Antônio dos Santos Cunha (19November 1830) was a Brazilian composer of sacred music and civil servant. Born in Meia Ponte, in the Captaincy of Goiás, he grew up in São João del-Rei, crossed the Atlantic to live and work in Portugal, and spent his final years in Rio de Janeiro.
Cunha wrote Masses, Holy Week responsories and music for the Novena de Nossa Senhora da Boa Morte. His compositions traveled farther and lasted longer than the surviving account of his life. They were copied and performed in São João del-Rei while he lived elsewhere, then passed from one generation of singers, instrumentalists and copyists to another for decades after his death. Manuscripts in his hand and later performing parts are kept by the Orquestra Ribeiro Bastos, the Orquestra Lira Sanjoanense and the Metropolitan Chapter of Rio de Janeiro.
His larger works move between the collective weight of the chorus and the intimacy of solo arias, duets and trios. Clarinet solos, chromatic horn passages and high violin writing give the instrumental parts a voice of their own, while some vocal movements draw on the expressive and technical language of Italian opera. Cunha's name faded from general view, but his music remained in manuscript books, church archives and local performance. Editions, recordings and new performances since the late twentieth century have centered on the Missa Grande and the Missa e Credo a Cinco Vozes.* >
Life
Origins and family
Cunha was born around 1780 in Meia Ponte, in the Captaincy of Goiás.
His mother, Angélica de Oliveira Rosa, was born in Santa Luzia, in the comarca of Sabará. She went to Goiás, where Cunha and his sister, Ana Francisca de São José, were born, and had settled in São João del-Rei by 1787. Angélica remained unmarried. She owned property and enslaved people and belonged to the brotherhoods of São Miguel e Almas, Nossa Senhora do Rosário and the Blessed Sacrament, as well as the Third Order of Saint Francis. Her will, written in 1836, named Antônio and Ana Francisca as her natural children and made her grandchildren her heirs.
The marriage register and baptismal entries for eight of Cunha's children name an elder Antônio dos Santos Cunha as his father. In these entries, the elder Cunha was born in Rio de Janeiro and held the rank of ensign in 1801 and sergeant-major by 1809. Angélica did not name the father of either child in her will. Pardini and Rocha leave open the possibility that this paternal lineage was supplied after the fact as Cunha sought the standing attached to legitimate descent. The precise identity and part played by the elder Cunha remain uncertain.
São João del-Rei and religious associations
One of the earliest glimpses of Cunha in São João del-Rei comes from a baptism in 1793, when he carried a legal proxy for his mother. On 6 January 1796, he joined the Brotherhood of Our Lady of the Rosary and Saint Benedict of the Black Men. Its book called him white. For his admission, he gave a ceremonial tunic for an image of Our Lady of Remedies.
By 1800, Cunha was paying dues to the Third Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. He joined the Brotherhood of Senhor Bom Jesus dos Passos on 17 February 1801 and sold a book to the Brotherhood of São Miguel e Almas that same year. These groups organized chapels, processions and feast days, and hired musicians for church services. Cunha belonged to the same circles through which his music would later pass in São João del-Rei.
Cunha was also trusted with formal errands. In 1801, he carried a proxy for a baptismal sponsor. He did the same the following year at the baptism of a child born to an enslaved woman. Such duties required someone able to read, write and handle legal papers. Where Cunha learned music, or whether he studied with a teacher, remains unknown.
Portugal and return to Brazil
By 1807, Cunha was living in Portugal. On 22 November, he married Helena Sofia Lassance at the parish church of São Pedro in Alenquer. He gave Meia Ponte as his birthplace. Helena had been born in Lisbon in 1791 and was the daughter of Carlos Lassance and Cecília Augusta da Silva Arnaut.
Their children were baptized in Torre de Moncorvo, Chaves and Lisbon between 1809 and 1818. The family moved through northern Portugal during the Peninsular War and the unsettled years that followed. Around 1815, a note from the Third Order of Mount Carmel called Cunha "absent for Lisbon". The note is known from a later transcription, as the original entry has not been found. It is not known why he left Brazil, and no musical employment has been found for his years in Portugal.
By March 1819, Cunha worked in the military supply administration of Trás-os-Montes as the first clerk in the accounting office of the province's Commissariat Department. He received one year's leave to travel from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro with Helena and five young children. The passport said that he was returning to attend to personal business.
The family had returned to São João del-Rei by 1820, when Cunha paid his yearly dues to the Brotherhood of Senhor Bom Jesus dos Passos. His son Pedro was baptized at the Church of Our Lady of the Pillar on 6 April 1821. The next year, Cunha gave 4$800 toward a public fountain planned for the Largo de São Francisco. On 21 May, at Juvêncio's baptism, Cunha granted the newborn boy his freedom. Juvêncio was the son of Mariana, an enslaved woman in Cunha's household.
From 31 December 1821, Cunha worked as a clerk at the Army Arsenal's Powder Factory in Rio de Janeiro. He still had family and confraternal affairs in São João del-Rei in 1821 and 1822, before his household settled in the capital.
Rio de Janeiro and final years
From 31 December 1821, Cunha worked as a clerk at the Powder Factory of the Army Arsenal near Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas, where he managed accounts and paperwork from 1821 to 1829. In 1823, he was also a member of the 4th Company of the 2nd Infantry Battalion of the city's Civic Guard. He also served as accounting officer for the municipal council from 1827 until his death. Pedro I admitted him to the Order of Christ on 1 October 1827.
