Jose Antonio Carlos de Seixas, (11 June 1704 – 25 August 1742), was a Portuguese composer, the son of the cathedral organist, Francisco Vaz and Marcelina Nunes.
Seixas was born in Coimbra. He succeeded his father as organist in 1718 at age fourteen, and two years later moved to Lisbon, where he gave harpsichord lessons and met Domenico Scarlatti who was living in Portugal from 1721 to 1728. It is claimed that when the king's son, Dom Antonio, 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. He married at 28 and had five children, two sons and three daughters. Seixas died of rheumatic fever.
Seixas was influenced by the German Empfindsamer Stil (literally 'sensitive style'). Much of his work was destroyed in the earthquake that devastated Lisbon in 1755. Only three orchestral pieces and around 100 keyboard sonatas survived, 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.
[1] Amon Ra CD-SAR 43 Harpsichord Sonatas played by Robert Woolley on a harpsichord made by Joaquim Jose 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.
[6] Portugaler 20102 SPA Musica Sacra, Segreis de Lisboa, Coral Lisboa Cantat, Manuel Morais dir.
Vox PVT 7171 Minuet and Toccata (Largo-Allegro) played by Elena Polanska
Fandango - Scarlatti in Iberia - 6 sonatas played by Sophie Yates- UPC:095115063521 cf theclassicalshop.net CHAN 635
[7] Numerica, 2007. Fortepiano Sonatas played by Cremilde Rosado Fernandes on a copy by Denzel Wright of an original pianoforte built by Bartolomeo Cristofori. Recorded in Germany in 2005.
[8] Melographia Portugueza, 2012. Harpsichord Sonatas (Complete Recording, vol. I), played by Jose Carlos Araujo on a historic harpsichord made by Joaquim Jose Antunes in Lisbon in 1758, the earliest surviving Antunes harpsichord. The instrument is in the Lisbon Music Museum collection, Portugal.
[9] Melographia Portugueza, 2012. Organ Sonatas (Complete Recording, vol. II), played by Jose Carlos Araujo on a historic organ built by Fr. Manuel de Sao Bento in the Benedictine Monastery of Sao Bento da Vitoria (Porto) in 1719, the largest and most important historic organ in Porto. This is the world premiere recording of this historic organ and the first complete CD recording of Seixas' organ sonatas.
[10] Melographia Portugueza, 2013. Harpsichord Sonatas (Complete Recording, vol. III), played by Jose Carlos Araujo on a historic harpsichord made by Joaquim Jose Antunes in Lisbon in 1758. The instrument is in the Lisbon Music Museum collection, Portugal.
[11] Melographia Portugueza, 2013. Harpsichord Sonatas (Complete Recording, vol. IV), played by Jose Carlos Araujo (harpsichords by Ton Amir and Johannes Klinkhamer (2006) after Chr. Vater, 1738, and Reinhard von Nagel (1992) after G. B. Giusti, 1693).
[12] Melographia Portugueza, 2013. Pianoforte Sonatas (Complete Recording, vol. V), played by Jose Carlos Araujo on a historical pianoforte made by Henri-Joseph van Casteel in Lisbon in 1763. The instrument is in the Lisbon Music Museum collection, Portugal.
[13] Melographia Portugueza, 2014. Organ Sonatas (Complete Recording, vol. VI), played by Jose Carlos Araujo on a historic organ built by D. Manuel Benito Gomez de Herrera in the Monastery of Arouca in 1739, one of the most important 18th-century organs in the Iberian Peninsula.
