Diogo Dias Melgás

Diogo Dias Melgás (often Melgaz) (Cuba (Portugal), 1638 - Évora, 1700) was a Portuguese composer of polyphony.

Life

Diogo Dias Melgás was born in Cuba, Alentejo, on April 14 1638. He was a choirboy at the Colégio da Claustra in Évora in 1646. He took the holy orders at the Cathedral of Évora, where he stayed the rest of his life, being a student of Manuel Rebelo, and holding the position of mestre de capela for about 30 years. He died blind and extremely poor on February 3 1700. He was the last of the great Portuguese polyphony masters who flourished in Évora in the second half of the 17th century.

Work

A large part of Melgás's work is lost. The surviving works - masses, motets, graduals - are kept in the archives of the Cathedrals of Évora and Lisbon, and were published in modern notation by the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian in 1978 (Opera Omnia, Portugaliae Musica XXXII).

Recordings

• 1994, Music of the Portuguese Renaissance, Pro Cantione Antiqua, Hyperion CDA66715
  • includes 14 works by Melgás
• 2004, A Golden Age of Portuguese Music, The Sixteen, CORO COR16020
  • includes 3 works by Melgás
• 2008, The Golden Age, The King's Singers, Signum Classics
  • includes 2 works by Melgás

References

• Enciclopédia Verbo Luso-Brasileira de Cultura, vol. 19, "Melgaz (Diogo Dias)", ed. Verbo, Lisboa/São Paulo, 1998