Francisco António de Almeida

Francisco António de Almeida (c. 1702–1754) was a Portuguese composer and organist, standing as one of the greatest names in portuguese Baroque music. From 1722 to 1726 he was a royal scholar in Rome. In 1724, Pier Leone Ghezzi drew his caricature, describing him as “a young but excellent composer of concertos and church music who sang with extreme taste”. He returned to Portugal in 1726, where he became organist of the Royal and Patriarchal Chapel. In 1728, the first of his serenatas, Il trionfo della virtù, was performed in Lisbon at the palace of Cardinal João da Mota e Silva. The serenata for six voices, Il Trionfo d’Amore, was first performed at the Ribeira Palace on 27th December 1729, the feast of St. John the Baptist, with King John V in attendance. His comic opera, La pazienza di Socrate, was performed at the royal palace in 1733 and it was the first Italian opera in Portugal. He was hired by the King to teach the harpsichord to the young Infanta Barbara of Portugal. A contemporary diarist states that Almeida composed music for the popular performances of presépios (Nativity scenes) in the Mouraria quarter of Lisbon. Despite claims of him dying in the Lisbon earthquake of