Music

“

The music common to the whole island of Madeira’, wrote the well-known Russian writer Platão de Vakcel in 1869, ‘comes down to two or three kinds of song, accompanied by violas (Portuguese wire-strung folk guitar), rajões (Madeiran five-string guitar) and machetes (small Madeiran four-stringed guitar), from which the same modulations are always drawn, now in single chords, now in doubled ones. In the countryside there are some songs peculiar to certain localities and suited to the various kinds of farm work: some of them bear a remarkable resemblance to Arab chants, having not only their monotony but even their ornaments, made up of successions of intervals smaller than semitones.

Since the city of Funchal once had its Moorish quarter (mouraria), and tradition holds that many Moors lived at Ponta do Sol (‘point of the sun’), it is not surprising that these people, in whom Arab blood almost always predominated, left notable traces of their stay on the island in certain songs, just as they did in the old costume and in the anthropological characteristics of part of the Madeiran population. The Arabs, one author notes, never pass from one note to another, whatever the distance between them, whether rising or falling, without running through all the intermediate intervals. These glissades, not always pleasant to a European ear, can be heard in some of the music of our countryside, probably introduced to the island during the 15th century.

“

The Madeiran people’, Platão de Vakcel says further, ‘are much inclined to adopt foreign melodies, made popular among them by military or amateur bands and by itinerant musicians. This inclination shows that the national song of the Madeirans lacks that vigorous originality which belongs to a people’s national character; a people possessing such music could never grow familiar with another whose stamp differed from its own. A Russian peasant, for example, will never keep in his memory a melody that does not have the individual character of his own music.

The ease with which the Madeiran people learn what they hear played by the philharmonic bands, today widespread on the island, is extraordinary, and it is not rare to see boys still in early childhood reproduce, by singing or whistling, pieces of music of relative difficulty. These pieces, however, are either easily forgotten or replaced by others, whereas Madeiran songs remain unchanged, with their Moorish stamp and cadence, so much loved by the people of our land. Fados imported from Portugal are the only musical compositions unknown to our forebears that Madeirans have adopted and can no longer forget, so much do they please our people and speak to their imagination.

The braguinha (small Madeiran four-string guitar, ancestor of the ukulele) or machete de braga, the requinta de braga, the rajão, the French guitar (viola francesa), the viola de arame (wire-strung folk guitar) and the fiddle (rabeca) are the instruments now most common on the island, and those that always appear at the pilgrimages (romarias) so beloved of Madeirans. Frutuoso, referring to the pilgrimage still made today to the church of Faial, says that the pilgrims (romeiros) hold ‘many festivities of plays, dances and music of many instruments, violas, guitars, flutes, rebecs and bagpipes’; but these last two instruments are now unknown on the island, the rabis or arrabis of which the historian of the islands speaks being of Moorish origin.

The flute is today very little known in our countryside and, like the fiddle, is always very badly played. The concertinas that sometimes appear at the pilgrimages deserve mention only for the clumsy way in which they are played.

As regards sacred music, Platão de Vakcel says that what was sung in former times in the Cathedral (Sé Catedral) ‘must have been the best there then was in the Kingdom (reino, i.e. mainland Portugal)’. ‘In the Chapter of the Sé,’ the same writer adds, ‘there is a book of masses, printed in Antwerp in 1639, composed by the celebrated Duarte Lobo, and it was surely not the only book of music there would have been there at the time.’

Frutuoso relates that Dom Jorge de Lemos, appointed Bishop of Funchal in 1558, brought a chapel master with him, and that in his time ‘music flourished greatly in that land, because the bishop favoured the singers and musicians, being himself a man of great discernment.’ At the time ‘Longing for the Homeland’ (Saudades da Terra) was written, there were in Santa Cruz (‘Holy Cross’) ‘many mulatto women, very well kept and with rich voices, which is a sign of the ancient nobility of its inhabitants.’

We also read in ‘Longing for the Homeland’ that the canons Gaspar and Francisco Coelho, natives of Ribeira Brava (‘wild river’), ‘were outstanding men with rich voices’, the former having been chapel master of the Sé and the latter chapel master of the royal chapel at court. It adds that Simão Gonçalves da Câmara, the Magnificent, possessed ‘a chapel of many singers and chaplains, which rivalled that of the King’, whose chapel master was Diogo de Cabreira, ‘a Castilian very skilled in the art of singing and of the organ, so much so that the King himself asked him to sing in his chapel.’

The post of chapel master seems to have been created officially only in 1566, whereas that of organist, or organ player, already existed in 1554. A letter written by King Manuel I to Nuno Cão, dean of the Sé, states that the canons and choirboys should know ‘organ chant, so that on Sundays and feast days the masses might be celebrated with organ chant’.

In 1613 Philip II presented an organ to Funchal Cathedral (the Sé) (Sé do Funchal). In the time of Bishop Dom Jerónimo Fernando a large organ, made in Córdoba by master João Manuel, came to the same church; it was Father António Gonçalves, beneficed cleric (beneficiado) of São Pedro, who tuned it and directed its installation in the choir.

“

Few are the names of Madeiran musicians, says Platão de Vakcel, that have come down to us. In the second half of the 17th century Canon Manuel Fernandes was a music teacher in Funchal. His pupil, Francisco de Valhadolid, a native of this city, rose to be chapel master at the archiepiscopal seminary of Lisbon, where he died in 1770. He owned a rich registry of musical works and was a renowned composer. He wrote, for example, a piece for sixteen voices. It is a pity that none of his work was ever printed.

“

Bishop Ataíde, a talented composer, brought many musicians with him to Madeira in 1812, among them José Joaquim de Oliveira Paixão (died 1833) and a pupil of Friar José Marques, João Fradesso Belo (1792–1861). The former was an accomplished fiddler and music master at the seminary, and the latter chapel master of the Sé and also a teacher at the seminary. Both wrote a great deal of sacred music, which reveals more knowledge of the craft of composition than true inspiration.

After Father Manuel Joaquim dos Passos, the chapel masters of Funchal Cathedral (the Sé) were Eduardo Maria Frutuoso da Silva, António de Melo, Francisco de Vila y Dalmau and Father Manuel Joaquim de Paiva. Eduardo Maria Frutuoso da Silva, who died on 4 November 1878, had one of the finest voices we have known in Funchal and left some sacred compositions of some merit (1921).

Among the authors of sacred compositions, we should also not forget Friar Manuel Gaspar, Canon Libório José Furtado, Father Barros, of Silveira (died 1864), Father Francisco Drumond de Vasconcelos (died 1864), Father José Maria de Faria and António de Melo, the last of whom left some works of merit, among them the Miserere and a composition dedicated to Leo XIII (1921).

At the time Vakcel visited the island, the following were still held in esteem for their talent and musical knowledge: Cândido Drumond de Vasconcelos, a distinguished player of the machete (small Madeiran four-stringed guitar); Júlio da Silva Carvalho, violinist; Agostinho Martins, violinist; José Sarmento, pianist and organist; Artur Sarmento, concert performer; Dona Maria Paula Rego, pianist and harpist; Dona Carolina Dias de Almeida, singer; and Dona Júlia de França Neto, pianist and singer, prizewinner at the Geneva conservatoire, ‘the musical glory of Madeira and one of the musical talents who most honour Portugal’, as the same Vakcel put it in 1869. There are those who remember hearing Dona Júlia Neto sing at some concerts in aid of the poor held at the Palácio de São Lourenço (St Lawrence Palace) in early 1866, and at other festivities held before and after.

Dona Júlia de França Neto, already known in 1855 as a most distinguished singer, died in Funchal on 14 May 1903.

Dona Amélia Augusta de Azevedo (see Photography), who completed her course at the Lisbon conservatoire and after 1885 gave some concerts in Lyon (France), was a distinguished player of the machete de braga, performing at many gatherings held in Funchal from 1860 to 1866. Manuel Cabral, António José Barbosa, Agostinho Martins, Dona Virgínia Baptista and Diogo Sarsfield also played that instrument, or the machete rajão, with the greatest precision, and many of the present-day machete players of our island were their pupils.

Among the good musicians of fifty or sixty years ago, we must not forget the violinists Nuno Rodrigues, Anselmo Serrão and Eduardo Gomes da Silva (who won the 1st prize of the Belgian conservatoire), and the cellist and double-bass player Miguéis. Among the moderns, we are minded to record here the names of Nuno Graciliano Lino, violinist and pianist; Guilherme Honorato Lino and António Rosa Caires, cellists; Alfredo Lino, pianist; William Carlton Wilbraham, violinist; Manuel Passos de Freitas, mandolinist; António Vieira de Castro, pianist; captain Edmundo da Conceição Lomelino, pianist and author of a waltz entitled Desalento; and Dona Elisa Drumond Carregal, Dona Maria Adelaide de Meneses, Dona Floripes Gomes, Dona Elisa Gorjão Caires, Dona Maria Amália Colares Mendes Rocha de Gouveia, Dona Maria da Conceição de Meneses Santos Pereira, Dona Angelina Pereira Freitas, Dona Palmira Pereira, Dona Leonor Ferraz Leça and Dona Maria Helena Portugal Azevedo Ramos, pianists (1921).

In speaking of secular music in Madeira, we cannot fail to mention the name of the artillery major João dos Reis Gomes, the distinguished author of A Musica e o Teatro. Major Reis Gomes is not a musician in the true sense of the word, for we are not aware that he has devoted himself diligently to the study of any instrument; but he is a theorist of great merit, a philosopher of art and a profound connoisseur of the origins and history of music.

His book, the fruit of more than ten years of conscientious observation and study, is not only a philosophical work but also a repository of varied information on the conditions of musical art, music and the life of the passions, symphonic music and art, etc., etc.

A Musica e o Teatro is a book that honours not only its author but also Madeira, for it is clear proof that there are those here among us who can treat the loftiest questions of art with expertise and popularise scientific principles from which musicians themselves are, more often than not, remote.

Since Platão de Vakcel wrote the article to which we have referred several times, a number of singers have distinguished themselves in sacred music. First came Canon Augusto José de Faria and Fathers António Vieira, José Dias Ferreira and Manuel Nunes, all of them basses, and António José Barbosa, tenor. Later came Jacinto Augusto Pereira Brasão, tenor; Father José Bebiano da Paixão, Father Eduardo Pereira and José Dias Ferreira, baritones; and Abel da Silva Moniz, bass, who died in 1921 aged only 46. The best singers of sacred music now on the island belong to the choirs of the Cathedral chapel (Sé) and of the Schola Cantorum, which is ably directed by Canon Manuel Mendes Teixeira. (1921).

There are at present 14 bands on the island of Madeira: 3 in Funchal, including the band of the 27th Infantry Regiment (infantaria n.° 27), 2 in Câmara de Lobos, 1 in Campanário, 2 in Ribeira Brava, 1 in Ponta do Sol, 1 in Paul do Mar, 1 in Faial, 2 in Machico and 1 in Santa Cruz. In 1869 the only bands known on the whole island, apart from that of the 12th Caçadores (Portuguese light infantry) Battalion, was the Filarmónica dos Artistas Funchalenses, a local band (filarmónica) founded on 18 February 1850 (1921).

Funchal has several musical groups made up of amateurs. The most notable is the one directed by Dr Manuel Passos de Freitas, a lawyer and a most distinguished musician. This group, which has twice visited the neighbouring archipelago of the Canary Islands, where it won well-deserved applause, has, besides its conductor, other highly accomplished members of whom our island is very proud (1921).

A few Madeiran singers of some merit are known in secular music, but vocal music has far fewer devotees on the island than instrumental music. In 1921 a choral society (orfeão) was formed in Funchal under the direction of Dr Manuel Passos de Freitas, and it has already performed brilliantly several times at the Teatro Manuel de Arriaga. There are also a number of ladies and gentlemen here with fine voices, among whom we shall mention the following, whom our public has had the opportunity to hear and applaud at various concerts: Dona Gabriela de Freitas Martins and Dona Matilde Pestana, sopranos; João A. Fernandes, baritone; Tristão da Câmara, tenor; Luís Pestana, baritone; and Lieutenant Carlos Silva, bass. The distinguished tenor Nuno Lomelino Silva is a Madeiran. He completed the singing course at the Milan Conservatory, in Italy, and the Italian press has praised him, highlighting his considerable artistic gifts as a singer.

Funchal once had a school of choral singing maintained by the Council, but it was short-lived. It opened in 1885, and its teacher was the late Francisco de Vila y Dalmau.

It was once believed that Madeira’s rather humid climate stood in the way of good voices. Today, however, it seems to have been shown that vocal training can be pursued here as well as anywhere else, and that only goodwill and good teachers were lacking to improve the aesthetic qualities of the voice and to develop among Madeirans certain artistic gifts that every musician must possess. Most of our present singers have taken lessons with the teacher Júlio Câmara, who has spent some time in Funchal. The way some of them have performed in public highlights the special aptitude of Madeirans for music, and shows that a constellation of fine artists could be formed here, once the vocal resources of many of our fellow islanders are properly used and guided (1921).

For the valuable information it contains, and for the undisputed authority of the illustrious professor Luís de Freitas Branco, we shall transcribe some passages from the interesting talk he gave on the microphone of the Emissora Nacional on 24 May 1937.

“

I usually speak only of my own profession, and so you, ladies and gentlemen, will not be surprised that I choose as the theme of my talk a subject relating to the art of sound. My talk is entitled “Madeiran Musicians” and, as you will see, they are more numerous than one might suppose.

“

I shall begin with the first years of the settlement of the island of Madeira. Simão Gonçalves da Câmara, “the Magnificent”, third captain and donatary of Madeira, who died almost in poverty at Matosinhos, in the municipality (concelho) of Bouças, in 1530, had in his golden days been a highly enlightened lover of music. He organised in Funchal a sumptuous chapel with a great many chaplains and singers, rivalling in quality and number those of the chapel of the Court, which were famous at that time. Under the administration of Simão Gonçalves, the notable composer and organist Diogo de Cabreira was chapel master in Funchal.

The Bishop of Funchal, Dom Jorge de Lemos, an accomplished musician, himself reorganised the chapel of Funchal Cathedral (the Sé) in 1558, providing it with everything it needed to function. The post of Cathedral organist already appears in 1554, and that of chapel master first appears in 1566. At this time the master of the royal chapel at court was Canon Francisco Coelho, a native of Ribeira Brava.

In the 17th century we find two distinguished musicians on the island of Madeira: the priests Father Manuel de Almeida and Father Miguel Pereira. In 1770 the Madeiran Canon Manuel Fernandes died in Lisbon; at the time he held at court the high musical office of chapel master of the archiepiscopal seminary, where he taught the celebrated Spanish musician Francisco Valladolid. From the same period comes the celebrated chapel master of Funchal Cathedral (the Sé), António Pereira da Costa, whose ‘concertos’ for string orchestra were published in London.

I remember hearing a member of the family mention the name of José Fradesso Belo, who made his name as chapel master of Funchal Cathedral (the Sé) and as a music teacher. Seeking information about this Madeiran musician, I was able to establish that he was born in 1792 and died in 1861. It can be said, broadly speaking, that the chapel masters of the Cathedral combined that post with that of music teacher at Funchal Seminary.

I shall now mention the most notable Madeiran composers of sacred music in the 19th century. They were Friar Manuel Gaspar, Canon Libório Furtado, Father Francisco Drumond de Vasconcelos and António Melo. The following composers of secular music are more recent: Rafael Coelho Machado, Ricardo Joaquim da Fonseca and José Bernes.

From 1840 to 1848 there was a ‘Concert Society’ (Sociedade de Concertos) in Funchal, on the lines of the one founded a few years earlier in Lisbon by João Domingos Bomtempo.

The Funchal Concert Society was founded and directed by the notable musician António Frutuoso da Silva.

In 1885 there was also a singing school in Funchal. Some years earlier an excellent Austrian violinist, Ernest Machek, had lived in Funchal for health reasons. There he gave concerts and trained pupils, among them the two amateurs João and Fidélio de Freitas Branco, the first of whom was a music critic for the Lisbon newspapers Vanguarda and Luta.

From the contemporary period I shall also mention, among professionals and amateurs, the following Madeiran musicians: Júlio da Silva Carvalho, José Sarmento, Artur Sarmento, Dona Maria Paula Rego, Dona Silvana de Sant'Ana e Vasconcelos, Dona Carolina de Almeida, Dona Júlia de França Neto, Dona Amélia Augusta de Azevedo, Nuno Rodrigues, Gomes da Silva, who won a prize at a conservatoire in Belgium, Nuno Graciliano Lino, Guilherme Lino, Guilherme Wilbraham, António Vieira de Castro, Captain Edmundo Lomelino, Dona Elvira Carregal, Dona Amália Rocha de Gouveia, Dona Conceição dos Santos Pereira and Dona Palmira Lomelino Pereira.

Some years before the Great War the tenor Júlio Câmara, today a singing teacher at the Porto Conservatoire, founded and directed a singing school in Funchal. Dona Angélique de Beer Lomelino also ran private courses in singing and piano in Funchal. She later became piano teacher at the Lisbon Conservatoire, a post she held until 1921.

There are numerous civilian bands in Madeira and several musical ‘groups’, the most celebrated of which is the ‘Septeto Passos de Freitas’, directed by Dr Manuel Passos de Freitas, a leading social and artistic figure in Madeira.

To close this series of contemporary Madeiran musical celebrities, I shall mention: Reis Gomes, author of notable published works of musicology; Francisco Jorge de Sousa Baía, pianist and composer, professor and director of the Music Section of the Lisbon Conservatoire; Alexandre de Bettencourt, a notable violin teacher at the Lisbon Conservatoire; Matilde de Bettencourt, a singing teacher in Paris; Nuno Lomelino Silva, a tenor with a long and acclaimed career abroad; and, finally, Maestro Pedro de Freitas Branco, a former pupil of the Funchal Lyceum, whom my distinguished listeners of the Emissora Nacional must know perfectly well.

May my distinguished listeners in Madeira, whom I greet once again, forgive the length of this talk, for the satisfaction and pride they must feel on seeing how numerous and notable Madeiran musicians are.’

Valuable material on the subject of this article is provided by the two works Cantares e Tocares da Ilha and Trovas e Bailados da Ilha by the journalist Carlos Santos.