Franchi, José Maria Beckner

José Maria Beckmer Franchi (1768-?1832), son of the Italian tenor active in Portugal, Loreto Franchi (c. 1730–after 1811), was a bass singer and prolific composer of sacred music for the Patriarchal church and other institutions, as well as a teacher and organist. He was admitted to the Seminário Patriarcal in June 1779 (Fernandes 2009, ii, p. 241). His compositional career began no later than 1793 and continued until the end of his life. In 1832, he described himself as ‘Voluntaria Realista Urbana’ (P-Ln, M.M. 102; https://purl.pt/29176), which implies that he joined the absolutist cause during the Liberal Wars. Vieira (1900) states that Franchi died in the same year but without citing evidence. He also denounced Franchi’s music as derivative and banal; it has received scant attention ever since.

A large proportion of the manuscripts of Franchi’s music are autograph scores in P-Ln. An early example of his handwriting is to be found in an incomplete copy of a set of variations for piano, ‘fatte nel primo de prile anno de 90’, composed by his brother, Gregório Franchi (1770-1828) (P-Ln, F.C.R. 79; https://purl.pt/29530). Franchi used two styles of G clef, a standard one and another for horn parts only.

Cristina Fernandes, ‘O sistema produtivo da Música Sacra em Portugal no final do Antigo Regime: a Capela Real e a Patriarcal entre 1750 e 1807’, PhD thesis (Universidade de Évora, 2009).

Cristina Fernandes and Maria João Craigie, ‘Franchi, Loreto’, Dicionário Biográfico do Núcleo Caravelas do CESEM/NOVA FCSH (2010), [https://dicionario-biografico.caravelas.fcsh.unl.pt/node/87].

Ernesto Vieira, Diccionario biographico de musicos portuguezes: historia e bibliographia da musica em Portugal, 2 vols. (Lisbon: Typographia Mattos Moreira & Pinheiro, 1900), i, pp. 428-429.