Alexandre Rey Colaço
Encyclopedia
Tangier
Tangier, also Tangiers is a city in northern Morocco with a population of about 700,000 . It lies on the North African coast at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Spartel...
, Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
, April 30, 1854 - Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
, September 11, 1928) was a Portuguese pianist
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
of a French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
father and Spanish
Spanish people
The Spanish are citizens of the Kingdom of Spain. Within Spain, there are also a number of vigorous nationalisms and regionalisms, reflecting the country's complex history....
-Portuguese
Portuguese people
The Portuguese are a nation and ethnic group native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion....
mother.
Life
He studied piano at the Madrid Royal Conservatory and gave his first performance in Lisbon in 1881. Pedro Eugénio Daupias, 1º Visconde de Daupias (Count of Daupias) was present and so impressed that he offered Colaço a trip to ParisParis
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
to continue his musical education. From there he moved on to Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
to study at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik under Barth
Karl Heinrich Barth
Karl Heinrich Barth was a noted German pianist and pedagogue.-Biography:He was born in Pillau, East Prussia . His teachers included Hans von Bülow, Hans von Bronsart and Carl Tausig. All three were leading musicians of the era and had close associations with Franz Liszt...
and Rudorff
Ernst Rudorff
Ernst Friedrich Karl Rudorff was a German composer and music teacher.Born in Berlin, Rudorff studied piano under Woldemar Bargiel from 1852 to 1857, before enrolling at the Leipzig Conservatory in 1859, where he studied under Ignaz Moscheles, Louis Plaidy, and Julius Rietz. He was also a private...
(piano) and Harertel and Bargiel
Woldemar Bargiel
Woldemar Bargiel was a German composer of classical music.-Life:Bargiel was born in Berlin, and was the half brother of Clara Schumann. Bargiel’s father Adolph was a well-known piano and voice teacher while his mother Mariane had been unhappily married to Clara’s father, Friedrich Wieck. Clara was...
(composition). Due to his outstanding talent, he was invited to teach piano at this school, whose director was the famous violinist Joseph Joachim
Joseph Joachim
Joseph Joachim was a Hungarian violinist, conductor, composer and teacher. A close collaborator of Johannes Brahms, he is widely regarded as one of the most significant violinists of the 19th century.-Origins:...
, a great friend of Schumann
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
and Brahms.
In 1887, Colaço returned to Lisbon and became a Portuguese citizen. He was appointed piano professor at the Conservatory of Music and contributed largely to the cultural activities of this country as a performer, pedagogue and composer. He taught music to the young Portuguese Prince D. Manuel (later Manuel II of Portugal
Manuel II of Portugal
Manuel II , named Manuel Maria Filipe Carlos Amélio Luís Miguel Rafael Gabriel Gonzaga Francisco de Assis Eugénio de Bragança Orleães Sabóia e Saxe-Coburgo-Gotha — , was the last King of Portugal from 1908 to 1910, ascending the throne after the assassination of his father and elder brother Manuel...
)
Compositions
His works are among the first to incorporate popular themes of a Portuguese national character. These works include pieces for the piano: the collection of FadoFado
Fado is a music genre which can be traced to the 1820s in Portugal, but probably with much earlier origins. Fado historian and scholar, Rui Vieira Nery, states that "the only reliable information on the history of Fado was orally transmitted and goes back to the 1820s and 1830s at best...
s, the reference point of his personal creative style, Bailarico
Bailarico
Bailarico is a Portuguese folk dance. The pairs face each other without holding each other, and with their backs turned to the neighboring pair, form a circle. In the first part of the music, the circle rotates with the girls backing up and the boys going towards them. They take baby bouncing...
, Jota
Jota (music)
The jota is a genre of music and the associated dance known throughout Spain, most likely originating in Aragon. It varies by region, having a characteristic form in Valencia, Aragon, Castile, Navarra, Cantabria, Asturias, Galicia and Murcia. Being a visual representation, the jota is danced and...
, Malagueña
Malagueñas (flamenco style)
Malagueñas is one of the traditional styles of Andalusian music , derived from earlier types of fandango from the area of Málaga, classified among the Cantes de Levante. Originally a folk-song type, it became a flamenco style in the 19th century. It is not normally used for dance, as it is...
and Pequenas Peças; for piano and voice: Cantigas de Portugal.
He also wrote a book, De Música, a consequence of his experience and reflections about musical art.
A recording of his piano music was issued by Educo Records in 1985 (Educo LP 4114). The recording by Michael Habermann contained the following compositions: Um Fado No. 1, Canção do Mondego, Fado No. 2, "Malagueña" from Cante Flamenco, Bailarico, Fado No. 3, "Hylário", Peças Pequenas, and Two Popular Spanish Dances: "Seguidilha" and "Jota".