Armando José Fernandes
Encyclopedia
Armando José Fernandes (Lisbon
, 26 July 1906 - Lisbon, 3 May 1983) was a neoclassical
Portuguese composer; with Jorge Croner de Vasconcelos, Fernando Lopes-Graça
, and Pedro do Prado, one of the "group of four" who dominated mid-20th-century Portuguese music. After studying at the National Conservatory of Lisbon (Conservatório Nacional de Lisboa in Portuguese), he won a three-year scholarship to Paris and became a pupil of, among others, Nadia Boulanger
.
Originally trained as a concert pianist, Fernandes came to concentrate more on composition and teaching. He composed, among other works, a cello sonata, a violin concerto, and numerous piano pieces. His work, usually of an intimate character, occasionally contains virtuosic passages. It has been described as "[pursuing] a more conventional neoclassical path, albeit with great finesse". Most of his works were written for the national broadcasting station.
From 1940 onwards he taught at the Academia de Amadores de Música in Lisbon, and from 1953 to 1976 at the Lisbon Conservatory.
He also produced editions of early music from Portugal.
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...
, 26 July 1906 - Lisbon, 3 May 1983) was a neoclassical
Neoclassicism (music)
Neoclassicism in music was a twentieth-century trend, particularly current in the period between the two World Wars, in which composers sought to return to aesthetic precepts associated with the broadly defined concept of "classicism", namely order, balance, clarity, economy, and emotional restraint...
Portuguese composer; with Jorge Croner de Vasconcelos, Fernando Lopes-Graça
Fernando Lopes-Graça
Fernando Lopes-Graça, GOSE, GCIH was a Portuguese composer and conductor of the 20th century...
, and Pedro do Prado, one of the "group of four" who dominated mid-20th-century Portuguese music. After studying at the National Conservatory of Lisbon (Conservatório Nacional de Lisboa in Portuguese), he won a three-year scholarship to Paris and became a pupil of, among others, Nadia Boulanger
Nadia Boulanger
Nadia Boulanger was a French composer, conductor and teacher who taught many composers and performers of the 20th century.From a musical family, she achieved early honours as a student at the Paris Conservatoire, but believing that her talent as a composer was inferior to that of her younger...
.
Originally trained as a concert pianist, Fernandes came to concentrate more on composition and teaching. He composed, among other works, a cello sonata, a violin concerto, and numerous piano pieces. His work, usually of an intimate character, occasionally contains virtuosic passages. It has been described as "[pursuing] a more conventional neoclassical path, albeit with great finesse". Most of his works were written for the national broadcasting station.
From 1940 onwards he taught at the Academia de Amadores de Música in Lisbon, and from 1953 to 1976 at the Lisbon Conservatory.
He also produced editions of early music from Portugal.
Prizes
- Moreira de Sá Prize for composition (1944)
- Prize of the Círculo de Cultura Musical (1946)
Further references
- N. Barreiros: Semana Armando José Fernandes. Lisbon, 1988. (Portuguese)
- Biblioteca Nacional, Centro de Estudos Museológicos: Armando José Fernandes 1906-1983. Fernando Lopes Graça 1906-1994: mostra bibliográfica. Lisbon: Biblioteca Nacional, 2006. (Portuguese)
- Scores and recordings catalogued on Worldcat. Retrieved 24 December 2007.