Paper at 4.º FLAUTUÉ

A paper will be presented at the conferences session of the 4th FLAUTUÉ – Festival de Flauta Transversal, tomorrow April 1st, 16h00 at Colégio Mateus d’Aranda (University of Évora), by my colleague Rita Faleiro to whom I thank.

The paper will focus on the presence of the military fife in the soundscape near Évora during the Guerra da Restauração (War of the Restoration), following the restoration of the Portuguese independence from Spain in 1640.

Most of the military actions took place in Alentejo and in 1663 Évora was taken by the troops of D. Juan de Áustria (in May) and reconquered by the Portuguese in June of that year. On June 8th the Battle of Ameixial took place in the outskirts of Estremoz. The Portuguese army incorporated fifes and drums in its ranks and, departing from the regulations, crossed with the military references of the terços and companies, I present an exploratory analysis of the numbers and actions of fife musicians in these two military campaigns.