Virtuosity is defined as high ability in art, science or any other aspect of human activity, presented by someone and recognized by his peers. The public recognition proceeds by the attribution, to the specialist or the amateur, of the titles virtuoso or virtuosa; the terminology destro or con sprezzatura, also consigned, is less used. The definition in theoretical works recurs to the use of the word virtù (or virtú).
The definitions of the concept of virtuosity change in the course of history. The terms virtuosismo and virtuoso are used in Italy since the sixteenth century and refer to a specific meaning of the Latin word virtus. Their use in the French, German and English languages began in the seventeenth century (BERNSTEIN, 2004: 11). The concept of Virtus (or virtù; = virtue) acknowledges two coexistent meanings: a moral sense, related to human conduct and to the conformity of the acts and living of an individual, and a non-moral sense, related to the power of an action or an individual in the urge of his intentions. (SIEGEL, 1973-74) The object of this article is, therefore, the non-moral sense. Vladimir Jankelevitch, in his work Liszt et la Rhapsodie – Essai sur la virtuosité, mentions a connection between virtuosity and the early concept of areté (=excellence) in its Aristotelian meaning, stressing the non-moral sense:
«Bien entendu la «vertu» ou virtù qui fait le virtuose n’est aucunement une vertu morale et ne se rapporte à aucune disposition intentionelle: car la vertu vertueuse et la vertu virtuose font deux! La virtuosité n’est pas non plus la force, bien qu’elle l’implique: car elle ewst surtout l’adresse. La valeur ou excellence appellé virtuosité n’a pas davantage un caractyère spéculatif. La virtuosité est plutôt un savoir-faire qu’on savoir, et plutôt un pouvoir-faire qu’on savoir-faire; et parfois même elle est tout simplement un faire. Le virtuose fait. A cet égard, la «vertu» du virtuose se rapprocherait plutôt de la vertu aristotélicienne: la vertu d’un cheval est de bien courir, la vertu d’un cocteau de bien couper. Et la vertu d’un virtuose est de jouer brillament du piano ou du violon.»
(JANKELEVITCH, 1979: 15, 16)
As we shall see, this association serves Liszt’s virtuosity, but earlier definitions of musical virtuosity have a more broader sense, relating to more than the interpretation. Petrarch, following Cicero, stated the proximity in the etymology of virtú and vir – “manliness” (SIEGEL, 1973-74). Susan Bernstein (2004:12) mentions that virtuosity was defined in the seventeenth century according to this last notion, as an “extraordinary ability and connoisseurship in the arts and sciences”.
The first known definition of musical virtuosity is present in the Dictionaire de Musique, published by Sébastien de Brossard in 1703, and it is coeval of the invention of the piano, in circa 1700, by Bartolomeo Cristofori. His definition of Virtú embraces the moral sense – the praise to God and an adequate and rational behavior – and the non moral sense – the “superiority of talent, skill and ability” that raises the individual above those who, as him, devote themselves to theory and artistic practice. Eventhough the titles of virtuoso or virtudioso refer to the fields of art and theory, their common use in Italy refer to the musicians, and among them, those who dedicate to theory and composition. The same meaning of virtú is found in Musikalisches Lexicon, edited by Johann Gottfried Walther in 1732 and in Elementi teorico-pratici di musica.......con un saggio sopra L'arte di suonare il violin, by Francesco Galeazzi, published in 1791 (PINCHERLE, 1964:16). Johann Kuhnau, in the novel Der musikalische Quack-Salber, (1700) defines the "highly gifted musician” (‘der glückselige Musicus’) and the “true virtuoso” (‘der wahre Virtuose’), discrediting the latter by his unique practical ability. Another understanding is presented by Johann Matheson, in Der brauchbare Virtuoso (1720). Matheson honors the theory’s virtuosity and pays his tribute to practice’s virtuosity. (JANDER, 2001) The Encyclopédie, edited by Diderot e d’Alembert between 1751 e 1772, describes the virtuosi as those, professionals or amateurs, that emerge among others in the study of Arts and Science, mentioning the antiquarian and scientific study movements (where we must note the participation of noblemen) in England in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The scope of virtuosity decreased in the eighteenth and early-nineteenth century, focusing on the abilities of execution: in music, the dexterity and expression of a performer or composer-performer.
