Carvalho, Joâo de Sousa
Carvalho, Joâo de Sousa
eminent Portuguese pedagogue and composer; b. Estremoz, Feb. 22, 1745; d. Alentejo, 1798. He studied at the Colegio dos Santos Reis in Vila Viçosa and with Cotumacci at the Cons, di S. Onofrio in Naples, then settled in Lisbon, where he became a member of the Brotherhood of St. Cecilia and prof, of counterpoint (1767), mestre (1769–73), and mestre de cápela (1773–98) at the Seminario Patriarcal. He was the most gifted Portuguese composer of his day, excelling in both sacred and secular vocal music. In 1778 he became music teacher to the royal family.
Works
DRAMATIC: Opera (all 1st perf. in Lisbon unless otherwise given): La Nitteti (Rome, Carnival 1766; not extant); L’amore industrioso (1769); L’Eumene (June 6, 1773); L’Angelica (July 25, 1778); Verseo (July 5, 1779); Testoride argonauta (July 5, 1780); Seleuco re di Siria (July 5, 1781); Everardo II ré di Lituania (July 5, 1782); Penelope nella partenza da Sparta (Dec. 17, 1782); Tomiri amazzone guerrièra (Dec. 17, 1783); L’Endimione (July 25, 1783); Adrasto ré degli Argivi (July 5, 1784); Nettuno ed Eglé (April 25?, 1785); Alcione (July 25, 1787); Numa Pompilio II re dei romani (June 24, 1789).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire