«Uma gritaria pavorosa»: A prática musical em Portugal em 1801, segundo a alemã Esther Bernard

Abstract

Foreign accounts of travel in Portugal from the end of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth century are important tools for knowledge of Portuguese musical practices at the end of Ancien Regime. However, in general these texts are not innocuous and have an implicit narrative. To understand better musical practices from this period it is necessary to compare these sources with the social, musical, historical and personal contexts in which they were produced. In this paper I intend to analyse the narrative of Esther Bernard, one of the few travelling women in the pre-romantic period from the restricted intellectual circles of Berlin, where she became acquainted with Schleiermacher, Schlegel, Jean Paul, Walter Scott and Lord Byron. Bernard lived in Portugal between 1801 and 1802 and wrote two books for the frequenters of Berlin’s intellectual salons. Following her descriptions of the opera theatres, the Convent of Mafra, domestic music, popular dances and private salons, I will critically contextualize and frame Esther Bernard’s narrative to understand Portuguese musical practices and the way in which these texts have influenced knowledge about Portugal within the circle of salons in Berlin.