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Sun, 29 Dec 2002 21:54:56 +0000 |
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Jon Gallant <[log in to unmask]> writes:
>Or consider Joly Braga Santos, whose attractive early works often sound
>much like Vaughan Williams
They do - and for a curious reason. Portuguese musicologists tend to
get quite irate if one hints at any "Vaughan Williams Influence"; and
whilst boning up on their history for an article I ran into a curious
fact which explained a lot.
The King of Portugal, anxious in 1430 or so to make his chapel's music
as independent of Spain as possible, imported the English Sarum rite
lock stock and barrel; and this became the music which inspired the
greatest Portuguese polyphonic composers, such as Pires and Correia,
just as it was to inspire Taverner and Tallis "back home".
RVW and Braga Santos were effectively going back to the same musical
roots in their quest for a new national musical spirit, so it's little
wonder that their work has something tangibly in common. Having said
which, Pedro de Freitas Branco (Braga Santos's teacher) was also a great
champion of RVW's symphonies in Portugal, so his young contemporary must
have known them too.
The Braga Santos symphonies (especially perhaps Nos. 1 and 3) are
exhilarating works which will appeal greatly to lovers of the RVW,
Walton or Shostakovich canon looking for fresh fields and pastures new.
Christopher Webber, Blackheath, London, UK.
http://www.nashwan.demon.co.uk/zarzuela.htm
"ZARZUELA!"
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