ABSTRACT
For various reasons, female composers in Portugal, and the Iberian Peninsula at large, have been widely overshadowed by their male counterparts. Female composers and their music in nineteenth-century Portugal began to be seen and heard amidst their male counterparts, such as Domingo's Bomtempo, Joaquim Casimiro Junior, Joao Guilherme Bell Daddi, Francisco Antonio Norberto dos Santos Pinto, Alfred Keil, Augusto Machado, Jose Vianna da Motta, and others. The musical works of female composers reflected the realities, tastes and daily life of the general population, and especially of amateur musicians. The lack of large-scale works may reflect the fact that these composers had to establish a place in a mass market, which favoured entertaining salon music. The rich variety of popular forms adopted by these composers reflects the happenings of daily life, mostly in Lisbon. They were inspired by festive days, holy days, places and practices in Portugal, and 'exotic' themes.
