Exhibition “Na Rota das Catedrais”

Last June 28 opened at the National Palace of Ajuda in Lisbon the exhibition Na Rota das Catedrais: Construções [d]e Identidades (On the Route of the Cathedrals: Constructions of/and Identity), which includes a large number of art works from all the Portuguese cathedrals (there are virtual tours of these temples here).

I was asked for some consulting regarding the music archives of Angra and Évora Cathedrals, two places I know very well. The idea was to display a choirbook from each of the institutions (I guess from all Portuguese cathedrals) that represented the musical identity of the music made there. These works are among others, that display the best of the Portuguese cathedral art from the Middle Ages to the 21st century.

From Angra I suggested the print of Duarte Lobo’s 1621 Liber Missarum, an excellent choirbook, which I have edited, performed and recorded several works such as the Asperges me opening antiphon Asperges me, the two well-known funerary motets (Audivi vocem de caelo and Pater peccavi), and the Missa Sancta Maria. Three parody-masses from this book comprised my MA dissertation.

From Évora Cathedral I suggested a mid-eighteenth-century choirbook, a manuscript copy of much of Diogo Dias Melgaz’s (1638-1700) sacred music. Melgaz was a very important musical figure in Évora in the last decades of the seventeenth century being the most musically represented composer that was active as chapel master, master of the Cloister at the Cathedral. His challenging compositional style also made his music very interesting among early music ensembles [I’m not sure if this book is actually in the exhibition, there are photos of the items to follow]. If anyone who reads this post is in Lisbon this summer it is really worth seeing, such as the Ajuda Palace itself!