Piano
The development of the ‘cembalo di piano e forte, detto volgarmente di martelletti’ is credited to Bartolomeo Cristofori, the instruments’ keeper of the Medici’s court in Florence. An inventory of this court in 1700 certificates the construction of an ‘arpicimbalo di nuova inventione’. This new invention consisted, mostly, on the use of a new mechanics for the string’s attack: the key, when touched, produces, by the use of a lever system, an impulse on a hammer to hit the string; this mechanism also contains an escapement system for keeping the hammer close to the string after the attack, without interfering with the string’s vibration, giving a more precise control to the performer of the hammer’s velocity (RIPIN & POLLENS, 2001).
Scipione Maffei determined the current name for the new instrument, in the first description of the new instrument, edited in 1711 - gravecembalo col piano, e forte. Johann Mattheson published in Critica musica, ii (1725), a German translation of the Maffei’s description, possibly read by Gottfried Silbermann, who started in the construction of similar instruments since 1730s. Other German makers produced instruments with a simplified mechanics – the hammer, connected to a block in the opposite of the key, strokes the string – determined Stossmechanik. The German’s piano construction developed also the Prellmechanik, similar to Cristofori’s mechanics (id, ibid.). The use of this two mechanics in piano’s construction in England and Vienna, respectively, determined the titles of English mechanics and Viennese mechanics. Piano makers in England are Zumpe, Backers, Stodart, Broadwood, Wornum, Clementi, among others; the most known names of Viennese construction are Stein, Walter, Müller, Graf (GOOD, 2000: 46-53). The French construction became more noticeable with the opening of the ateliers of Ignaz Pleyel and Sebastien Érard, in the last decades of the eighteenth century Among the makers of pianos in U.S.A. are Jonas Chickering and Steinway &Sons. Some of the aspects of the construction of piano changed due to the desire to increase its volume; most of these new developments were made in England. The increase of tension on the strings required a more solid structure. Hawkins used iron in the frames of the piano. Babcock developed the one-piece metal frame. (GOOD, 2000: 56-60), Sébastian Erard developed the double-escapement: the hammer is hold closer to the string and the key remains at mid-distance, enabling easiness on the continuous repetition of the same note. Sébastien and Pierre are responsible for several improvements in this system (RIPIN & POLLENS, 2001).
Virtuosity in the Piano
The piano followed a virtuosistic phenomenon developed in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In the Baroque period, the purposes of creation, through imagination, of a more beautiful and sumptuous world and its exhibition through images to please the intelect but also the senses, (CELLETTI, 1988: 1-13), took virtuosity, in its aspect of technical dexterity and expression, as an example of the wonder. Such aspects were more noticeable on opera. Although, the predominance of technique and expression affected both voice and instruments: an higher preeminence was obtained by the diva and castrato and by the Italian violin school: (Corelli, Tartini, Viotti, etc.). Carl Dahlhaus (1989: 134) refers two important characteristics of composition related to virtuosity: the monodic cantabile, appropriated by instrumentalists – for the exhibition of their expressive and ornamentative abilities – and the use of musical forms that predispose to the use of figuration as musical substance.
The upgrowth of a modern musical virtuosity is related to the establishment of public concerts, the creation of new public rooms for music concerts and the consequent emergence of a new audience, the impulse in organology and the production of a critic discourse and advertisement among the audience and in press. An important event is the opening of the Concert Spirituel in 1725 by Philidor that took an important role on the entrance in France of Italian vocal and violinistic virtuosity. (MILLIOT, 1993: 55-64).
