The Musical Salon of the Countess of Proença-a-Velha in Lisbon: A Case of Patronage and Activism at the Turn of the Twentieth Century

Abstract

This article seeks to shed light on the musical activities sponsored in Lisbon by women of high society, and specifically on the organization of the concerts produced by the Countess of Proença-a-Velha (1864-1944) in Lisbon at the turn of the ninteenth and the twentieth centuries. Between 1899 and 1903, the Countess held nine musical soirées and matinées at her home, and organized the first season of the Sociedade Artística de Concertos de Canto (Artistic Singing Concerts Society), which she founded. She also composed and premiered about 30 vocal works with piano accompaniment. Although both the number of events and her catalogue are small in size, they form an important window on turn-of-the-century Portuguese culture. Her decisions to focus on the repertoire of lyrical music and feature performances mainly by women was in stark contrast to the deeply masculine nature of the musical organizations active in Lisbon during the period. This article also explores the ideological dimension of her activities. An examination of the vocal pieces performed at the countess' concerts shows that she intentionally explored four interrelated concepts of music: modern music, religious music, early music and Portuguese music. Some of her songs took part in the construction of what she considered to be a Portuguese national music inspired by Portuguese national poetry. The programmes the countess devised presented both a social and political dimension, proposing an elitist model for female socialization based upon the idea of the utility of cultural involvement and vindicating the role of tradition and, in particular, national tradition. © 2017 Cambridge University Press.