[Sacred Music of José Mauricio Nunes Garcia; The University of Texas at Austin Chamber Singers; James Morrow, conductor; Longhorn Music LHM2007003 (2010)]
José Mauricio Nunes Garcia
José Mauricio Nunes Garcia (1767-1830) was an Afro-Brazilian composer and church organist, born September 22, 1767, who was the grandson of slaves. Antonio Campos Monteiro Neto
has generously made his information available to AfriClassical.com. His website on José
Mauricio Nunes Garcia is http://www.josemauricio.com.br
Antonio
writes: "From
Nunes Garcia are known 240 musical pieces, but research
shows that his actual production would be almost twice
this number. This quantity, and the quality of his works
made him one of the most important composers of Brazil,
in most of his lifetime a colony of Portugal."
Sacred Music of José Mauricio Nunes Garcia is a recording of two works:
Missa de Sonhora da Conceição (Mass of Our Lady of Conception) 1810, C.P.M. 106
Credo em si bemol (Credo in B flat major), C.P.M. 129
The
University of Texas at Austin Chamber Singers and Orchestra perform on
this recording under the direction of Dr. James Morrow, conductor. The
CD was released by Longhorn Music, The University of Texas at Austin
Center for American Music, LHM2007003 (2010).
“Notes on the music by Ricardo Bernardes, musicologist and conductor. Editor of José Mauricio Nunes Garcia's Missa de Nossa Senhora da Conceição 1810
“The
most important period of Brazilian colonial music production began in
1808 with the Portuguese royal family's arrival in Rio de Janeiro. This
caused a ripple effect of urban sophistication in the city as it became
the capital of an overseas empire. Prince Regent João VI, future king
of Portugal, founded the National Library, the São João Opera Theater,
and the Royal Chapel of Music.
“The
Mass on this recording was composed in 1810, at which time the Royal
Chapel had more than one hundred musicians comprising renowned Brazilian
and Portuguese singers and instrumentalists, as well as Italian
castrati. This group was conducted by José Mauricio Nunes Garcia
(1767-1830) from 1808 to 1811 and then by the famous Portuguese composer
Marcos Portugal, who arrived towards the end of Nunes Garcia's term as
conductor. A deep transformation in the musical language of Brazilian
composers, such as Nunes Garcia, caused a 'modernization' to occur in
their compositions. By the time of his tenure at the Royal Chapel,
Nunes Garcia's music was strongly influenced by Italian opera from the
beginning of the 19th century, whose iconic composers included Paisiello
and Cimarosa. Nunes Garcia's music was also tied to the musical life
of Portugal through the compositions of Marcos Portugal and Antonio Leal
Moreira, both well-known composers in Brazil.
“The most emblematic, creative, and important work of this period is the Missa de Sonhora da Conceição
(Mass of Our Lady of Conception) 1810, C.P.M. 106 (Portuguese
abbreviation for Cleofe Person de Mattos's catalog of Nunes Garcia's
works). Nunes Garcia put into practice all the techniques and
coloristic possibilities of the orchestra he conducted. He also
explored all the virtuosic possibilities of the excellent singers he had
at his disposal. Different from the central European repertory, the
structure of the musical Mass in the Italian, Brazilian and Portuguese
18th-century tradition was just the Kyrie and Gloria divided into
several parts including both solo and choral movements. The other three
parts of the ordinary Mass (Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei) could be in
plainchant or composed as another musical piece. The Credo em Si bemol
C.P.M. 129 (Credo in B flat major), not dated and much shorter than the
Kyrie and Gloria, was chosen for this recording because it is the only
one of Nunes Garcia's works to feature the same orchestration and key
relation as the Missa da Conceição. It is interesting that while
in our edition the Kyrie and Gloria are 346 pages, the Credo (including
Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus dei) is no more than 40.
Comment by email:
Dear Bill, Many thanks for this posting. In time I can provide an extensive file on this composer, including an
update on his complete works (an expansion on the catalog of the late
Cleofe Person Matos). Meanwhile your readers might be interested in our
issue of his Requiem for the Queen Mother of Portugual. This is now
available only from the College Music Society, in their 9 LP reissue of
the original Columbia release. The piano-vocal score is available from
Associate Music Publishers, which has the orchestral materials on rent.
The work has been performed by the New York Philharmonic in 1976, with
Paul Freeman conducting, in a concert attended by the National Music
Critics Association, who were unanimously astonished by the quality of
the work, as they wired their hometown newspapers. Other performances
include that of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leslie
Dunner with the chorus of Brazeal Dennard, as well as many church choirs
with organ.
Columbia M-33421 (1975); volume 5
José Maurício Nunes-Garcia: Requiem Mass, M. 185
(ed. by D. de Lerma; Doralene Davis, soprano; Betty Allen,
mezzo-soprano; William Brown, tenor; Matti Tuloisela, bass-baritone;
Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra; Morgan State University Choir [Nathan
Carter, director])
Dominique-René de Lerma
