Saturday, March 18, 2023

March 18 - John IV of Portugal (The Musical Birthday Series, 5th Annual Cycle)

Previous postings for March 18th may be found here: Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (2019), John Kirkpatrick (2020), Adam Levine (2021), and John Kander (2022)

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John IV (18/19 March 1604 – 6 November 1656) was the King of Portugal.  John was a patron of music and the arts, and a considerably sophisticated writer on music; in addition to this, he was a composer. (It is not entirely clear from various sources whether he was born on the 18th or 19th of March.) 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 On John the Fourth’s “Crux fidelis”


One famous composition attributed to him is a setting of the Crux fidelis. However, no known manuscript of the work exists, and it was first published only in 1869. On stylistic grounds, it is generally recognized that the work was written in the 19th century. – adapted from Wikipedia


Even though the style conforms

  To quite a later manner,

It’s possible your choir performs

  It under John's old banner.

 

Composing talent in a king is

  Unusual enough,

That we don't care that what we sing is

  Anachronistic stuff.

 

 

 

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