josÃ© manuel joly braga santos, comse (; may 14, 1924july 18, 1988) was a portuguese composer and conductor, who was born and died in lisbon. he wrote six symphonies. ==biography== josÃ© manuel joly braga santos was born in lisbon in 1924 and died in this city in 1988, at the peak of his musical creativity. having studied violin and composition at the national conservatoire of lisbon, he became a disciple of luÃ­s de freitas branco (1890â1955), the leading portuguese composer of the preceding generation. after the second world war, he was able to go abroad, having studied conducting with hermann scherchen and antonino votto, and composition with virgilio mortari. he was undoubtedly the leading portuguese symphonist of the 20th century, and perhaps of all time. apart from an innate sense of orchestration, his musical language is based on a strong musical architecture as well as drama, with long melodic phrases and a natural instinct for structural development. in his own words, he wanted âto contribute toward a latin symphonism and to react against the predominant tendency, of the generation that preceded me, to reject monumentalism in musicâ. in his first works, the composer showed a modal tendency motivated by the desire to establish a connection between contemporary music and the golden age of portuguese music: the renaissance. we also find a melodic outline of the oldest folk songs of his country. although he was not particularly interested in the portuguese folklore, studying and composing at the country home of his mentor, in the rural south of portugal - the alentejo - he naturally accepted the influence of the very old local folklore that he considered "of mesmerizing originality and grandeur". the first four symphonies, which followed each other quite rapidly (between the ages of 22 and 27), were immediately performed by the portuguese radio symphony orchestra in lisbon, and met with great success. the conductor and founder of the portuguese radio symphony orchestra was the great portuguese conductor pedro de freitas branco, a friend of maurice ravel, manuel de falla, and former director of the orchestre lamoureux. pedro de freitas branco early recognised his brotherâs pupilâs talent and launched joly braga santos's international career during the 1950s, conducting several international premieres of his works around europe. other works of this period are the concerto for strings, variations on an alentejo theme, and three symphonic overtures. most of the works were recorded, from the 1970s onwards, by the portuguese label strauss sp, and more recently, by the naxos / marco polo label.
1924_births 1988_deaths 20th-century_classical_composers People_from_Lisbon Portuguese_composers