Berta Alves de Sousa facts for kids
Berta Alves de Sousa (born April 8, 1906 – died August 1, 1997) was a talented Portuguese pianist and composer. She created many different types of music. She was also a teacher and a music critic.
Biography
Early Life and Education
Berta Alves de Sousa was born in Liège, Belgium. She grew up in Oporto, Portugal. She started her music studies there. She learned from teachers like Moreira de Sa and Luis Costa. She also studied with Lucien Lambert and Claudio Carneyro. This was all at the Music Conservatory in Oporto.
Later, Berta continued her studies in other cities. In Paris, she learned piano from Wilhelm Backhaus and Theodor Szántó. She studied composition with George Mingot. She also went to Lisbon to learn from Vianna da Motta. Berta even studied how to conduct an orchestra. She learned this from Clemens Krauss in Berlin and Pedro de Freitas Branco in Lisbon.
Career as a Musician
After finishing her studies, Berta Alves de Sousa became a teacher. In 1946, she started teaching at the Music Conservatory of Oporto. She taught chamber music, which is music for small groups of instruments. She later became the head of that department.
Besides teaching, Berta was also a busy performer. She played the piano in concerts. She also worked as an accompanist, playing along with other musicians. Sometimes, she even conducted orchestras. Berta also wrote about music. She was a music critic for a newspaper called O Primeiro de Janeiro in Porto. In 1941, she won a special award called the Prix de Sa Moreira.
Berta Alves de Sousa passed away in Oporto in 1997. Her musical papers and writings are kept at the Oporto Conservatory of Music.
What She Composed
Berta Alves de Sousa wrote many different kinds of music. She composed music for small groups of instruments (chamber music). She also wrote music for choirs (choral music). And she created large pieces for orchestras (symphonic works). She even explored a special musical method called Symmetry Sonora. This method was developed by another composer, Fernando Corrêa de Oliveira.
Some of her well-known works include:
- Abreu Albano
- Teixeira de Pascoaes
- Há no Meu Peito uma Porta (In My Chest there is a Door)
- Canção Marinha (Navy Song)
- Três Prelúdios (Three Preludes)
