Ema Câmara Reis’ archive: from patronage to musical dissemination

Abstract

Between 1923 and 1939, the singer Ema Câmara Reis organized a regular concert series. These 134 concerts were held in private homes, as Reis belonged to an affluent family, within the context of female sociabilities, and with a rather selective guest list. Among the concerts she organised, two stand out for being entirely dedicated to Portuguese music and for including works by women composers. Since her archives have been donated to the National Library of Portugal, it is now possible to access these works and data pertaining to the events, and analyse their relevance for this context. The main objective of this presentation is to present and discuss the works and the context of two Portuguese music concerts that she organised: A Música Vocal Portuguesa (Séculos XIX e XX) [Vocal Portuguese Music (19th and 20th centuries)], on November 1925, and Considerações sobre o Lied [Impressions on Lied], on June 1930. This research has addressed the motivations behind the organisation of these concerts, systematized the collected data about female musical sociabilities in Portugal, and studied the connections between the musical production of these women composers and their cultural and gender context. The research identified and collected data and works by composers such as Júlia Oceana, Bertha Rosa Limpo, Maria Antonieta de Lima Cruz or Laura Wake Marques, presented in the salons of Ema Câmara Reis. It was also possible to identify a close friendship between these composers and the organizer, which led them to actively participate in the concerts, not only as performers but as creators. When analysing Reis’ collection, the research also confirmed that most of these women performed almost exclusively in private spheres, as singers or composers, and that sometimes they also organized their own events, many of which for the presentation of their own works.