Aria. Nel Adrasto. La tua clemenza implora. [Copyist manuscript full score]
- France , 1800
France, 1800. Oblong folio (228 x 317 mm). Sewn. [i] (title), 8, [ii] (blank) pp. Notated in black ink on 10-stave rastrum-ruled paper.
With small oval handstamp of the Glasgow Society of Musicians to title and final page of music; "81" in contemporary manuscript to upper center of title; "480" in contemporary manuscript to lower inner corner of final blank page.
Blank margins of title and final blank page soiled; occasional stains; minor loss to lower outer corner of title; small tear to blank lower margin of final leaf. Drawn from the opera "Adrasto re d’Egitto," to a libretto by G. de Gamerra, first performed in Lisbon at the Teatro S Carlos on 21 December 1800.
"Marcos Portugal was not only one of the most prolific Luso-Brazilian composers ever, but also the most successful. His European fame rests above all on his comic operas, especially Le confusioni della somiglianza, Lo spazzacamino principe, La donna di genio volubile, Le donne cambiate, and L’oro non compra amore, and on the prima donna showpiece arias in La morte di Semiramide and Gli Orazi e i Curiazi. However, he was equally famed in Portugal and Brazil as a composer of sacred music, which he composed throughout his working life apart from the Italian period. His three best-known works remained in the repertory until the early 20th century: the Missa Grande (c1790), the Matinas da Conceição (1802), and the Te Deum (1802).
Portugal’s operas were rooted in the Neapolitan style of Cimarosa. Yet as early as 1794, in Le donne cambiate he was more melodious and forward-looking, using such devices as a ‘stupefaction ensemble’ and certain turns of phrase more readily associated with Rossini. His Lisbon operas were perhaps less adventurous musically, relying more on Catalani’s virtuosity. In his church music the elaborate stile concertato of his early years for the Patriarcal gradually developed into a pompous, grandiloquent style fit to exhibit royal power. This is particularly so with the works for male voices and six organs at the Mafra Basilica, many of which were reworked for mixed voices and orchestra for the Royal Chapel in Rio de Janeiro, where the virtuosi castrati, much appreciated by the King, played a very influential role." António Jorge Marques, and David Cranmer in Grove Music Online.
With small oval handstamp of the Glasgow Society of Musicians to title and final page of music; "81" in contemporary manuscript to upper center of title; "480" in contemporary manuscript to lower inner corner of final blank page.
Blank margins of title and final blank page soiled; occasional stains; minor loss to lower outer corner of title; small tear to blank lower margin of final leaf. Drawn from the opera "Adrasto re d’Egitto," to a libretto by G. de Gamerra, first performed in Lisbon at the Teatro S Carlos on 21 December 1800.
"Marcos Portugal was not only one of the most prolific Luso-Brazilian composers ever, but also the most successful. His European fame rests above all on his comic operas, especially Le confusioni della somiglianza, Lo spazzacamino principe, La donna di genio volubile, Le donne cambiate, and L’oro non compra amore, and on the prima donna showpiece arias in La morte di Semiramide and Gli Orazi e i Curiazi. However, he was equally famed in Portugal and Brazil as a composer of sacred music, which he composed throughout his working life apart from the Italian period. His three best-known works remained in the repertory until the early 20th century: the Missa Grande (c1790), the Matinas da Conceição (1802), and the Te Deum (1802).
Portugal’s operas were rooted in the Neapolitan style of Cimarosa. Yet as early as 1794, in Le donne cambiate he was more melodious and forward-looking, using such devices as a ‘stupefaction ensemble’ and certain turns of phrase more readily associated with Rossini. His Lisbon operas were perhaps less adventurous musically, relying more on Catalani’s virtuosity. In his church music the elaborate stile concertato of his early years for the Patriarcal gradually developed into a pompous, grandiloquent style fit to exhibit royal power. This is particularly so with the works for male voices and six organs at the Mafra Basilica, many of which were reworked for mixed voices and orchestra for the Royal Chapel in Rio de Janeiro, where the virtuosi castrati, much appreciated by the King, played a very influential role." António Jorge Marques, and David Cranmer in Grove Music Online.