A social and cultural perspective, relevant for virtuosity in eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, is added by Paul Metzner. This author affirms that the political, economical and social revolutions of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries lead to the spread of public spaces, to the valorization of practical knowledge and to a diffusion of a self-centered view. These conditions impelled several individuals to the creation of spectacles, to the development of technique and to an individual promotion, in the various fields of human activity (METZNER, 1998: 9). His study, concerning Paris, included chess, pastry, criminal detection, music and automaton building.
“The history of piano playing is tied to a great many factors: the development of the instrument, the evolution of musical styles, shifts in the relationship of the performer to the score, the rise of virtuosity, the idiosyncrasies of individual artists, changes in audience tastes and values, and even socio-economic developments.”
(WINTER, 2001)
The piano borrowed the technique of the harpsichord and the clavichord, and coexisted with them for a large period. The skill and expression of the interpretations in the latter were exceeded by the new mechanics of the piano, whose particularities are the gradation of dynamics, expression and remark of melodic lines, the obtainment of distinct timbre with different touch and the use of dampers and a faster touch than the harpsichord, still louder, granted by the escapement (PARAKILAS, 2000).
The changes in the piano’s technique were guided by several composers and performers, such as Carl Philip Emmanuel Bach (that required an equal touch with all fingers), Milchmeyer (who studies the correct position of the fingers) and Clementi, Türk, Cramer, Czerny e Beethoven, that lead to a replacement of the non-legato (perlé, in the French terminology) for legato. Following contributions were made by Schumann, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Tausig, Liszt, Brahms, Leschetizky, Debussy, (WINTER, 2001), Skriabin e Rachmaninov. However, the musical market advertised much of the new repertory and method books for the practice of piano and harpsichord. The first work for piano, Sonate da Cimbalo di Piano e Forte, was composed by Ludovici Giustini in 1726, and was meant to show the capabilities (especially the dynamics) of the new instrument. Since the last decades of eighteenth century, composers gradually favored the composition for piano (WHEELOCK, 2001: 109). The editing of method books for piano develops with the importance granted to this instrument. The first aim was to teach a soloist, a virtuoso. Johann Peter Milchmeyer published in 1797 the first method book for piano, Die wahre Art das Pianoforte (The True Art of Pianoforte), and the pedagogical works of Cramer, Clementi e Czerny follow the same path. (PARAKILAS, 2000: 135-137). The Elementos de Piano Forte, published by João Domingos Bomtempo in 1816 – whose relations with the pedagogical work of Clementi A Introduction to the art of Playing the Piano Forte were stated and analised by João Espírito Santo (2003: 53-91)– are designated for the study of piano and harpsichord. The gradual preeminence of the piano lead to the publication of method books for the exclusive study of the piano.
James Parakilas (1999: 135) tell us that, in the beginning of the nineteenth century, the piano lesson emerge from the separation of the keyboard study of the musical studies and, consequently, from the affirmation of the piano among the other keyboard instruments. The same author mentions that the piano practice acquired its autonomy from the lesson in the same period. The domestic piano lesson was given by a family member with musical abilities (non exclusively at the piano) or by a specialized professor. The piano was included in a graduate formation in the Conservatoire National de Musique et de Declamation, created in 1795 in Paris, and in similar institutions in other countries of Europe, founded between 1800 and 1866.
Learning guides us to one of the phenomenon of virtuosity: the child prodige. Leopold Mozart, pedagogue of Wolfgang Amadeus and Maria Anna, exhibited in France and England the precocious musical abilities of his sons. Other examples of child prodiges, although different, were Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Liszt. Beethoven took lessons from his father and performed in a concert some years later. Christian Neefe became the young Beethoven’s most important teacher, who gave him the basis for a renowned career as virtuoso in Bonn and with presentations in Netherlands (KRAMER, 2001). Adam Liszt, Franz’s father, a employee of the Esterhazy court and a singer, piano and cello amateur, became aware of his son musical abilities at the age of six. The domestic lessons of Adam culminated in Franz’s first concert at the age of nine and to a consequent concession of a subscription of Hungarian noblemen to his study. Due to economical reasons, Adam Liszt chose Carl Czerny, a disciple of Beethoven and author of several methods of technique and improvisation still in use today in the study of the piano. The careful formation of Liszt, through the pedagogical works of Clementi and Czerny, gave him the opportunity to perform in public exhibitions in Vienna, Paris (where he studied with Paer) and other regions of France, England and Switzerland (WALKER, 2001). The enchantment for the child prodige decreased with her aging. The formation in theory and in composition in her childhood made possible the continuation of a musical career as composers or composers-performers.
