Portrait of Father José Maurício

The son of a tailor and an enslaved woman, both of mixed race, José Maurício had a poor childhood and lost his father at the age of six. He was still very young when he learned to play several musical instruments and joined the Jesuit order. At sixteen, he composed his first work, Tota pulchra es, Maria (1783) – the first of many, among modinhas (sentimental songs), theatrical plays, sonatas and hymns. In 1792 he was ordained a priest and in 1798 he became the chapel master of the old Rio de Janeiro Cathedral. With the installation of the Court of D. João in the city, in 1808, José Maurício was appointed master of the Royal Chapel. After 1820, when the prince returned to Portugal, Father José Maurício founded a music school in the Marrecas Street. In 1826, impoverished once more, he composed one of his last pieces, the Mass of Saint Cecilia.