Portugal has a long music history, beginning around the year 600 C.E, which accompanied and strongly contributed to the development of the music history in Europe.

Medieval music Liturgical repertoire In the early days of the Catholic Church, several local liturgies developed, such as the Gallican in France, the Sarum in England, the antique Roman in Rome and the Ambrosian rite in Milan. The Visigothic Council of Toledo organized the Hispanic rite (Visigothic or Mozarab are variant terms) in 633.

The main source of the Hispanic rite is the León Antifonary (tenth century), which was most probably copied from an original collected in Beja (now in Alentejo, southern Portugal). The Beja region is home to one of the earliest mentions of a musician. In the activity of Andre Princeps Cantorum (489–525). The oldest manuscript (eleventh century) of Portuguese liturgical music in Toledan Hispanic notation is kept at the University of Coimbra General Library. Most other existing documents use Aquitan notation. From the middle of the thirteenth century on, the notation presents typically Portuguese variations; this Portuguese notation was used until the fifteenth century, when modern notation in staves was adopted.

However, the church started to worry about the proliferation of liturgies. From the mixture of the Galician liturgy with the antique Roman one would result, traditionally under pope Gregory I (540–604), the modern Roman liturgy, also known as Gregorian liturgy, comprising the Gregorian chant. This would become the official liturgy of the Catholic Church and gradually substituted for the local ones. In the Iberian Peninsula, the Council of Burgos decreed the substitution of the Hispanic rite by the modern Roman one in 1080. This measure was eased by the fact that, during the Reconquista, most of the bishops were French (Gérard, Maurice Bourdin, Jean Péculier, Bernard, Hughes).

Profane music

In Portugal, an aristocratic poetical-musical genre was cultivated, at least since the independence (1139), whose texts are kept in three main collections (Cancioneiros): Cancioneiro da Ajuda (13th century), Cancioneiro da Biblioteca Nacional (16th, on originals from the 14th), Cancioneiro da Vaticana (16th, on originals from the 14th). The 1680 poems kept in the Cancioneiros are divided in three forms: cantigas de amigo (songs of friend), cantigas de amor (songs of love) and cantigas de escárnio e maldizer (songs of mockery). The link to music is well evidenced in the Cancioneiro da Ajuda, where the staves have been drawn, but no melodies have been written.

The only musical source known until recently was due to a bookseller in Madrid, who found a parchment with the seven Cantigas de Amigo by Martin Codax, six of them with the respective melodies, in the beginning of the 20th century. Codax was a Galician troubadour from the court of King Dinis I of Portugal. In 1990, Prof. Harvey L. Sharrer (University of California at Santa Barbara) discovered at the Torre do Tombo in Lisbon, a medieval document (the Pergaminho Sharrer) with seven Cantigas de Amor by King Dom Dinis, including its musical setting.

Development of polyphony Little is known about the introduction of polyphony in Portugal. Polyphony was used in nearby places, such as Santiago de Compostela in Galicia (Spain), and it was imported to Portugal in the well-developed stage. Jehan Simon de Haspre was a well-known composer and defender of the ars subtilior and helped popularize polyphony while in the court of Fernando I of Portugal.

The main centers for Portuguese musical development during this period was the royal chapel, the monasteries (Santa Cruz Monastery in Coimbra and the Alcobaça Monastery), royal court, cathedrals (specially the Cathedral of Évora) and the university.

The royal chapel The Capela Real, royal chapel, was founded by D. Dinis in 1299. D. Duarte (1391–1438) elaborated a Regiment (Ordenaçam) of the Chapel, which indicates that the standard practice was a three-voice singing. His son, Afonso V (1432–1481), sent the Mestre de Capela (Master of the Chapel), Álvaro Afonso, to the court of Henry VI of England (1421–1471) in order to get a copy of the statutes, regiment and liturgy practiced in the English Royal Chapel. The detailed description written by William Say is still kept at Évora.

The court

As with the trovadoresque poetry, we keep important collections of texts of the 15th and 16th century (e.g. Cancioneiro Geral, compiled by Garcia de Resende), but the musical documents are fewer. The main sources of the court music in the Renaissance and Mannerist periods are: Cancioneiro de Elvas (Públia Hortênsia Library, at Elvas), Cancioneiro de Lisboa (National Library, Lisbon), Cancioneiro de Paris (École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris), Cancioneiro de Belém (Museu Nacional de Arqueologia e Etnologia, Lisbon)

The poetical forms are the vilancete (or villancico), the cantiga and the romance. The first two, similar to the French virelai and to the Italian ballata, are generally dedicated to the love thematic, though satire and social criticism are not excluded. They share a refrain and stanzas structure. The romance is dedicated to celebrate historical events, applying the same musical text to all the stanzas of the poem.

