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In 1923, the amateur singer and patron Emma Romero Santos Fonseca da Câmara Reis began organising a series of concert-conferences in Lisbon called "Divulgação Musical" (Popularizing Music). The main aim of this project was to give a first hearing to musical works unknown to the Portuguese public, based on three thematic areas: 1. Vocal Music from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance; 2. Folk Music/Popular Song and 3. Modern Chamber Music.

 

Each concert began with an introductory talk aimed at contextualising and facilitating listening to the works chosen for each programme. Many figures from Portuguese intellectual and cultural life at the time took part as guest speakers. Authors and journalists such as António Sérgio, Bento de Jesús Caraça, Luís da Câmara Reis, Aquilino Ribeiro or José Maria Ferreira de Castro, as well as composers Luís de Freitas Branco and Fernando Lopes-Graça, are just a few examples of the diversity of speakers. With the participation of music amateurs and professional instrumentalists, "Divulgação Musical" began its work in Ema Santos Fonseca's private music salon, and went on to venues such as the Salão Nobre do Conservatório Nacional, the Academia de Amadores de Música, the Liga Naval Portuguesa and the Universidade Popular Portuguesa. Between 1923 and 1940, and in the context of the "Divulgação Musical" audition cycle, 142 concert-conferences were organised.

 

Inspired by the work of Emma Santos Fonseca, in this concert we intend to reproduce the programmes of concert number 69, in part, and concert number 91, in full, from "Divulgação Musical". The programme will be exclusively dedicated to music by Brazilian composers. As a tribute to its divulgative nature, and immediately after the musical performance, we propose a discussion between the musicians, the audience and a guest musicologist specialising in this area.