Francisco António de Almeida

Francisco António de Almeida (fl. 1722–1752) was a Portuguese composer and organist.

From 1722 to 1726 he was a royal scholar in Rome. In 1724, Pier Leone Ghezzi drew his caricature, describing him as "a young but excellent composer of concertos and church music who sang with extreme taste". He returned to Portugal in 1726, where he became organist of the Royal and Patriarchal Chapel.

In 1728, the first of his serenatas, "Il trionfo della virtù", was performed in Lisbon at the palace of Cardinal João da Mota e Silva. His comic opera, "La pazienza di Socrate", was performed at the royal palace in 1733. It was the first Italian opera in Portugal. A contemporary diarist states that Almeida composed music for the popular performances of presépios (Nativity scenes) in the Mouraria quarter of Lisbon. He probably died in the Lisbon earthquake of 1755.

ome compositions

*Il pentimento di Davidde (componimento sacro), 1722
*La Giuditta (oratorio), 1726 (first modern performances of were in 1990, and it was described as a masterpiece)
*Il trionfo della virtù (componimento poetico), 1728
*Il trionfo d'amore (scherzo pastorale), 1729
*Gl'incanti d'Alcina (dramma per musica da cantarsi), 1730
*La Spinalba, ovvero Il vecchio matto (dramma comico), 1739
*L’Ippolito (serenata), 1752

Bibliography

*Manuel Carlos de Brito: "Almeida, Francisco António de", Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 2007-05-05), http://www.grovemusic.com
*Manuel Carlos de Brito: "Opera in Portugal in the Eighteenth Century" (Cambridge, 1989)