João de Sousa Carvalho

João de Sousa Carvalho (22 February 1745 - c.1799) was the foremost Portuguese composer of his generation.

He was born in Estremoz. He studied music from 1753 at the Colégio dos Santos Reis in Vila Viçosa, then from 1761 at the Conservatorio di S Onofrio in Naples. In 1766 his setting of Metastasio’s "La Nitteti" was performed in Rome. In 1767, he joined the Irmandade de S Cecília at Lisbon and was appointed professor of counterpoint in the Seminário da Patriarcal, where he later served as "mestre" (1769–1773) and "mestre de capela" (1773–1798). In 1778 he became music teacher to the royal family. He died in Alentejo.

His numerous church works are written in the style of Jommelli. His opera seria and serenatas were performed at the royal palaces of Ajuda and Queluz.

ome compositions

*"L’amore industrioso", 1769 (revived 1943, 1967)
*"Eumene" (dramma serio per musica), 1773
*"L’Angelica" (serenata), 1778
*"Perseo" (serenata), 1779
*"Testoride" argonauta (dramma), 1780 (revived 1987)
*"Seleuco, re di Siria" (dramma), 1781
*"Everardo II, re di Lituania" (dramma), 1782
*"Penelope nella partenza da Sparta" (dramma per musica), 1782
*"L’Endimione" (dramma per musica), 1783
*"Tomiri" (dramma per musica), 1783
*"Adrasto, re degli Argivi" (dramma per musica), 1784
*"Nettuno ed Egle" (favola pastorale), 1785
*"Alcione" (dramma per musica), 1787
*"Numa Pompilio II, re dei romani" (serenata), 1789

*Masses, 1769, 1789, 1792

Bibliography

*Robert Stevenson/Manuel Carlos de Brito: "Carvalho, João de Sousa", Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed [2007-05-05), http://www.grovemusic.com
*Manuel Carlos de Brito: "Opera in Portugal in the Eighteenth Century" (Cambridge, 1989)