Portrait of Joaquim de Freitas Gonçalves

Joaquim de Freitas Gonçalves taught piano from 1917 at Porto Music Conservatory and was its director between 1934-1939 and 1940-1941. He wrote several articles about music in Porto, recital critiques and programme notes. The first pages of his Crónicas Musicais, or Music Chronicles, (between 1929 and 1943) contain a list of all his writings, in verse and prose, with particular emphasis on biographies of composers — Schumann, Chopin, Beethoven and Bach (1942) and Mozart (1943) – and his work Notas e conferências sobre música e músicos – Notes and Conferences on Music and Musicians (1943). As a pianist he is considered one of Óscar da Silva’s most talented students.