The program

Padre José Maurício Nunes Garcia (1767-1830) - Missa Pastoril para a Noite de Natal
I. Kyrie - II. Gloria - III. Laudamus Te - IV. Gratias Agimus Tibi - V. Qui Tollis - VI. Qui Sedes -
VII. Cum Sancto Spiritu - VIII. Patrem omnipotentem - IX. Et Incarnatus - X. Crucifixus -
XI. Et Resurrexit - XII. Sanctus - XIII. Hosanna - XIV. Benedictus - XV. Agnus Dei

Marcos Portugal (1762-1830) Overture Il Duca di Foix

D. Pedro I, de Alcântara e Bragança (1798-1834) - Credo in C Major (1829)
I. Credo – II. Et Incarnatus – III. Crucifixus – IV. Et Ressurexit/ Confiteor – V. Sanctus –
Hosanna - VI. Benedictus/Hosanna – VII. Agnus Dei/ Dona nobis pacem

Anonymous, early 19th century - Lundu da cachaça

photo by Myrna Herzog (from her family home in Rio)

Artists

Monica Schwartz (soprano), Noa Hope (alto), Itamar Hildesheim (tenor), Gili Rinot (classical clarinet).

 The Madrigal Singers directed by Itay Berckovitch

Ensemble PHOENIX on period instruments:

Noam Schuss, Nahara Carmel - violins
Dafna Ravid, Amos Boasson, Cesare Zanfini, Hila Heller – violins & violas
Miriam Fingert, Rona Tavior – violas
Marina Katz, Hamoutal Marom – celli
Evie Bloom – doublebass
Guy Pardo - organ
Genevieve Blanchard - classical flute
Gili Rinot, Nurit Bloom – classical clarinets
Gilat Rotkopf,  Alexander Fine – classical bassoon
Barak Yeivin, Shlomi Eini – natural horns 
Evgeny Karasik – timpani

Conductor, musical director: Myrna Herzog

On the program

In 1808 the Portuguese Royal family fleeing from Napoleon arrived to Brazil. Scattered in several ships, the whole court,  their servants and the Royal Chapel, 15,000 people bringing a library with more than 60,000 books, landed in the port of Rio! Their stay, which lasted until 1821, brought about a true cultural revolution. In 1822, it was the Portuguese king's son, Pedro de Alcântara, who proclaimed the Brazil's Independence from Portugal. 

Emperor Pedro I of Brazil and Pedro IV of Portugal, was nine years old when he arrived to Rio. There the Portuguese boy would have a a refined education, which included extensive musical studies, with teachers such as Sigismond Neukomm, José Mauricio Nunes Garcia and Marcos Portugal. He played 12 instruments, including clarinet, cello, bassoon, and as a composer, was strongly influenced by Rossini, whom he came to know personally in Paris. The Credo is regarded as his most important work.

Considered the most important Brazilian composer of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Father José Maurício Nunes Garcia stood out for the great quality of his work. With the arrival of the Portuguese court in Brazil in 1808, he impressed the Portuguese king D. João VI with his talent, and was accordingly named Master of the Royal Chapel.  His Missa Pastoril para a Noite de Natal written for the Christmas of 1811 has an interesting scoring of violas and celli (no violins!); its naive atmosphere, with enchanting clarinet solos pervading the whole work, often in dialogue with the first cello, transports us to another world. 

Born in Lisbon, Marcos Portugal had immense success as an opera composer, achieving international fame still unsurpassed in thehistory of Portuguese music. He came to Brazil in 1811 at the request of King John VI and remained in Rio de Janeiro when the Portuguese court returned to Portugal, in 1821, continuing to serve his pupil, the king’s son, Pedro, as he became the first Emperor of Brazil. Marcos Portugal died a Brazilian citizen in Rio de Janeiro in 1830. The composer wrote the first official national anthems of both Portugal and Brazil and left a major mark in Brazilian music. Representing the lighter side of the life in Rio de Janeiro at the turn of the 19th century, we present one of his opera overtures.

The lundú or lundum was a popular sensuous African dance brought to Brazil by Bantu slaves. Closing the program, a delicious lundu from the early 19th century, the Lundu da Cachaça, praising the virtues of the Brazil's national hard drink.