Carlos Seixas

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Carlos Seixas' portrait.

José António Carlos de Seixas (Coimbra, 11 June 1704 - Lisbon, 25 August 1742) was a Portuguese composer, the son of the cathedral organist, Francisco Vaz and Marcelina Nunes.

When he was fourteen, he succeeded his father as organist in 1718 and two years later moved to Lisbon, where he gave harpsichord lessons and met Domenico Scarlatti, who lived in Portugal, from 1721 to 1728. It is claimed that when the king's son, Dom António, arranged for Scarlatti to give Seixas harpsichord lessons, Scarlatti replied that it was Seixas who should give him lessons. Seixas later became organist in the court chapel and Lisbon cathedral as well as court composer. He was knighted in 1738 by John V of Portugal.

Much of his work was destroyed in the earthquake which devastated Lisbon in 1755. Only three orchestral pieces and around 100 keyboard sonatas survive, plus a handful of choral works for liturgical use (much more conservative than what one would expect from his instrumental music).

Macario Santiago Kastner published collections of the sonatas in Portugaliae Musica.

[edit] Seixas Recordings

[1] Amon Ra CD-SAR 43 Harpsichord Sonatas played by Robert Woolley on a harpsichord made by Joaquim Joze Antunes in Portugal in 1785. The instrument is in the Finchcocks collection, Goudhurst, Kent, United Kingdom. The recording was made at Finchcocks in December 1988.
[2] Deutsche Grammophon 453-182. Two motets (Ardebat Vincentius and Tantum Ergo), in a two-disc collection also containing sacred music by Sousa Carvalho, Antonio Teixeira, and F. A. de Almeida. Originally recorded in 1970, with the Gulbenkian Chamber Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Pierre Salzman and Michel Corboz.
[3] Stradivarius STR 33544 Keyboard Sonatas played by Bernard Brauchli on a copy of a clavichord after Manuel Carmo, Porto 1796. The recording was made in Switzerland in December 1998.
[4] Virgin Veritas 45114 Harpsichord Concerto, etc. played by Norwegian Baroque Orchestra - Ketil Haugsand.
[5] Virgin Veritas 45115 Missa Dixit Dominus, etc. played by Camara de Lisboa / Norwegian Baroque Orchestra - Ketil Haugsand.