Manuel Mendes (or Manoel Mendes; c. 1547 – 24 September 1605) was a Portuguese composer and teacher of the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

. While his music remains obscure, he was important as the teacher of several of the composers of the golden age of Portuguese

polyphony Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice ( monophony) or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chord ...

, including

Duarte Lobo Duarte Lobo (c. 1565 – 24 September 1646; Latinized as ''Eduardus Lupus'') was a Portuguese composer of the late Renaissance and early Baroque. He was one of the most famous Portuguese composers of the time, together with Filipe de Magalhãe ...

and Manuel Cardoso. He was born in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

, and studied music with Cosme Delgado in

Évora Évora ( , ), officially the Very Noble and Ever Loyal City of Évora (), is a city and a municipalities of Portugal, municipality in Portugal. It has 53,591 inhabitants (2021), in an area of . It is the historic capital of the Alentejo reg ...

as a youth. Later he was appointed '' mestre de capela'' at the cathedral in Portalegre, but returned to Évora to receive a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in 1575. In 1575 he became a priest and teacher of the choirboys in the cathedral. His students included some of the most famous Portuguese composers of the early 17th century, such as Duarte Lobo, Manuel Cardoso, Filipe de Magalhães and Manuel Rebelo. He died at

. While Mendes was evidently a prolific composer, his works are only extant in manuscript. He was famous in the 16th century, and his music traveled to Spain as well as Mexico, where he was highly regarded.

References

*Robert Stevenson, "Manuel Mendes". ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980. .

External links

* 1540s births 1605 deaths Renaissance composers Portuguese classical composers People from Lisbon 16th-century Portuguese people Portuguese male classical composers {{Portugal-composer-stub