Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

,
Ex.
—
SONG 553
but the words are constantly changed.^ The
fado is the most purely national type of dancesong
which exists in Portugal, and it has always
maintained its integrity. ^ It is seldom heard
outside towns, and properly belongs to the
lowest classes of the population, though during
the last century it acquired popularity among
the higher classes.' The guitar (which is much
less used than in Spain) is always employed for
the /oc^os, and has a strongly rhythmical and
uniform accompaniment ;
^m
3.
-^^
There are many varieties of/ados a,nd fadinhos
in the different towns, but they are all binary
in form and have the same rhythm.
Except during the period when the Netherlanders
exercised their influence upon the
eoclesijistical music of Portugal (that is, during
the 16th and 17th centuries) this country can
claim no great composers, nor school of its own.
For when not avowedly borrowing various forms
from other countries, Portugal fell unconsciously
under their influence. The trovas (Troubadour
songs) were merely adopted Provenfal forms,
the vilhaneicos, autos, and lods were borrowed
from Spain and France ; the polyphonic 17th
century tonos were in reality Italian madrigals
written to Spanish words, with eslrihilhos added
to them. And late in the 18th century all
attempts to form a national opera failed, owing
to the invasion 'of the Italian opera, which has
exercised complete hold over Portuguese music
for the last two centuries.
It is only in two small and unimportant
forms of vocal music, the fado and the modinha,
that Portugal can claim to have created and
established a distinct genre of her own. Of
the/ados we have already spoken. The modmha,
which is the only kind of art-song that Portugal
has as yet produced, is, moreover, the direct
offspring of the Italian opera. Though written
by trained musicians and sung by educated
people, neither as regards form nor character
can the modinhas be assigned high rank as
artistic music. Still they have retained their
popularity from early in the 18th century down
to the present day, and are written as a matter
of course by every Portuguese composer.
These modinJias, or Portuguese romances, are
of a literary as well as a musical form.* The
1 Numeroua examples are given In Dan Nevea' and other
coUections.
2 Flaton von Waxel derives this dance-forin from the xacara of
the Portuguese gipsies, and the word from fatitte or verse-maker.
See also M. Boeder's Essay hat TOEcuiTio, p. 145.
3 A celebrated modern singer of /ados vtas 3ob6 Dias (1824-69),
who Improvised with wonderful skill. He was a great favourite
at the Court, and in the salons at home and abroad. Flnto de
Carvalho and Alberto Pimentel have written on the Fades.
* The derivation of the word is doubtful. Some say It came from
mote or Tnoda, and that It had Its origin In Brazil. We certainly
read in a folio dated 1729 lAnnalg of the Bibl. of Rio de Janeiro, 11.
129) that on a wedding-feast of the Viceroy ' um aZegre divertimento
musico de Cantigas e Afodat da terra, de que ha abundancia n'cste
pait,' Also many travellers of that time describe with aumiration
r
first mention of them occurred in the so-called
'
Jewish operas,'' which rapidly became popular.
In the burgher classes inodinhas remained simple
sentimental melodies ; but at the Court and
among the more educated classes they developed
into highly elaborate brilliant arias, and celebrated
composers and poets did not disdain to
use this form. In Das Neves' Candoneiro de
Musicas populares there are twelve songs
{Modinhas) from Gonzagas' Marilia de Dirceu,
which, according to good evidence,' were set to
music by Marcos Antonio, better known as
Portogallo. In 1793 F. D. Milcent published
a monthly Jomal de Modinhas at Lisbon, from
which the following example is taken, to show
the brilliant type of modinha :—
Ex. 4.
Moda a Solo del S. Ant. da S. Leite M. de
Oapela no Porte,
dagio. r\ ^-^ ^ .
m :pEg-^?gE^paa£^
po que bre - • ve
^g^^^p^^^
tl que bre ve
ti
tar - de.
Since the 16th century, when Portugal
colonised Brazil, there has been continual
intercourse between these countries ; and during
the first quarter of the 19th century, whilst
the Portuguese Court was domiciled in Brazil,
the Tnodinhas were as fashionable there as in
Portugal. But they differed in character ; the
modinhas brasileiras were always very primitive
in form, devoid of workmanship; somewhat
vulgar, but expressive and gay. In short, a
mixture between the French romance of the
18th century and couplets from the vaudevilles.
And this description applies to the type of
Portuguese modinhas of the present day, which
are written for one or two voices, strophic in
form, with easy guitar or pianoforte accompaniments.
A complete list of greater and lesser composers,
who have tried their hand at this form of song,
is too long to give, but the following are
amongst the most celebrated. In the 18th
century Portogallo and also Cordeiro da Silva
and Joao de Sousa Carvalho ; a little later,
Rego, Bomtempo, Scares, Pereira da Costa,
Coelho, Cabral, and Joaff de Mesquita. In
Coimbra,' Jos6 Manricio ; in Oporto, Silva Leite,
the modinhas bra^teiras. For further Information see Th. Braga's
Bistoria da lAtteratura Portugueza (FHinto Elyeio e os dissidentes
da Arcadia), vol. XX. p. 603 et seq,
6 Thus named from Antonio Jos^ da Silva, born In 1705. a baptized
Jew from Brazil, who wrote Portuguese comedies with these Interspersed.
B Braga, Bistoria da Litteratura Portuffueza, vol. xv. p. 604, note.
7 The modinhas vary somewhat in the different districts.
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