The study of virtuosity is also the study of organology and of the promotional activities created by the makers of instruments. The several improvements on the dynamics and in the attack of the strings in the piano lead to the composition and improvisation of musical sections with increased difficulty. Piano makers offered instruments to the most renowned composers-performers of their time and made instruments available for virtuosi’s tournées, it was, indeed, a test to the instrument capabilities and publicity. The opening of Salle (concert rooms) by makers for the exhibition of the pianos had more notoriety in Paris, with Pleyel and Érard, where virtuosi – Chopin, Liszt, Thalberg, among others, often played.
Virtuosity in piano emerges gradually above vocal and violinistic virtuosity, acquiring a higher preeminence in nineteenth century; virtuosity in the other instruments observed a minor notoriety. The several idiomatic abilities of the piano – its range, its dynamics and the ability to reduce orchestral works – were important features to composers and audience, culminating in its elevation as the most important instrument in the Romantic period. Virtuosi performed in private salons and in public concerts. The concert was constituted by several performers, and comparisons and confrontations often occurred: note, as an example, the performances of Clementi and Mozart, Beethoven, Wölfl and Steibelt, and Liszt, Thalberg, Kalkbrenner, Chopin, among other similar cases.
Jim Samson (2004: 75) classifies virtuosity for the piano in five different categories. Classical pianism is present until 1820s, and the most renowned composers are Haydn, Mozart, Clementi, among several others. Pos-classic pianism is dated between 1820 and 1840, and evolved to a “trivial” virtuosity in the following decade, whose aim was the exhibition of technical gifts by means of compositions close to the public taste. Three new categories, created in the 1830s, should be added to the latter: neo-baroque virtuosity, characterized by the intent of the seventeenth century balance between virtuosity and work character; virtuosity as a mean to the interpretation of the musical work; and romantic virtuosity, that gathers the use of dexterity and the integrity and value of the musical work, as well as the valorization of the individuality, genius and subjectivity of the composer-performer. Samson’s classification is extremely useful. Still, these categories are limitrophes: the composers-performers of period pós-1820 can be included in several of them, in the course of their career. Classic pianism is characterized, in the aspects of genre of composition, by the use of Concert and Sonata genres for the public display of the virtuoso. Piano virtuosistic compositions in the following years (1820-1850) observes a predominance of the genres fantasia, theme (most frequently, arias and other operatic themes) and variations, stylized dance forms – waltz, polonaise, mazurka – and other pieces – ballade, impromptu, etc; the sonata and concert genres are less used.
Paris became the most important European musical center, standing as the ‘capital’ of pianism in the decades of 1820s and 1830s (SAMSON, 2004: 72) and as a space of gathering and exportation, in tour, of virtuosi (METZNER: 1994: 2). The heyday of virtuosity is dated between the first European appearances of Nicoló Paganini, in the beginning of1830, and the end of the virtuoso career of Franz Liszt, in September 1847. The exhibitions of Nicoló Paganini in Paris in 1831 were an important mark in the careers of several composers-performers, such as Frederik Chopin, Robert Schumann e Franz Listz. Liszt observed virtuosity as the needed substance for the “romantic revolution” transferred from literature by Hector (DAHLHAUS, 1989: 135) and the missing resource for his compositional process. Although, the example of Paganini would be transformed by aesthetic, social and historical aspects.
