Missa Grande by Antônio dos Santos Cunha: operistic influences in the work of a colonial Brazilian "mineiro" composer

Abstract

This paper discloses a brief collection of notes about Brazilian composer Antônio dos Santos Cunha, from the late eighteenth-century Minas Gerais School. It describes the original scores of his masterpiece called Missa Grande and tries to identify operatic influences in several excerpts of the composition. This paper also presents anecdotal facts based on the study of the remaining scores.

musicology; Antônio dos Santos Cunha; Brazilian colonial music; composer; biography; conducting