the 18th and 19th centuries ** Romantic music, of that era ** Romantic poetry, of that era ** Romanticism in science, of that e ...

poet

José Simões Dias José Simões Dias (1844 in Benfeita, Arganil – 3 March 1899 in Lisbon) was a Portuguese poet, short-story writer and literary critic, as well as politician and pedagogue. His poetry is generally affiliated with the later Romantic tradition ...

, author of the ''Peninsulares''. He became blind at the age of 10 due to

meningitis Meningitis is acute or chronic inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, collectively called the meninges. The most common symptoms are fever, headache, and neck stiffness. Other symptoms include confusion or ...

. From the age of 18 he studied violin with the Spanish violinis
Francisco Benetó Martinez
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 ...

. He left Portugal for Paris in 1926, where he became a protégé, and later collaborator, of

Career as performer

As a young violinist in Paris, he performed at the famed Salle Pleyel to great acclaim, as well as in

Biarritz Biarritz ( , , , ; Basque also ; oc, Biàrritz ) is a city on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the French Basque Country in southwestern France. It is located from the border with Spain. ...

and

St. Jean de Luz Saint-Jean-de-Luz (; eu, Donibane Lohitzune,Donibane Lohitzune

Figaro'' as ''un des plus grands virtuoses de l'art de Paganini'', the ''

Courrier Courrier may refer to: *''Courrier International'', a Paris-based French weekly newspaper *''Courrier des États-Unis'', a French language newspaper published by French immigrants in New York *''Courrier d'Ethiopie'', a French language weekly newsp ...

'' observing that ''ce jeune violiniste, q'une malheureuse cécité isole du munde, reproduit trés délicatement les plus belles compositions des grands maîtres classiques et modernes''. Having returned to Portugal in 1929, he co-founds the ''Academia de Música'' in Coimbra, of which would become the first director, and (in 1934) the ''Instituto de Música'', having been active as a teacher and performer in both institutions. Between 1932 and 1936, he performs as a violinist in several Portuguese and Spanish concert halls, sometimes alongside Fernando Lopes Graça, then a celebrated pianist and later to become an important Portuguese composer. Despite acute ideological differences (Simões Dias was a conservative while Graça was an active communist), the two would remain close friends and exchange correspondence until Simões' death in 1974 – Graça's ''Sonatina nº 2'' is dedicated to Simões Dias.

Career in musicology and divulgation of classical music

Having become affiliated with the

as a lecturer, Simões Dias published his most widespread work, ''A Música, essa desconhecida'', in 1951. The collection of essays provides an introduction to the

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

and theory of music, and would provide the foundations for his contribution to the divulgation of classical music via radio over the following decades. Meanwhile, he pursues more strictly academic work, publishing ''Aspectos da Canção Popular Portuguesa'' in 1952. The book, a study of Portuguese musical folklore, received the ''Ramalho Ortigão National Prize'', granted by the Portuguese ''Secretariat for National Propaganda'', and merited the attention of

Marc Honegger Marc Honegger (17 May 1926 – 8 September 2003) was a French musicologist and choirmaster. Biography A distant cousin of the Swiss-born composer Arthur Honegger, he studied at the Sorbonne, where he was a pupil of Paul-Marie Masson. He receive ...

, leading French musicologist and then director of the Institute of Musicology of the University of Strasbourg – over the 1950s, the two would become collaborators in the ''Dictionnaire de la Musique'', to which Simões Dias contributed with his studies of Iberian music. For 13 years (from 1950 to 1963), Simões became more widely known for a series of weekly

radio shows A radio program, radio programme, or radio show is a segment of content intended for broadcast on radio. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series. A single program in a series is called an episode. Radio networ ...

devoted to the divulgation and critique of classical music and music performance, broadcast by the former ''Emissora Nacional'',''Cf. Mário Simões Dias'', entry in '' Grande Enciclopédia Portuguesa e Brasileira'' (Lisboa: Edições Enciclopédia Portuguesa e Brasileira, 1960). including a series on the life and work of

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...

, which spanned several years, and a commented selection of musical pieces under the title ''Compositor do Mês'' (''Composer of the Month'').''Cf.'' Simões Dias, M. '' Compositor do Mês: notas para uma rubrica da Emissora Nacional'' (Coimbra, 1957) He also toured Portugal on occasion as a lecturer, often in initiatives organized by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, collaborating with João de Freitas Branco. From 1953, Simões Dias also contributed with a regular column to the ''Gazeta Musical'', then directed by João José Cochofel Ayres de Campos, and with articles to the literary supplement of the ''

Comércio do Porto ''O Comércio do Porto'' (lit. ''Porto Trade'') was a Portuguese daily newspaper. First appearing in Porto under the title ''O Commercio'' in 1854, the newspaper folded in 2005 after more than 150 years of continuous publication. At the time of its ...

''.

Later life

In 1968, and a widower since 1956, Simões Dias moved with his daughter and son-in-law to Lourenço Marques, present-day

Maputo Maputo (), formerly named Lourenço Marques until 1976, is the Capital city, capital, and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a popul ...

, capital of what was then the

Portuguese Overseas Province of Mozambique Portuguese Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique) or Portuguese East Africa (''África Oriental Portuguesa'') were the common terms by which Mozambique was designated during the period in which it was a Portuguese colony. Portuguese Mozambique originally ...

. There he pursued his dedication to poetry and filled several notebooks with his memoirs, as yet unpublished. Until his death shortly after the

Carnation Revolution The Carnation Revolution ( pt, Revolução dos Cravos), also known as the 25 April ( pt, 25 de Abril, links=no), was a military coup by left-leaning military officers that overthrew the authoritarian Estado Novo regime on 25 April 1974 in Lisbo ...

in 1974, he maintained a radio show along the molds of his previous project in Portugal – ''A Arte de ouvir'' (''The Art of Listening''), broadcast by local station ''Rádio Clube de Moçambique''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dias, Mario Simoes 1903 births 1974 deaths Portuguese classical violinists Male classical violinists Music educators People from Coimbra Portuguese musicians Portuguese male musicians Portuguese male writers 20th-century classical violinists 20th-century Portuguese writers 20th-century male writers 20th-century male musicians