Fernando Lopes-Graça (17 December 1906 – 27 November 1994) was a
Portuguese composer, conductor and
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 ...
.
Lopes-Graça was born in
Tomar
Tomar (), also known in English as Thomar (the ancient name of Tomar), is a Portugal, Portuguese city and a municipality in the historical Ribatejo Portuguese Provinces of Portugal, province, and in Santarém District, Santarém district. The to ...
, and was influenced by Portuguese popular music, which he also studied, continuing the work of the composer and musicologist
Francisco de Lacerda.
He was a member of the
Portuguese Communist Party
The Portuguese Communist Party (, , PCP) is a Communism, communist and Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist List of political parties in Portugal, political party in Portugal. It is one of the strongest List of communist parties, communist par ...
and strenuously opposed the ''
Estado Novo'' and its leader
António de Oliveira Salazar.
He completed the ''Dicionário de Música'' (Dictionary of Music), started by his teacher,
Tomás Borba, himself a composer. He died in
Parede, near
Cascais
Cascais () is a town and municipality in the Lisbon District of Portugal, located on the Portuguese Riviera, Estoril Coast. The municipality has a total of 214,158 inhabitants in an area of 97.40 km2. Cascais is an important tourism in Port ...
.
Chronology
* 1906: 17 December: birth in
Tomar
Tomar (), also known in English as Thomar (the ancient name of Tomar), is a Portugal, Portuguese city and a municipality in the historical Ribatejo Portuguese Provinces of Portugal, province, and in Santarém District, Santarém district. The to ...
(where he would start his piano studies).
* 1924: becomes a student at the Conservatório Nacional de Lisboa.
* 1927: becomes a student of
Vianna da Motta's Classe de Virtuosidade.
* 1931: obtains the Composition Degree. In the same year he is arrested and expelled to
Alpiarça
Alpiarça () is a municipality in Santarém District in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 7,702, in an area of 95.36 km2.
The present Mayor is Mário Fernando Pereira and the President of the Municipal Assembly is Mario Santiago. The munic ...
.
* 1934: wins a scholarship to study in
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
, which he is later denied for political reasons.
* 1937: goes to
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, where he studies with composition and orchestration with
Charles Koechlin.
* 1938: The "Maison de la Culture de Paris" commissions «La fiévre du temps» (ballet-revue). Harmonisation of traditional Portuguese songs.
* 1940: Wins the composition prize from
Círculo de Cultura Musical with his 1st Concert for Piano and Orchestra.
* 1942: wins a prize from Círculo de Cultura Musical for «História Trágico-Marítima» (
Miguel Torga poem).
* 1944: wins, for the 3rd time, the Composition Prize from Círculo de Cultura Musical for «Sinfonia».
* 1945: integrates the
Movement of Democratic Unity's District Commission.
* 1949: integrates the jury of the International Béla Bartók Festival in
Budapest
Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...
.
* 1952: wins another composition prize from Círculo de Cultura Musical for his 3rd Piano Sonata, dedicated to the Franco-Swiss pianist
Hélène Boschi, who premieres the sonata in Paris in 1954.
* 1961: publishes, with
Michel Giacometti, the 1st volume of the
Antologia de Música Regional Portuguesa. Starts work on «In Memoriam Béla Bartók» (8 progressive suites for piano), which he will complete in 1975.
* 1969:
Mstislav Rostropovich
Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich (27 March 192727 April 2007) was a Russian Cello, cellist and conducting, conductor. In addition to his interpretations and technique, he was well known for both inspiring and commissioning new works, which enl ...
performs his Concerto da Camera (cello).
* 1973: Editora Cosmos starts the publication of «Obras Literárias» (18 volumes).
* 1974: becomes president of the
Comissão para a Reforma do Ensino Musical, created by the Provisional Government of the
April Revolution.
* 1979: composes the «Requiem pelas vítimas do fascismo em Portugal» (Requiem for the Victims of Fascism in Portugal) for large orchestra, soloists, and choir.
* 1981: receives invitation from the Hungarian government for the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of
Béla Bartók
Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as Hunga ...
's birth.
* 1993: publication of his complete piano sonatas and sonatinas (
Matosinhos
Matosinhos () is a City#Portugal, city and a Concelho, municipality in the district of Porto District, Porto in Portugal. The municipality covers an area of approximately and had 172,557 inhabitants in 2021. It is bordered by the municipalities o ...
). Tribute for his 87th birthday.
* 1994: dies, at home, in the evening of 27 November.
Distinctions
National orders
*

Grand Officer of the
Order of Saint James of the Sword (9 April 1981)
*

Grand Cross of the
Order of Prince Henry the Navigator (2 February 1987)
References
Sources and links
Bio, Catalogue & Audio Samples
*
Mário Vieira de Carvalho (2012), « Politics of Identity and Counter-Hegemony: Lopes-Graça and the Concept of 'National Music'», in: ''Music and Politics'
* Mário Vieira de Carvalho (2011), «Between Political Engagement and Aesthetic Autonomy: Fernando Lopes-Graça's Dialectical Approach to Music and Politics», in: ''Twentieth-Century Music'
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lopes-Graca, Fernando
1906 births
1994 deaths
People from Tomar
Portuguese Communist Party politicians
Portuguese male composers
Portuguese conductors (music)
Male conductors (music)
Portuguese musicologists
Portuguese anti-fascists
20th-century conductors (music)
20th-century Portuguese composers
Grand Officers of the Order of Saint James of the Sword
Grand Crosses of the Order of Prince Henry
20th-century Portuguese male musicians