The awakening of the historical conscience lead to an attention in the musical works of the past and to the importance of correct interpretations of their musical text. (id.: 138-139). The effects of this awakening were the constitution of a canon of works, the emergence of the concept of autonomy of the work and the institution of the modern interpretation – the modern performer and modern maestro arose. The criticism in the most important musical centers - Paris, London and Vienna – stresses the predominance of exhibition of technique and expression above the musical content, as well as the frequent use/interpretation of fantasia, theme and variations, etc., in behalf of the classical genres of concert and sonata. The decay of improvisation was related to an association, made by critics, with trivial music and entertainment (GRIFFITHS, 2001). The importance acquired by historiography and by the canon of the musical works of the past forced virtuosity to a change in its nature. Virtuosity became an integrant part in the formation and career of the performer – included in the discipline of European Conservatories – that, as Richard Taruskin (2004) argues – is present in our days. The title virtuos@ is still used, and it will remain in the lexicon for the appreciation of technical and expressive abilities of performers.
“The idea of poetic music dominated early-nineteenth-century aesthetics, particularly the aesthetics of piano music.” (DAHLHAUS, 1989: 142). This concept was defined by several authors. Among them, Robert Schumann defined “poetic music” as the musical composition that opposes to the programmatical and virtuosistic works (DAHLHAUS, 1989: 142-145). Liszt, in face of the criticism for virtuosity, undertook it as a mean for composition and interpretation. His compositional process approached the idea of “poetic in music” (possibly, under the influence of the meaning as ascribed by Schumann) by is, to use Michel Sogny’s term, “creative admiration”: the composer identifies himself with, admires, the object that enables his creativity. Liszt, the admired admirer (as Jankelevitch qualifies), took themes from nature, pictorial arts, poetry and music. The same composer wrote transcriptions (among them, those of the Beethoven Symphonies) and reminiscences and paraphrases. The first, in exact repetition or re-interpretation, manifested his tribute to the great masters of the history of music. The latter presented a subjective original reading from the operas, raising them to the paths of poetic music and work autonomy. Carl Dahlhaus (ibid: 150) argues that it is not the literary aspects that shape the poetic in music, but rather the substance adequately taken by the composer.
The use of virtuosistic sections stands until today as one of the resources of musical composition. Skriabin and Rachamaninov, among others, exceed, in their works, the technical and expressive requirements of Liszt’s compositions.
Some aspects of virtuosity (a concept related mostly to art music) can be showed in jazz. We must notice that the dexterity takes part of its praxis – in performance and composition. Bebop (bop), a period of the history of jazz dated between the Second World War and 1955 (HODEIR, 2002) underlines that preeminence of the instrument’s technique in composition and improvisation. The latter has some important particularities: the recognition of the audience focuses on the aspects of phrasing and knowledge of theory (the subtlety, the correction in the use of particular notes and patterns) of the performer.
Musical Virtuosity in Madeira
The earlier available data about musical practice in Madeira Island refer to nineteenth century and are found, especially, on the descriptions of periodical press, instituted in 1821. Conclusions about the musical praxis before this date are limited by the incipient research made for those centuries.
In November 28th 1827, in a benefit concert for Carlos Guigou y Pujol in Teatro do Bom Gosto, Duarte Joaquim dos Santos e Joaquim dos Santos (conductor, in 1824, of the regimental band in Funchal and frequent performer in the musical events of this city) exhibited their musical skills.
The Symphony of Mr. Duarte Joaquim dos Santos, played for the first time, praises great honor to his author, and (…) several people would enjoyed its reprise. The Concert from the same [author] deserved well the applause. Mr. Joaquim dos Santos, in his Concert for Clarinet showed new proofs of how is he remarkable in his instrument.
