Joäo IV

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Joäo IV

Joäo IV, King of Portugal; b. Villa-Vicosa, March 19, 1604; d. Lisbon, Nov. 6, 1656. As a prince he received a fine musical training at the court chapel. He began collecting church music, gradually accumulating a magnificent library, which was totally destroyed in the earthquake of 1755. However, a catalog of it was issued in Lisbon in 1649, and reprinted by Vasconcellos in 1873. Joäo IV was a true music scholar, well acquainted with the flow of conflicting opinions regarding musical theory. He publ, (anonymously) the pamphlets Defensa de la musica moderna contra la errada opinion del obispo Cyrillo Franco (in Spanish; 1649) and Respuesta a las dudas que se pusieron a la missa “Panis quern ego dabo” de Palestrina (1654); Italian trs. were made of both. He composed a considerable quantity of church music. His motets Crux fidelis and Adjuva nos are reprinted in S. Luck’s Sammlung ausgezeichneter Kompositionen für die Kirche (1884–85).

Bibliography

J. Freitas Branco, D. J. IV, Mùsico (Lisbon, 1956).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

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Joäo IV

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