This publication constitutes a substantial effort to cover the broad scope of musical activity at the courts of Portugal and Spain. Specifically, it encompasses the time frame from 1700 to 1830, beginning with the ascension of the Bourbon dynasty under Felipe V and extending to the reign of the last absolute monarch, Fernando VII, in Spain. Concurrently, it addresses the reign of King João V in Portugal, beginning in 1707, through to the conclusion of that country’s ancien régime in 1834, following the Portuguese Civil War.
Music as a representation of power has been a recurring subject in musicological studies, particularly over the past two decades. Earlier conferences on eighteenth-century music and politics, such as that organized by the University of Oslo in 2009 or the one held at Lucca, ‘Music and Power in the Baroque Era’, in 2016, demonstrated the potential of the subject and possible directions for future research. Following this path, the book reviewed here is the outcome of two joint seminars conducted at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and at the Palacio Nacional da Ajuda in Lisbon in 2018 and 2019 respectively. It contains seventeen chapters written in Spanish and Portuguese, organized into four main sections: theatre music; music in the Royal Chapel; music in the Royal Chamber; and dance.
Felipe V’s accession to the throne of Spain on 1 November 1700 led to the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714), an international conflict involving all major European powers that became a civil war within Spain itself. As the first member of the French House of Bourbon to ascend to the Spanish throne, Felipe V faced resentment from certain sectors of the Spanish nobility, who viewed him as a foreigner and an imposed ruler. Influenced by the cultural policies of his grandfather, Louis XIV, Felipe V meticulously crafted a legitimizing image of his monarchy, using opera as a principal instrument of royal propaganda. This project’s overarching objective was to restore the prestige of the monarchy both inside and beyond the Spanish dominions. In this regard, Carlos González Ludeña highlights the extraordinary number of opera productions and musical celebrations organized to commemorate dynastic events, primarily between 1707 and 1724. In Madrid, the embassies of France and Portugal, along with the Ayuntamiento (city council), played an important role as promoters. Prince Fernando, the future King Fernando VI, actively took part in these events. He is reported to have sung in the serenata Festejo para los días de la reyna, with text by José de Cañizares and music by Giacomo Facco, to celebrate the birthday of Queen Isabella Farnesio in 1725 at El Escorial. Prince Fernando had received a thorough musical training, in which dance was also a mandatory component. The opera’s intermezzos frequently included dances when required by the monarchs, as reported by Diana Campóo, who provides detailed examples of the dance scenes at the Real Teatro del Buen Retiro (Royal Theatre of the Buen Retiro Palace) for the operas Alessandro nell’Indie (1738) and Farnace (1739), with music by Francesco Corselli.
Following the ascension to the throne of Fernando VI and Maria Bárbara de Bragança in 1746, two prominent figures exerted control over Madrid’s theatres: the Marquis of Ensenada and Carlo Broschi (Farinelli). Sara Erro discusses the musical practices at the Royal Chamber and the personal investment in and dedication to them shown by the king and queen. Both performed at the musical soirees held in their private rooms, where new operas arriving from Italy were first tested on the ‘cembalo real’ (royal harpsichord) for royal approval before their production by Farinelli at the Real Teatro del Buen Retiro. Farinelli’s ‘Descripción del estado actual del Real Teatro del Buen Retiro’ (1758) remains the principal reference for all aspects of opera production at that venue from 1747 to 1758 (for an English translation see Michael Latcham, A Manuscript Description of the Operas and Festivities at the Spanish Court 1747–1758: Transcription of the 1758 Manuscript Held in the Royal Library, Madrid (Munich: Katzbichler, 2023)). In the ‘Descripción’, Farinelli provides a list of the intermezzos performed at the Royal Theatre. In her chapter, Teresa Casanova highlights that between 1751 and 1756, on Queen Maria Bárbara’s orders, Farinelli commissioned new music for classical intermezzo librettos. All of these performances featured the comic duo Elena Pieri and Tomaso Garofalini, who served at the Spanish court from 1748 to 1756. Seventeen intermezzos from this period, by composers such as Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Johann Adolf Hasse, Niccolò Jommelli, Francesco Corselli and Gioacchino Cocchi, have been preserved. Most of these intermezzos were premiered on the birthdays of King Fernando VI, with one for that of Queen Maria Bárbara. Except for Corselli, who was maestro at the Royal Chapel, the composers were recommended to Farinelli by Sicinio Pepoli and Pietro Metastasio.
In Lisbon, as noted in Vanda de Sá’s chapter, the influence of the Portuguese queens on the musical life of the royal court during the eighteenth century was significant, starting from the reign of Queen Maria Anna of Austria (consort of João V and mother of Maria Bárbara). Pedro Castro offers a precise account of the extensive collection of operas, oratorios and, notably, serenatas, with new text and music, created from 1777 during the reign of Maria I. In his chapter Castro analyses the serenata L’Angelica, the opera Nettuno ed Egle by Joao Sousa Carvalho (1745–1798) and the oratorio Ester by António Leal Moreira (1758–1819).
To strengthen the diplomatic ties between Spain and Portugal, a double royal wedding took place in 1785: Dom João (the future King João VI) with the Spanish infanta Carlota Joaquina Bourbon, and the infanta Dona Mariana Vitória of Portugal with the infante Don Gabriel of Spain. Sara Braga concentrates on the three-day musical celebrations following the event, with particular emphasis on the two serenatas premiered for this occasion at the Palácio da Ajuda in Lisbon and at the residence of the Portuguese Ambassador in Madrid. A most interesting painting of this event, detailing the placement of the performers, royal family and public, attributed to Domenico Muzzi, is held at the Palácio de Queluz, and can be consulted at https://brookcenter.gc.cuny.edu/files/2018/09/Programa-y-dosier-Musica-cortes-ibericas.pdf.
In 1793 a new theatre was constructed in Lisbon, known as the Real Teatro de São Carlos. This theatre was inspired by the Neapolitan Teatro di San Carlo. David Cranmer provides a list of works that were staged there, which predominantly include Italian operas by composers such as Domenico Cimarosa, Giovanni Paisiello and Pietro Alessandro Guglielmi. Following the French invasion, the royal family relocated to Rio de Janeiro and resided in the Viceroy’s Palace, adjacent to the ‘Manuel Luiz’ theatre. This public theatre was subsequently transformed into the Teatro Regio (Royal Theatre) after the royal family’s arrival. Cranmer examines how this former public space was used for the purposes of royal propaganda during this transitional period. Musical practices transferred from Lisbon to Rio included the danced intermezzos of the operas. In the chapters devoted to dance at the Portuguese court, Catarina Costa and Alexandra Canaveira comment on the reception in Lisbon of French dance treatises, with Costa describing a particularly interesting one by Felix Kinski (1751). Meanwhile, Raquel Aranha discusses the fact that members of the French Lacombe family of dancers, active in Madrid, Lisbon and Porto in the 1790s, are reported in the Gazeta do Rio de Janeiro as working in Brazil in the 1810s.
The Royal Chapel played an important role in the Catholic courts of both Portugal and Spain. The process of selecting musicians to join this institution was highly regulated, ensuring that only the most qualified individuals were chosen. Once selected, these musicians underwent a structured career progression that reflected their skills as well as their seniority. Fernando Miguel Jalôto dedicates his chapter to the little-known Antonio Andrea Tedeschi (1702–1770), a Neapolitan priest who served the Capela Real e Patriarcal of João V as a poet, composer, librettist and singer from 1733 until his death. Most of Tedeschi’s eighty-two works are kept at the Arquivo da Fábrica da Sé Patriarcal in Lisbon. Jalôto provides a list of sources for those interested in bringing such repertoire, undoubtedly interesting, to life.
Cristina Fernandes, one of the two editors of the volume, dedicates her chapter to the historical evolution of the use of the Te Deum, tracing its transition from a hymn associated with the Matins Office to its role as the central component of the Thanksgiving liturgy during the commemoration of significant political and social events. In Portugal, the Te Deum developed as a polychoral ‘alla romana’ style, sponsored by João V, starting in 1718, a tradition that continued into the nineteenth century. Fernandes categorizes various types of Te Deum based on the musical forces involved and the contexts of performance, ranging from the simplest forms – such as a concertante choir with four to eight voices accompanied by continuo for regular liturgical services – to the more elaborate forces employed during the celebration of special occasions such as Saint Sylvester’s Day, or the baptism of infanta Dona Ana de Jesus at the Royal Basilica of Mafra in 1807. On such an occasion, two tenors and three basses performed as solo voices, with a choir of low voices accompanied by five organs, rendering this genre of Te Deum a sonorous display of royal power. In this context, Diana Vinagre investigates the pursuit of enhanced sonic richness within the repertoire of the Portuguese Royal Chapel. She concentrates on the change in function of the bassoon and cello, shifting from basso-continuo roles to obbligato solo instruments during the last decade of the eighteenth century. This practice was also adopted in Brazil under the influence of Marcos de Portugal, who arrived in Rio de Janeiro in 1811.
The final years of the Spanish Royal Chapel are the focus of chapters by Luis López Morillo, Luis López Ruiz and Judith Ortega. The first emphasizes the often-overlooked repertoire of versos for keyboard instruments, highlighting the extensive body of works by Felix Máximo López, organist at the Royal Chapel. This repertoire is linked to emerging practices in the Mass and Divine Office, where the organ played a crucial role in plainchant alternatim practice. López Ruiz explores the common topoi in the treatment of the Miserere genre within the repertoire from the Madrid Royal Chapel during the years 1760–1830.
The return in 1814 of the Spanish monarch Fernando VII to Madrid, following the reign of Joseph Bonaparte, signified the reinstatement of traditional musical models at the Royal Chapel, as they had been under Carlos IV. Judith Ortega, the book’s other editor, elucidates this period and concentrates on the figure of the Director of the Royal Chapel, including how the demise of the last director, José Trota, in 1833, signalled the disintegration of the traditional system. The regent, Queen María Cristina, reduced the number of positions available to court musicians and advanced public institutions such as the Real Conservatorio in Madrid, whose initial members of the teaching staff had been appointed from within the Royal Chapel.
Lluís Bertrán’s chapter uncovers the correspondence of Prince Luis, heir to the Duchy of Parma, which is preserved at the Fondo Borbone within the Sezione Musicale of the Biblioteca Palatina in Parma. Bertrán’s study sheds light on the vigorous musical activity Prince Luis engaged in during his years at the Madrid court (1794–1801), promoting the circulation of musical practices from the Parmese milieu and serving as an advisor to the press the Nueva Imprenta Musical.
A substantial number of chapters in this volume present new documents that serve as valuable resources for expanding our understanding of the repertoire of this period and for generating new insights into its performance. The focus on the two courts, those of Portugal and Spain, represents a necessary and stimulating contribution to Iberian studies. The musical implications and outcomes of their interrelationships, as well as their contextualization within the European arena, are addressed here, and warrant further exploration in future research.
