Esteban López Morago

Esteban López Morago (often written as "Estêvão Lopes Morago", the Portuguese version of his name) (Vallecas, c.1575 - Viseu (?), after 1630) was a Spanish composer who lived and worked in Portugal. He is one of the most important polyphonists in the music history of Portugal.

Life

Esteban López Morago was born in Vallecas, near Madrid, but he passed the rest of his life in Portugal. He was a student of Filipe de Magalhães at the Cathedral of Évora, where he obtained his licentiate degree. After that, on August 1599, he went to the Cathedral of Viseu where he was appointed canon and "mestre de capela".

In 1626, the chapter of the Cathedral allowed him to go to Lisbon to publish his works. These included the "Livro Comum" and the "Vesperal", which have survived.

The local and year of his death are uncertain. There are indications that Morago moved to Spain and died there circa 1628. However, a later document (1630) states that Morago had retired to a franciscan monastery in Viseu ("Convento de Orgens") and died there.

Work

Morago composed motets, responsories, psalms, Magnificats, and a Requiem. His work is considered to be highly innovative in the Iberian Peninsula:

The musicologist Manuel Joaquim considered his motet "Oculi mei" "genial and worthy of the renown of Palestrina's "O vos omnes", or "Hoc die".

The British composer Ivan Moody wrote:

"...what causes special impact in the music of Morago is the usage of the dissonance, and (...) an interest in antiphonary effects. Motets such as "Oculi mei", of ambiguous key and intercalated with numberless diminished fourths, demonstrate perfectly the expressiveness of this harmonic audacity. The alternances of this kind of intense immitative composition painstakingly elaborated with sudden twitches of rhythmical homophony are also typical of the works "Versa est in luctum" and "Commissa mea"; in fact, the work of Morago for penitential and funerary texts is extremely sensitive."

The works of Morago are kept in the archives of Viseu. The Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian published most of them in the book "Obras de Música Religiosa" (Portugaliae Musica IV, 1961).

Recordings

*1993, Portuguese Renaissance Music, Voces Angelicae, Teldec Classics International 4509-93690-2
**includes 5 works by Morago.
*1994, Music of the Portuguese Renaissance, Pro Cantione Antiqua, Hyperion CDA66715
**includes 10 works by Morago

References

*"Enciclopédia Verbo Luso-Brasileira de Cultura", vol. 20, "Morago (Estêvão Lopes)", ed. Verbo, Lisboa/São Paulo, 1998
*http://musicantiga.com.sapo.pt/Musicantiga-Estevao_Lopes_Morago.htm