Music occupied the time he could spare from work and family. Between January 1822 and May 1823, Cunha composed the Missa e Credo a Cinco Vozes and dedicated it to Pedro I. The work was considered for a ceremony of the General Assembly of the Empire on 1 May 1823, where José Maurício Nunes Garcia directed the music.
The Diario do Governo reported that Cunha's Mass had been performed that day. Cunha wrote to the newspaper on 16 May to correct the report. He had offered the work to the emperor, but another Mass was chosen. He explained that his score was too large and required more preparation than the ceremony allowed.
Cunha also took part in plans for a bronze equestrian statue of Pedro I. In June 1825, he joined the supporters called together by the municipal senate of Rio de Janeiro. On 21 April 1826, he delivered 383$880 to the General Treasury, money collected in São João del-Rei for the proposed monument.
Cunha died at his home on Rua dos Ferradores in Rio de Janeiro on 19 November 1830. The street was later renamed Rua Gonçalves Dias. His cause of death was not given. He received the sacraments, was dressed in the habit of the Third Order of the Minims of Saint Francis of Paola, and was taken to the order's church for burial. Helena remained in Rio de Janeiro and lived on Rua da Alfândega until her death in 1845.
Music
Cunha wrote sacred music for Mass, Holy Week and Marian celebrations. His known works include the Holy Week responsories, the Novena de Nossa Senhora da Boa Morte, the four-voice Missa Grande, the Missa e Credo a Cinco Vozes and a Pange lingua that may also be his.
His music remained in use in São João del-Rei through handwritten scores and performing parts passed from one musician to another. Some are in Cunha's own hand. Others were copied years or decades after his death. Most are kept by the Orquestra Ribeiro Bastos and the Orquestra Lira Sanjoanense, while another manuscript is held by the Metropolitan Chapter of Rio de Janeiro.
Manuscripts and transmission
The Holy Week responsories offer the clearest examples of Cunha's handwriting. The Orquestra Ribeiro Bastos holds autograph scores for the three offices, together with parts copied by Francisco José das Chagas, Martiniano Ribeiro Bastos and other musicians. Bass parts from the same cycle are kept by the Orquestra Lira Sanjoanense.
The Novena de Nossa Senhora da Boa Morte is preserved in parts copied by Francisco de Paula Miranda and Hermenegildo José de Souza Trindade. One group, dated 1839, contains the hymn Assumptionem Virginis Mariae and the antiphon Maria Mater gratiae. Another group may contain writing by Cunha, though this cannot be confirmed.
No manuscript of the Missa Grande in Cunha's hand has been found. The material kept by the Orquestra Ribeiro Bastos was copied by Francisco José das Chagas, Martiniano Ribeiro Bastos and unidentified musicians.
The Missa e Credo a Cinco Vozes reached Rio de Janeiro and São João del-Rei in different forms. The score held by the Metropolitan Chapter carries Cunha's signature and dedication to Pedro I, but the music itself was copied by someone else. It is a signed presentation score, not a manuscript written throughout by Cunha. The parts used in São João del-Rei were copied by Presciliano José da Silva, Francisco de Paula Miranda, José Maria Xavier, Desidério Antônio de Jesus Silva, Francisco José das Chagas and Martiniano Ribeiro Bastos. One copy of the Credo carries the dates 1841 and 1885.
The Pange lingua is known from a single copy made by Francisco José das Chagas in 1837. It bears Cunha's name, but no other copy or manuscript in his hand has been found, so its authorship remains uncertain.
+ Manuscript sources for Cunha's works Work or group Manuscript basis Repository and shelfmark Copyists and dates Source status Holy Week responsories Autograph scores and later performing parts Orquestra Ribeiro Bastos, 192.1/e9p5BRMGSJ RB PUCRJ-23Orquestra Lira Sanjoanense, OLS0208–OLS0210BRMGSJ LS PUCRJ-04 Cunha, Francisco José das Chagas, Martiniano Ribeiro Bastos and unidentified copyists Scores in Cunha's hand are extant, together with later performing parts. Parts dated 1839 and a second group with possible autograph writing Orquestra Lira Sanjoanense, OLS0133BRMGSJ LS PUCRJ-09 Francisco de Paula Miranda and Hermenegildo José de Souza Trindade Cunha is named as composer. Some handwriting may be his. Performing parts, with no known autograph Orquestra Ribeiro Bastos, 89–90 Francisco José das Chagas, Martiniano Ribeiro Bastos and unidentified copyists The manuscript set names Cunha as composer, but no source in his hand has been found. Signed presentation score in Rio de Janeiro and later performing parts in São João del-Rei Metropolitan Chapter of Rio de Janeiro, CRI-SM82Orquestra Lira Sanjoanense, OLS0188 and OLS0383BRMGSJ AV PUCRJ-19 and BRMGSJ LS PUCRJ-04/19 Unidentified Rio copyist, Presciliano José da Silva, Francisco de Paula Miranda, José Maria Xavier, Desidério Antônio de Jesus Silva, Francisco José das Chagas and Martiniano Ribeiro Bastos Cunha signed the Rio score, but its musical text is in another hand. The Minas Gerais material consists of later performing parts. One later copy Orquestra Lira Sanjoanense, OLS0367BRMGSJ AV PUCRJ-19 Francisco José das Chagas, 1837 Cunha is named as composer in a single later copy. The authorship remains uncertain.
Cunha's music also formed part of the working library of Lourenço José Fernandes Braziel, a musician active in São João del-Rei. The division of Braziel's estate after his death in 1831 included five entries under Cunha's name. They comprised a five-voice Credo, Holy Week Matins, a Mass, a Mass with large orchestra and a novena.