O Defensor da Liberdade, nº 53, 1/12/1827
Duarte Joaquim dos Santos was pedagogue in London between 1820s and 1840s. He returned in 1844 (or before). Some of his works for piano solo and 4 hands are in Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal and British Library; there are no references about the publication and deposit site of the Concert for Piano, performed in Madeira in 1827. Among the first, the Divertimento Euryanthino on the Two Airs from Weber’s Euryanthe, the Divertimento on Favorite Airs from Weber’s Preciosa, and the Capriccio on Airs from Weber’s Abu Hassan are musical works of high difficulty that show the dexterity of this composer-performer. Their publication suggests Santos’ frequent presentation on London, as well as the good appreciation received by him and his works from this city’s audiences. The works for piano in 4 hands were meant especially to the feminine instruction, as we can deduce from the several dedications to wemen and children of England and Madeiran societies. It is worth mentioning that those works present several levels of difficulty – the quadrilles are more accessible; the divertissements and capriccio require an improved dexterity and expression. – noticing the technical abilities of Santos’ students.
The piano performances occurred, most certainly, before and after the 1827 concert. Though, the following reference to instrumental music is related to the upgrowth of musical societies in Funchal, namely Sociedade Harmonia, in 1836, and Sociedade Philarmonica, in 1840. The purposes of the first institution were providing the “audition of good excerpts of music”, and we might deduce the fruition of musical works of the first three decades of nineteenth century by its members. We may also assume that the music for piano, the most important instrument in this period, took part of the events of this institution. An earlier study concerning Sociedade Philarmonica has concluded that the piano didn’t play a central role; this collectivity constituted, already for the first performances, a choir and an orchestra, and years later, in 1843, a wind band. Its aim was the exhibition of orchestral, choral and, in parade, of wind band works, as well as freely bestowed instruction of the youth and the education in art music for the Madeiran society; as Alexandre Luiz da Cunha, editor of the journal “O Defensor” says: “provide free instruction, or almost, to the youth with less means [to afford it] and regulate the amateurs ears with some music works.” Nevertheless, it is possible that António Frutuoso da Silva, pedagogue of piano, violin and chant, and Ricardo Porfírio da Fonseca had played or teached in this institution. Core aspects of virtuosity – the exhibition of works with technical difficulty and the renown by the audiences and press – are noticed in this collectivity’s events; we can’t mention, though, the use of the title virtuoso. The examples in Funchal were Cândido Drummond de Vasconcelos, on the “machete”, (vide. ESTEIREIRO, 2008: 7, 8), Monteiro Júnior on the same instrument, Caetano Drolha (an army musician, assigned in 1824 to the St. George’s Castle Regiment in Lisbon), on the clarinet and Meyer on the flute. There was also the fascination for child prodige in the case of the flute disciple of Mr. Falcão, Xavier. This musical society held the concerts of the violin virtuoso Agostinho Robbio, in his first visit in 1843 (this musician also gave concerts in Azores).
Robert Winter tells us of the existence of many excellent performers in the mid-nineteenth century, among them a renowned composer-performer, possibly Duarte Joaquim dos Santos, Ricardo Porfírio da Fonseca or António José Bernes (ESTEIREIRO, 2008b):
«There are severa1 excellent performers on the piano in the city; among others, a private gentleman of the highest musical taste and genius, who not only executes admirably, but has written a number of pieces which would do honour to almost any composer, and on which the inhabitants justly pride themselves»
(WINTER, 1850: 73, apud ESTEIREIRO, 2008b).
The analysis of the circa 25 works of Duarte Joaquim dos Santos in the Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal and British Library allows the conclusion, according to Jim Samson’s categorization, of a development from the classic pianism, e.g. the Concert for piano, to a pos-classic/romantic pianism, e.g. divertissement, capriccio, fantasia on operatic themes. The extant works for piano by Ricardo Porfírio da Fonseca are "Souvenir de Madère : Trois Valses pour Piano” and "Madeira Cotillions" (ESTEIREIRO, 2008: 4), stylized salon dances that may be classified as pos-classic pianism. The few data about António José Bernes mention his learning with Fonseca (WAKSEL, 1869), his trip to Austria and Italy, the conducting of an orchestra accompanying Robbio and his death in Portugal Continental (CARITA & MELLO, 1988; ESTEIREIRO, 2008b). None of his works was found until now, and therefore it’s impossible to conclude about his musical abilities and composition; Waksel’s encomium of his composition is well known.
