ABSTRACT
During the eighteenth century, the Italianization or 'Neapolisation' of Portuguese musical life was a continuous process, and one that was fostered by native composers. The name of Carlos Seixas immediately springs to mind when considering Portuguese keyboard music in the first half of the eighteenth century, but far less familiar is later eighteenth-century repertory. According to Jose Mazza, Joao Cordeiro da Silva was 'a native from the city of Elvas'. Joao Cordeiro da Silva was one of the most active composers at the Portuguese court in the second half of the eighteenth century, contributing to both the sacred and secular repertories. Joao Cordeiro da Silva wrote a number of dramatic works for the royal theatres of Ajuda, Queluz and Salvaterra based on librettos by Goldoni, Metastasio and Gaetano Martinelli. In contrast to his dramatic and sacred music it is impossible to establish a chronology for Cordeiro da Silva's keyboard works.
