José Joaquim Emerico Lobo de Mesquita (1746-1805)
- Magnificat
Performers: Ensemble Calíope; Júlio Moretszohn (conductor)
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Brazilian composer and organist. Son of the Portuguese José Lobo de
Mesquita and his slave Joaquina Emerenciana, he was active in the
province of Minas Gerais during the latter part of the 18th century,
spending most of his life at Arraial do Tejuco (now Diamantina), where
he settled in about 1776, and Vila Rica (Ouro Prêto). In 1788 he entered
the brotherhood of Nossa Senhora das Mercês dos Homens Crioulos in
Arraial do Tejuco, confirming that he was a mulatto. He served as
organist at the church of S Antonio (1783-4), at the Ordem Terceira de
Nossa Senhora do Carmo (1787-95) and was apparently the first organist
of the Irmandade do Ss Sacramento, all in the same city. In 1798 he
moved to Vila Rica, where he worked as a composer, conductor and
organist of the same Ordem Terceira brotherhood as well as for the
brotherhood of the Matriz (main church) of Nossa Senhora dos Homens
Pardos. There he was appointed alferes (a military rank corresponding to
second lieutenant) of the Terço de Infantaria dos Homens Pardos. In
1801 he moved to Rio de Janeiro, where he held the post of organist at
the church of Nossa Senhora de Carmo until his death. Mesquita was the
most prolific composer of the Brazilian captaincy. The oldest
manuscripts found to this date bear the date 1779 (Antiphona regina
coeli laetare and Antiphona zelus domus tuae), but many works were
copied throughout the 19th century in Minas Gerais and São Paulo as
well. Mesquita cultivated primarily an individual homophonic concertante
style, whose components often recall European Classical practices, and
‘possessed an extraordinarily expressive and advanced technique for his
epoch’ (Lange, 1965). He is the only composer whose works are found in
all of the sacred music archives of Minas Gerais, in several regional
centres. In recognition of his importance, he was made the patron of
Chair no.4 of the Brazilian Academy of Music.
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