Manuel Ribeiro
(Mirandela, 1884) - (Lisboa, 1949)
Abstract:
[Mirandela, Portugal 1884 – Lisboa, Portugal 1949]
Musician, military and regent, composer of magazines, symphonic poems and operettas. Manuel Ribeiro composed and published a work with about 400 scores. Also was second lieutenant and head of Regimental Band of Infantry 27 headquartered in Funchal.
Biography:
Manuel Ribeiro was a native of Mirandela, where was born in 1884. About his personal life there is little information available, beyond the registration with uncertain date of birth and marriage with Etelvina Laura Ascensão Calega.
The musician and soldier died in Lisbon, February 1949, at the time with the certificate of captain.
Between 1911 and 1917 with the brevet of lieutenants was appointed head of the Banda Regimental 27, based in Funchal. At the time he began to create musical compositions and held a prominent place in the musical life of Funchal, due to the high number of works he composed and the shows that directed. Among the pieces of music he composed during his stay in Madeira stands out: the score of the regional operetta, A Menina dos Bordados, with the words of the journalist Elmano Vieira; the magazine A Madeira por Dentro, written by Elmano Vieira with Júlio do Amaral; As furnas do Cavallum; and the Hino do Diário da Madeira, a composition that the press has highlighted.
Luís de Sousa Melo and Rui Carita refer to another two works by Manuel Ribeiro: A Madeira na Berlinda magazine, presented in Funchal with the words of Luís Pinheiro and Francisco Bento de Gouveia; and the regional operetta Primeiros Afectos with speech by Alberto Artur Sarmento. The tenor of Madeira Nuno Lomelino da Silva made his stage debut with this operetta.
During the time in which he was based in Funchal, Manuel Ribeiro composed his first symphonic poems some of them have achieved great success and were performed by Orquestra symphonic group of Manuel Ribeiro, who performed in the Municipal Theater of Funchal .
From this group was the musician Pedro de Freitas Branco, as first violin, who later became an internationally recognized conductor, to whom Manuel Ribeiro dedicated the Concerto in B flat major, op. 13.
Manuel Ribeiro was transferred and placed in Lisbon because of his military career. In the capital he was professor of choral singing at the Military College and in the Institute of Army Pupils and continued his activity as a composer, through which was associated with the magazine theater with some personalities of the time, as Rómulo de Carvalho and Vasco Santana.
About his published work, in total Manuel Ribeiro left behind a legacy with 400 scores, the majority for harmonies and orchestras; operas such as Alcide e Morgadinha of Val Flor and Quadros Históricos da Vida Musical Portuguesa, a musical literary; compositions written for symphonic orchestra and dedicated to Madeira, like Rapsodia N. 1, with themes of Madeira influence (oitavado, bailinho, charambinha, mourisca, bailinho do Porto Santo) and Danças madeirenses N.º 1 e 2, op . 330.
In 1929 he returned to Madeira where he was received with a tribute by Banda Distrital on November 10, 1929. The musician returned to Lisbon on November 29 of this year.
Manuel Ribeiro was dedicated also to Literature and to his death wrote, by solicitation of the Minister of the War, História da Música Militar and Cancioneiro do Exército; in addition to these works he worked in a romance named “Por entre fraguedos”.
Authors:
Esteireiro, Paulo; Freitas, Manuel Pedro (2008). “Manuel Ribeiro”. In 50 Histórias de Músicos na Madeira. Funchal: Associação de Amigos do Gabinete Coordenador de Educação Artística.
Update:
Ventura, Ana (2011). “RIBEIRO, Manuel”. In Dicionário Online de Músicos na Madeira. Funchal: Divisão de Investigação e Documentação, Gabinete Coordenador de Educação Artística, atualizado em 21/10/2011.
Bibliography:
Carita, R.; Melo, L. F. (1988). 100 Anos do Teatro Municipal Baltazar Dias. Funchal: Câmara Municipal do Funchal.
Esteireiro, P.; Freitas, M. P. (2008). “Manuel Ribeiro”. In 50 Histórias de Músicos na Madeira. Funchal: Associação de Amigos do Gabinete Coordenador de Educação Artística, pp. 50-51.
