Francisco Ignacio Solano no tricentenário do seu nascimento

Abstract

Francisco Ignacio Solano, a private music teacher, cellist, and theoretical author left a profound mark on his time. He published six different books over the course of three decades (1763-94) in the field of music theory. This approach to the author combines the biographical and historical methods with data analysis techniques, such as documentary and bibliographical analysis. The sources used for this biography proposal include documents produced during the eighteenth century, such as baptismal, marriage and death records, tax records, correspondence scattered across national and foreign archives, and the author’s own works.

Solano was at the core of many theoretical debates. He exemplified how to be a musician in the Italian style and how to remain up-to-date as both a teacher and musician in eighteenth century Portuguese society. This theoretical author was a man who benefited from the modernity of his time, while also being a driving force of that modernity for Portuguese musicians over the course of sixty years.