Silva, Policarpo José António da

Policarpo José António da Silva (1745–1803) was a singer (tenor), keyboard player and composer, principally of vocal chamber music. He became a member of the St. Cecilia Brotherhood on 19 February 1761 and a signatory to a reform of its statutes in 1765 (Vieira 1900, pp. 324-325; Ribeiro 1995, p. 17). In 1763, Policarpo da Silva was admitted as a singer of the Patriarcal, while in 1771 he auditioned to become a member of the Capela Real da Ajuda at a salary of 30$000 réis per month (Fernandes 2009, p. 242). In addition, he was a royal chamber musician and music teacher. A printed collection of his Italian canzonette on texts by Metastasio, entitled La Primavera (1787), describes him as ‘Professore di Musica All'Attuale Servizio delia Cappella e Camera Reale di Sua Maestá Fedelissima’. Similarly, on the title-page of a cantata dedicated to D. Carlota Joaquina, composed on the occasion of her birthday in 1799 (P-La, 48-III-35), he calls himself ‘Musico di Cappella e coi Camara di S. M. F. [Sua Majestade Fidelíssima]’. 

While not formerly employed as a teacher at the Seminário da Patriarcal, he had many private students (Fernandes 2009, p. 397) and performed in private chamber concerts, including several times for William Beckford, who regarded him as a ‘famous tenor’ in 1787. A set of Solfejos for soprano (P-Ln, C.I.C. 7) is a testament to his work as a teacher. The title-page of a Marcha e Contredança (P-Ln, M.M. 6003) for piano with accompaniment for two violins and flute implies he was the music master of D. José João Miguel de Bragança e Ligne, 1st Duke of Miranda do Corvo, in 1800. 

According to the catalogue of Policarpo José António da Silva’s works in Ribeiro 1995, a significant number of his autographs are to be found in P-Ln (F.C.R. 201//1, 201//2, 201//3; M.M. 264//3, 664, 3030, 6003; C.I.C. 7, 18; ‘CN s.c.’; ‘MMs 278’); another is in the Biblioteca da Ajuda (P-La, 48-III-35). 

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).

Alberto José Vieira Pacheco, ‘SILVA, Policarpo José António da’, Dicionário Biográfico do Núcleo Caravelas do CESEM/NOVA FCSH (2013) [https://dicionario-biografico.caravelas.fcsh.unl.pt/node/112]

Miguel Ângelo de Faria Couto Martins Ribeiro, ‘As “canzonette” na obra de Policarpo José da Silva (1745-1803)’, Masters dissertation (Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 1995).

Mariana Amélia Machado Santos, Catálogo de música manuscrita, vol. 6 (Lisbon: Biblioteca da Ajuda, Ministério da Educação Nacional, 1963).

Ernesto Vieira, Diccionario biographico de musicos portuguezes: historia e bibliographia da musica em Portugal, 2 vols. (Lisbon: Typographia Mattos Moreira & Pinheiro, 1900), ii, pp. 324-326.