ERNESTO VIEIRA AND MUSIC IN PORTUGAL IN THE MID-NINETEENTH AND EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURIES: CONTRIBUTIONS AND IDEOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES

Abstract

Ernesto Vieira was a Portuguese figure of extreme importance for the musical development of the country in the political context of the first republic. His dedicated work focused on different fields of music, from teaching and pedagogy to musical dissemination, through interpretation, composition, and musicological research. He was considered a pioneer in the field of musicology in a rigorous work of analysis of primary historical sources. The dissemination of music promoted through the publication of articles in the periodicals of the time, was also a central role in his activity, as his philosophy of music understood the need to raise the knowledge and musical taste of the population, as a way to promote the progress of humanity. His musical ideology was aligned with the great masters of Western culture and with the figure of the intellectual musician and was expressed in the idea of pure music as the only one capable of raising the morale of the human being and thus contributing to the announced Regeneration. It is, however, in the field of teaching and pedagogy that its contribution is most significant. Without losing sight of its musical ideology, it was necessary to implement a teaching of music capable of promoting in society a true artistic education that would contribute to the renewal and implementation of changes in the various domains of national life and thus announce the desired progress.