Silva, Francisco Manuel da (EN)

Silva Francisco Manuel da, *21 February 1795 Rio de Janeiro, †18 December 1865 Rio de Janeiro, Brazilian composer, and conductor. Initially, he studied music with J.M. Nunes García, later he studied counterpoint and composition with S. Neukomm during his stay in Brazil in 1816–21. In 1809–31, he was successively a singer, tympanist and cellist of the royal band (renamed imperial after the proclamation of Brazilian independence in 1822) in Rio de Janeiro, which was led by M. Portugal from 1811. After the abdication of Emperor Dom Pedro I (7 April 1831), Silva composed the anthem Hino ao 7 de Abril, which became the national anthem of the Republic of Brazil in 1889 (from 1922 performed with new lyrics by J.O. Duque Estrada). After the dissolution of the imperial band, Silva began active organisational activities. In 1833, he founded the Sociedade Beneficencia Musical in Rio de Janeiro, he became conductor of the Sociedade Filarmónica orchestra in 1834, court composer of Emperor Dom Pedro II in 1841, and titular composer of the imperial band in 1842. From 1837, he was a professor at the music department of the Colegio de Belas-Artes in Rio de Janeiro, which he transformed into the Conservatorio de Música in 1847; he also co-founded the Imperial Academia de Música and the Opera Nacional (1857).

Literature: A. de Andrade Francisco Manuel da Silva e seu tempo, 1808–1865. Urna fase do passado musical do Rio de Janeiro à luz de novos documentos (‘Francisco Manuel da Silva and his times, 1808–1865. A period from Rio de Janeiro’s musical past in the light of new documents’), 2 volumes, «Coleção Sala Cecilia Meireles» I, Rio de Janeiro 1967.