Keil, Alfredo

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Keil, Alfredo

Keil, Alfredo, Portuguese composer and painter of German descent; b. Lisbon, July 3, 1850; d. Hamburg, Oct. 4, 1907. He studied music with Antonio Soares, Oscar de la Cinna, and Ernesto Vieira in Lisbon, and then went to Nuremberg (1868), where he studied music with Kaulbach and painting with Kremling. Returning to Portugal (1870), he pursued a dual career as composer and painter; devoted his energies to the furtherance of national music. His comic opera, Susana (Lisbon, 1883), is generally considered the first substantial work of the Portuguese stage, and his song “A Portugueza” (1890) was adopted as the national anthem of Portugal in 1911. He also wrote the operas Donna Bianca (Lisbon, March 10, 1888), Irene (Turin, March 22, 1893), and Sen ana (1st perf. in Italian at the Teatro San Carlos, Lisbon, March 13, 1899), as well as 3 symphonic suites, cantatas, piano pieces, and songs.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire