Identity of Portuguese Early Music

New Data on João Cordeiro da Silva and his Keyboard Sonatas

Abstract

The musical identity of a specific geographic area is represented by elements that highlight the particularities of its compositions, musical practices, and traditions. Considering that in the 18th century there was a strong Italian presence in Portugal and an intense cultural exchange between Portugal and Italy, it is important to find distinctive traits of the Portuguese music that was composed at that time. This article proposes that the analysis of the identity of 18th-century Portuguese music should be complemented by two approaches – the biographical study of composers and the analysis of their works – and presents a study on the Portuguese composer João Cordeiro da Silva. New biographical data about this composer are revealed, namely regarding his possible place of training, his professional activity, his retirement and residence in Elvas, and the date of his death, as well as about his keyboard sonatas, specifically, a new musical source, the identification of the oldest sonata, idiosyncrasies, and a musical pattern.