Platão de Waksel (1869) mentions also the visit to Funchal, between 1849 and 1869, of other virtuosi, such as the violinist Francisco de Sá Noronha (our research on references about his visit was unfruitful, what lead us to question the veracity of this affirmation), the cellist César Augusto Casella – in December 1850 and January 1851 –, Agostinho Robbio – in 1851 (CARITA & MELLO, 1988) and 1866 – and the pianist Oscar Pfeiffer.
The most preeminent names in feminine musical practice in Madeira are Júlia de França Netto (singer) – the repertoire sang requires high skills and expression - Maria Paula Klinghofer Rêgo (pianist and harpist), Carolina Dias de Almeida (singer), Carlota Cabral, and Maria Virgínia de Sousa (pianists).
In the second half of the nineteenth century important Portuguese pianist gave concerts in Funchal. Artur Napoleão was a child-prodige and virtuoso. He exhibited in several countries of Europe, North America and South America and set, afterwards, in Brazil. It is possible that this composer-performer gave concerts in Madeira Island (when he travelled between Brazil and Europe), but there aren’t references to confirm that affirmation. By the end of the century, in 1895, Viana da Mota e Bernardo Moreira de Sá gave four concerts (April 15th, 17th, 19th and 21th) in Teatro D. Maria Pia. The account in Diário de Notícias of April 17 1895 describes the enchantment left by their concerts:
It still seems like a dream that we had had the chance to admire in the last Monday the eximious pianist Vianna da Motta, whose fame had come to us by the appreciations of Portuguese and foreign press, in an unanimity of honorable praises, [written by those who have] unquestionable authority in musical matters.
We never supposed that Madeira would have the joy of knowing and enjoying the illustrious pianist, that count by triumphs all the times that he is heard; after hearing the news of his passage by Funchal from a respectable gentleman, we were afraid that some unexpected difficulty would prevent that the great artist would came to amaze us with his talent. Happily, Vianna da Motta came to grants us the chance of admiring him, and only admire, because there isn’t other feeling in the face of his excellent and amazing performance.
Criticism doesn’t have anything to do with Vianna da Mota. By his faultness on performance, by the ideal way by which he interprets the great masters, by his inspiration, that carry us to unknown regions, Vianna da Mota is above all appreciations.)
Diário de Notícias, 17 de Abril de 1895, p. 2
It is worth recalling that virtuosity became a means to interpretation in the course of the nineteenth century. Napoleão had carried a life of child prodige and virtuoso across Europe and America. He represents indeed the virtuoso. Eventhough the impression given by this touched spectator of the concert seems a praise to a virtuoso, Viana da Mota is seen as the excellent performer and composer, who plays the works of the great masters in the “ideal” and correct way. (The title virtuoso assigned to his artistic description, published by the journal, refers the moral sense of virtuosity.)
Several renowned pianists performed in Funchal in the twentieth century. Óscar da Silva and Maria Antonieta Aussenac gave a concert in 1922 in Teatro Manuel de Arriaga. (CARITA & MELLO, 1988).
A magnificent period of concerts was possible with the institution of the Sociedade de Concertos da Madeira by Luiz Peter e William Edward Clode in 1943. The esteemed pianists Leopold Querol (February 26th 1949), Sérgio Varella Cid, (November 1950 and 1962) and Victor Chioler, Winfried Wolf e Benno Moiseiwitsh (January and February 1951) exhibited in recital in Teatro Municipal Baltazar Dias. (CARITA & MELLO, 1988). The creation of Academia de Música da Madeira would fulfill a need for academic training in this Archipelago, giving opportunity to those who aspired of becoming a performer and composer.
