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Eco Musical: Órgão defensor dos músicos portugueses

(Lisbon, 1911-1931)

Prepared by Mariana Calado
Online only (2025)

Eco Musical: Órgão defensor dos músicos portugueses (also given as Echo Musical in 1911) represents a significant repository of information concerning the professional situation of musicians in Portugal during a period of change, including the political and social unrest that encompassed the First Republic (declared in October 1910), through the establishment of the dictatorship after the military coup of May 1926. The journal is an important source of data about the Portuguese musical scene and the development of symphonic culture, the reception of modern composers in Portugal, especially Wagner (a favorite composer of the journal’s editors), and about the works of Portuguese composers.

Across its publication run, Eco Musical didn’t undergo many transformations. In the first two years the structure of this journal consists of two columns per page and eight pages per issue, changing to three columns and keeping this structure for several years. The number of pages eventually reduced to six per issue, finally to four, in part due to the increase in the cost of paper during the First World War and to the financial difficulties of the journal. Generally, the journal’s layout is simple, with few images besides the occasional picture of a musician, though in 1914 the journal tried a renovation of its layout and the titles of recurring sections bore a graphic illustrative of its content. Only in 1927 did the graphic structure of the journal change again, mainly in the front page with the introduction of a new heading.

Initially, Eco Musical was published weekly, but in September 1916 it shifted to three issues per month for the same reason that forced the decrease of the number of pages. The financial difficulties experienced by the journal, mainly caused by delays in payment of the subscriptions, affected its periodicity and in some periods the publication is irregular. The economic situation of the journal was a constant motive of preoccupation to Artur Odorico Raposo, director for almost fifteen years. In 1918, the administration decided to obtain a typography as a way of control the production costs of the journal. Although it was announced that from 1919 the journal would be printed in its own workshop, it continued to be printed in independent typographies – Tipografia do Comércio, Tipografia do Diário de Notícias, Tipografia Lucas and Tipografia Belezas. During 1919 to 1921, the journal announced the edition of some books and manuals: commissioned printing work and the sale of sheet music at lower prices.

Eco Musical was founded by a group of people with connections to the musical and military world. They shared functions in the direction, administration and editorial team of the journal, but, due to different reasons, each had to withdraw from the project. The position of director was occupied by various figures over the years: José Maria Cordeiro (1911); Gustavo de Lacerda (1912-1913); Eduardo Augusto Dias (1913); Ernesto Vieira (1913-1915; following the death of Vieira, the position was temporarily occupied by X., José Henrique dos Santos, Acácio Paixão, and Artur Raposo); Bernardo Valentim Moreira de Sá (1916); and Artur Raposo (1916-1931). Cordeiro, Dias and Raposo were military musicians and their experiences are well expressed in the journal. Cordeiro was also a composer and teacher and made his own attempt as director of another music journal, Música (1927). Dias emigrated to Brazil and became a banker; after the end of his career, Raposo devoted himself to the cause of the military musicians through Eco Musical, and he was active in civic associations. Ernesto Vieira was a musicologist, pedagogue, flautist and composer, mostly known for his work on the Dicionário biográfico de músicos portugueses (1900), and collaborated with other music journals, such as Amphion and A Arte Musical. As director of Eco Musical, Vieira introduced more articles about theory and the history of music, which attracted more readers. Moreira de Sá was chosen to replace Vieira but didn’t remain long in charge because of logistic difficulties: the violinist, teacher and musical promoter lived in Porto, while the administration and editorial team of the journal remained in Lisbon.

The list of collaborators to Eco Musical is long and reflects the journal’s mission and history; of note are Armando Leça, Jaime Guimarães Cibrão, Tomás Borba, and Francine Benoît. With a large number of correspondents and readers among the military bands, the identity of a considerable number of authors is almost impossible to determine; usually, news, reports and comments in the section “Correio da província,” or “Correspondência da província,” were simply signed C., for “Correspondent”.

The primary aim of Eco Musical was the defense of the musical class, as stated in the subtitle of the journal. This included not only professional musicians that played in orchestras and other musical groups, but also military musicians. The editors invested huge efforts in the promotion of the rights of military musicians and in the recognition of the importance of their service in the army and in Portuguese society. Civil musicians received the support of the journal as well and it published frequent news from the musician’s union, the Associação de Classe dos Músicos Portugueses. (In fact, Eco Musical’s headquarters were at Rua do Mundo, today Rua da Misericórdia, in the rooms that belonged to the association.)

Eco Musical also published articles about history of music, acoustic and music theory; biographical sketches of composers and musicians; sections about the musical life in Portugal, with news of concerts and the activities of composers, musicians and musical groups; music criticism; and articles about music teaching, including a brief section from the Conservatório Nacional. Throughout the twenty years of publication, only a few sections were recurrent. These were news sections and had different levels of relevance: news from abroad, taken from foreign musical newspapers; news sent by correspondents and readers from outside of Lisbon, always very heterogeneous; and, finally, news from military units with details about the movements of military musicians and, sometimes, concerts by the bands. This section, “Notícias militares”, was usually published in the final pages of the journal, before the advertisements.

The end of Eco Musical was precipitated by the financial difficulties of the journal, the health state of Raposo, and the problems between him and the direction of the Associação de Classe dos Músicos Portugueses. Raposo ultimately handed the administration to a group of military musicians, but no one was able to restore the vitality to the journal. The final issue, dated from January 1931, is a rancorous explanation of the situation and the reasons why Raposo was leaving the project.

This RIPM Index was produced from copies of the journal held at the New York Public Library, the Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal, and the Museu Nacional da Música, in Lisbon.

Errors in the numeration of the issues are frequent, particularly in the year 1922, with repetitions, gaps and jumps in the numeration. These have been identified and corrected. From the end of 1922 to the beginning of 1923 there is a repetition in the numeration, however it was decided to maintain the original numeration in 1923.

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