Marcos Coelho Neto

Marcos Coelho Neto (born 1763 or c. 1776; died 1823), also spelled Marcos Coelho Netto and often called Marcos Coelho Neto Filho to distinguish him from his namesake father, was a Brazilian composer, conductor and instrumentalist. He spent his career in Vila Rica, the capital of the Captaincy of Minas Gerais, where he played the horn, clarion and trumpet.

Coelho Neto and his father took part in the royal festivities of 1786 at the Casa da Ópera. By 1804 the son was a trumpeter in the First Militia Regiment, while his father served as the regiment's timpanist. He belonged to the brotherhoods of São José dos Homens Pardos and Nossa Senhora das Mercês de Cima, playing for their ceremonies and repeatedly directing the novena and feast of Saint Joseph. In 1812, he joined thirty other musicians in a petition to found a brotherhood of Saint Cecilia and curb demands for unpaid performances. He won Vila Rica's municipal music contracts in 1814 and 1815, directing the singers and instrumentalists hired for public ceremonies.

Much of the sacred music bearing the name Marcos Coelho Neto cannot be assigned securely to either father or son. The repertory comprises the 1787 hymn Maria Mater Gratiae, settings of the Litany of Loreto in C, D and F, the antiphons Salve Regina and Crucem Tuam, and responsories for Saint Anthony. These works generally use four vocal parts with strings, bass and pairs of wind instruments. Analyses of individual pieces find Baroque, galant and Classical elements in their vocal writing, harmony and form. Handwriting analysis favors the son for much of the repertory, though some scholars assign individual works to the father or leave the question open.

The music returned to performance through Francisco Curt Lange's work in Minas Gerais between 1944 and 1946. Among the manuscripts he collected was the autograph score of Maria Mater Gratiae, dated 1787 and now held by the Museu da Inconfidência. Lange published the hymn in 1951, followed by performances in Argentina and Brazil and a recording made at the Theatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro in 1958. Further scores, performances and recordings have expanded the available repertory while leaving the division of the works between father and son unsettled.

Read more about this composer on Wikipedia.