José Maurício Nunes Garcia

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José Maurício Nunes Garcia

José Maurício Nunes Garcia (born September 22, 1767 in Rio de Janeiro , † April 18, 1830 ibid) was a Brazilian composer .

Life

His parents, free mulattos , died early. An aunt took in the child, who soon showed great musical talent. Nunes Garcia became a priest, which enabled him to continue working with music. Nunes Garcia was probably a self-taught musician and had already written a large part of his work before he came into contact with European musicians for the first time.

When the court of the Portuguese prince regent John (later John VI. ) With 15,000 people fleeing from Napoleon in Rio de Janeiro arrived, Nunes Garcia became the music director of the Royal Chapel appointed. He was a good singer , accompanied himself on the harpsichord and performed his own compositions, but also works by Domenico Cimarosa or his contemporary Mozart .

Father José Maurício enjoyed the prince's respect. This went so far that once the prince, overwhelmed by Garcia's music, removed the insignia of the Order of Christ from a nobleman and put it on the priest's cassock . Later the composer's son, José Maurício Nunes Garcia, painted a portrait of his father, on which he can be seen with the Order of Christ on his cassock.

The court saw the dark skin color of Nunes Garcia as a problem, which some at the court described as "defeito visível" (visible defect). This discrimination led to the loss of the post of Royal Kapellmeister to Marcos António Portugal and a series of intrigues that haunted him for years.

In this situation, Nunes Garcia admitted the relationship with a woman with whom he already had two children.

At the wedding of Prince Dom Pedro with the Austrian Princess Leopoldina , he won the admiration of the princess' music teacher.

Among the works by Nunes Garcia, the Missa de Réquiem for Queen Maria I of Portugal deserves special mention. The Queen died in 1816, the same year as the composer's aunt. This may have contributed to the fact that this work, which is partly reminiscent of Mozart's Requiem , but at the same time retains its originality, is one of Nunes Garcia's most soulful works.

literature

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Commons : José Maurício Nunes Garcia  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Garcia, José Maurício Nunes
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Brazilian composer
DATE OF BIRTH September 22, 1767
PLACE OF BIRTH Rio de Janeiro
DATE OF DEATH April 18, 1830
Place of death Rio de Janeiro