Estêvão de Brito (c. 15701641) 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 ...

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 chord ...

Life

Estêvão de Brito was born in

Serpa Serpa (), officially the Municipality of Serpa (), is a Municipalities of Portugal, municipality in the Districts of Portugal, district of Beja District, Beja in Alentejo region, southern Portugal. The population in 2011 was 15,623, in an area of ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

. He studied music at the Cathedral of

Évora Évora ( , ), officially the Very Noble and Ever Loyal City of Évora (), is a city and a municipalities of Portugal, municipality in Portugal. It has 53,591 inhabitants (2021), in an area of . It is the historic capital of the Alentejo reg ...

with Filipe de Magalhães. In January 1597 he was already ''

mestre de capela ( , , ), from German (chapel) and (master), literally "master of the chapel choir", designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term has evolved considerably in i ...

'' of the Cathedral of

Badajoz Badajoz is the capital of the Province of Badajoz in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Extremadura, Spain. It is situated close to the Portugal, Portuguese Portugal–Spain border, border, on the left bank of the river ...

(

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

), where he stayed until 1613. In that year, he went to the cathedral of

Málaga Málaga (; ) is a Municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 591,637 in 2024, it is the second-most populo ...

and succeeded Francisco Vásquez bearing the same office as

Cristóbal de Morales Cristóbal de Morales (c. 1500 – between 4 September and 7 October 1553) was a Spanish composer of the Renaissance. He is generally considered to be the most influential Spanish composer before Tomás Luis de Victoria. Life Cristóbal de Mor ...

, precisely 50 years before. He stayed in Málaga until his death in 1641.

Work

It is known that de Brito composed numerous ''

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, P ...

s'' and '' cançonetas,'' most of them for the Christian feasts of

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

and Corpus Christi. Unfortunately, these works were lost due to the devastation of 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, All Saints' Day, Feast of All Saints, at around 09:40 local time. In ...

. However, the most relevant in de Brito's work are the liturgic pieces: 4-, 5-, 6-, and 8-voice

mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

es,

motet In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the preeminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to the Eng ...

psalm The Book of Psalms ( , ; ; ; ; , in Islam also called Zabur, ), also known as the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) called ('Writings'), and a book of the Old Testament. The book is an anthology of H ...

s, and

hymn A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' d ...

Recordings

*1993, Portuguese Renaissance Music, Voces Angelicae, Teldec Classics International 4509-93690-2 **includes 5 works by de Brito. * 1991, Lamentations, Oxford Camerata, Jeremy Summerly, Naxos - Early Music ** Lamentations of Jeremiah by White, Tallis, Lassus and Estêvão de Brito

References

*''Enciclopédia Verbo Luso-Brasileira de Cultura'', vol. 5, "Brito (Estêvão de)", ed. Verbo, Lisboa/São Paulo, 1998

External links

* * 1570s births 1641 deaths People from Serpa Renaissance composers Portuguese Baroque composers 16th-century Portuguese composers 17th-century Portuguese composers 17th-century Portuguese classical composers Portuguese male classical composers 17th-century male musicians {{Portugal-composer-stub