Carlos de Seixas

Carlos de Seixas

born on 11/6/1704 in Coimbra, Distrito de Coimbra, Portugal

died on 25/8/1742 in Lisboa, Portugal

Carlos Seixas

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Carlos Seixas

Born 11 June 1704
Coimbra, Portugal
Died 01 January 1970 (aged 0) (1971-01)
Lisbon, Portugal
Nationality Portuguese
Occupation Composer

José António Carlos de Seixas, (11 June 1704 25 August 1742), was a Portuguese composer, the son of the cathedral organist, Francisco Vaz and Marcelina Nunes.

Seixas was born in Coimbra. He succeeded his father as organist in 1718 at age fourteen, and two years later moved to Lisbon, where he gave harpsichord lessons and met Domenico Scarlatti who was living in Portugal from 1721 to 1728. It is claimed that when the king's son, Dom António, arranged for Scarlatti to give Seixas harpsichord lessons, Scarlatti replied that it was Seixas who should give him lessons. Seixas later became organist in the court chapel and Lisbon cathedral as well as court composer. He was knighted in 1738 by John V of Portugal and died in Lisbon in 1742.

Seixas was influenced by the German Empfindsamer Stil (literally 'sensitive style'). Much of his work was destroyed in the earthquake that devastated Lisbon in 1755. Only three orchestral pieces and around 100 keyboard sonatas survived, plus a handful of choral works for liturgical use (much more conservative than what one would expect from his instrumental music).

Macario Santiago Kastner published collections of the sonatas in Portugaliae Musica.

Selected recordings

  • [1] Amon Ra CD-SAR 43 Harpsichord Sonatas played by Robert Woolley on a harpsichord made by Joaquim José Antunes in Portugal in 1785. The instrument is in the Finchcocks collection, Goudhurst, Kent, United Kingdom. The recording was made at Finchcocks in December 1988.
  • [2] Deutsche Grammophon 453-182. Two motets (Ardebat Vincentius and Tantum Ergo), in a two-disc collection also containing sacred music by Sousa Carvalho, António Teixeira, and F. A. de Almeida. Originally recorded in 1970, with the Gulbenkian Chamber Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Pierre Salzman and Michel Corboz.
  • [3] Stradivarius STR 33544 Keyboard Sonatas played by Bernard Brauchli on a copy of a clavichord after Manuel Carmo, Porto 1796. The recording was made in Switzerland in December 1998.
  • [4] Virgin Veritas 45114 Harpsichord Concerto, etc. played by Norwegian Baroque Orchestra - Ketil Haugsand.
  • [5] Virgin Veritas 45115 Missa Dixit Dominus, etc. played by Camara de Lisboa / Norwegian Baroque Orchestra - Ketil Haugsand.
  • [6] Portugaler 20102 SPA Música Sacra, Segréis de Lisboa, Coral Lisboa Cantat, Manuel Morais dir.
  • Vox PVT 7171 Minuet and Toccata (Largo-Allegro) played by Elena Polanska
  • Fandango - Scarlatti in Iberia - 6 sonatas played by Sophie Yates- UPC:095115063521 cf theclassicalshop.net CHAN 635
  • [7] Numerica, 2007. Fortepiano Sonatas played by Cremilde Rosado Fernandes on a copy by Denzel Wright of an original pianoforte built by Bartolomeo Cristofori. Recorded in Germany in 2005.
  • [8] Melographia Portugueza, 2012. Harpsichord Sonatas (Complete Recording, vol. I), played by José Carlos Araújo on a historic harpsichord made by Joaquim José Antunes in Lisbon in 1758, the earliest surviving Antunes harpsichord. The instrument is in the Lisbon Music Museum collection, Portugal.
  • [9] Melographia Portugueza, 2012. Organ Sonatas (Complete Recording, vol. II), played by José Carlos Araújo on a historic organ built by Fr. Manuel de São Bento in the Benedictine Monastery of São Bento da Vitória (Porto) in 1719, the largest and most important historic organ in Porto. This is the world premiere recording of this historic organ and the first complete CD recording of Seixas' organ sonatas.
  • [10] Melographia Portugueza, 2013. Harpsichord Sonatas (Complete Recording, vol. III), played by José Carlos Araújo on a historic harpsichord made by Joaquim José Antunes in Lisbon in 1758. The instrument is in the Lisbon Music Museum collection, Portugal.

External links

  • Free scores by Carlos Seixas in the International Music Score Library Project
  • Bio, Audio Files, Videos, Links, Opus

Further reading

  • Heimes, Klaus F.. "Seixas, (José António) Carlos de", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (accessed 9 July 2007), grovemusic.com (subscription access).
This page was last modified 12.12.2013 19:54:21

This article uses material from the article Carlos Seixas from the free encyclopedia Wikipedia and it is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.