Mosca, Manuel Álvares

Brother of the composer and organist José Álvares Mosca (fl. 1759-c.1831), Manuel Álvares Mosca (fl. 1760-c.1820) was one of the most active copyists of the Seminário and the Santa Igreja Patriarcal, who also made copies for the royal chapel at Vila Viçosa and the Basílica de Santa Maria Maior. It is highly likely that he was the Manuel Alves admitted to the Seminário Patriarcal on 5 August 1760 (Fernandes 2009, i, p. 313). In 1782, he was admitted as a tenor to the chorus of the Portuguese musicians (‘Coro dos Músicos Portugueses da Patriarcal’) at the Santa Igreja Patriarcal (Fernandes 2009, i, p. 309). A receipt with his signature at P-Lf, recording payment for the copying of several works for the Santa Igreja Patriarcal in 1796, leaves little doubt that he is copyist Seminário1 in Marques 2012.

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).

António Jorge Marques, A obra religiosa de Marcos António Portugal (1762-1830): catálogo temático, crítica de fontes e de texto, proposta de cronologia (Lisbon, Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal, 2012), pp. 856-857.