Invisible Legacies Throughout History: How Women Shaped Music in Portugal and Brazil | Inês Thomas Almeida
Women have long shaped music in Portugal and Brazil, yet their contributions remain largely unknown or unacknowledged. From Arabic-Andalusian singers and Brazilian primadonnas to queens influencing musical practices, singing nuns, pioneering conductors, salons, and patronage, their impact accross centuries was profound. This lecture explores women’s invisible legacies in Lusophone musical heritage, their roles—and often their survival techniques—as agents in the creation, preservation, and transformation of music.
With support of The Edward J. and Dorothy Clarke Kempf Memorial Fund.
Part of CLAIS Music and Soundscapes Colloquia Series.
Speakers
Inês Thomas Almeida is a FLAD/Saab Visiting Professor in Portuguese Studies at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, specializing in historical musicology, women’s studies, and cultural history. Her research focuses on 18th-century music, women’s musical practices, travel accounts, and transnational cultural networks. She leads the project FEMUS 18 – Female Music Practice in 18th-Century Portugal (FCT, 2024–2030) at New University of Lisbon (INET-md). Her publications include Vamos correr riscos: textos escolhidos de Madalena de Azeredo Perdigão (2023), co-edited with Rui Vieira Nery, and articles such as Imaginary Soundscapes: The Sounds of Portuguese Music as Captured by German Travellers at the End of the Ancien Régime (2024) and Musical Practices of Women in the Late 18th Century Around Marie-Angélique and Jeanne-Renée de Bombelles (2023).