The cathedrals Cardinal-Princes D. Afonso (1509–1540) and D. Henrique (1512–1580), sons of D. Manuel I of Portugal (1469–1521) administrated the main Portuguese dioceses through the 16th century. Afonso administrated the Évora and Lisboa dioceses until his death. Henrique was successively Archbishop of Braga, Lisboa and Évora, as well as head of the Portuguese Inquisition. He became King of Portugal when his grand-nephew Sebastião I (1554–1578) died at Alcácer-Quibir (1578). As princes, they had their personal chapels and imposed a magnificent liturgy in the cathedrals they administrated.

In Évora, D. Afonso attracted high-quality musicians (like Mateus de Aranda, Mestre de Capela from 1528 to 1544) for the cathedral by establishing significant wages; Pedro do Porto (also known as Pedro Escobar, El Portugués), Cantor of the chapel of Isabel I of Castile, the Catholic Queen, and Master of the choir boys at Sevilla, comes as Mestre de Capela to Évora. He is the author of the most ancient polyphonic piece by a Portuguese author (a three-voice Magnificat), as well as the most ancient polyphonic treatment of the Requiem in the Iberian Peninsula. D. Afonso also founded a school for the choir boys, allowing them to study after the voice-change; many of these boys became professional musicians. This Évora school formed high-standard musicians for more than 150 years. Besides Évora, Braga and Coimbra show a particular care in the liturgy. The most ancient version from a Mass by a Portuguese author is from a Cantor of the Coimbra cathedral, Fernão Gomes Correia (active 1505–32).

The main monasteries

The most important monasteries kept a solemn liturgy. From these, the Santa Cruz Monastery, in Coimbra, had a particular importance. Founded in the 12th century by D. Afonso Henriques, it was the first school of superior studies in Portugal (St. Anthony of Padua – or of Lisbon – studied there). In the 16th century, several monks distinguished by their musical gifts, as D. Heliodoro de Paiva and D. Francisco de Santa Maria. The musical performances at Santa Cruz competed with those at El Escorial, and were praised for their conciliation between polyphony and the respect for the sacred texts.

The university The Portuguese University was founded in Lisbon by D. Dinis in 1290 and had a Music teacher as early as 1323. After several transfers between Coimbra and Lisbon, King João III (1502–1557) established it definitively at Coimbra in 1537. The move to Coimbra was followed by a reorganization in 1544, in which the King himself proposed Mateus de Aranda (Mestre de Capela at Évora after Pedro do Porto) as music teacher. The music teacher was also Mestre de Capela of the University.

The Mannerist Period (2nd half 16th and 17th centuries)

Historical context By the end of the 16th century, circumstances led to the disappearance of profane music in Portugal and religious music taking over. There are economical and political factors, like the troubles to keep the Portuguese conquests in Morocco and the competition led by Venetians and Turks (later by Dutch and English) to the spice trade, which leads to the closing of the Portuguese feitoria (which was a kind of "spice supermarket") in Antwerp. In cultural terms, the influence of the Counter-Reformation in Portugal is enormous: i) João III introduces the Inquisition in Portugal in 1536; his brother Henrique will be the first General Inquisitor; ii) the Jesuits come to Portugal in 1540 and soon start teaching in their own colleges in Coimbra and Lisbon. In 1555, they are in charge of the Arts College in Coimbra (the superior school in Portugal with most prestige), after the expulsion by the Inquisition of its most reputed teachers (like André de Gouveia); iii) the Portuguese church participated actively in the Council of Trent and, in 1564, Portugal becomes the only Catholic country where the council decisions (namely those concerning the musical practice in the church) are integrally published as laws.

In this context, the profane music declined in the courts of João III and his grandson Sebastião I. In 1578, with the death of Sebastião I, Cardinal Henrique becomes king of Portugal. After his death in 1580, Portugal loses its independence, as the throne is inherited by Felipe II, king of Spain (1527–1598). With the disappearance of the court in Lisbon, the aristocracy retired to their homes in the countryside, and the profane music nearly vanishes. The development of the Portuguese music in the end of 16th is thus mainly in the sacred polyphony.

Climax of the Évora school In 1575, Cardinal Henrique brought Manuel Mendes (1547 - 1605), Mestre de Capela at Portalegre, to Évora, where he took the Mestre de Claustra position. Besides his qualities as a composer, Manuel Mendes is remarkable as a teacher. He formed the most part of the extremely competent professional musicians who would have the most reputed musical positions in Portugal in the next decades. Between his students at Évora, we have the most noted polyphonists of the next generation: Fr. Manuel Cardoso (1566–1650), Filipe de Magalhães ( – 1652) and Duarte Lobo (1564/69-1646) . These continued the pedagogical action of their teacher, worthing him references as «mestre de toda boa musica deste reino» («teacher of every good music in this kingdom») and «el Mendes Sonoroso que de Musicos llena toda a Europa» («the sound Mendes who replenishes Europe with musicians»).

Other centres of musical activity in the 17th century

Santa Cruz at Coimbra Prominent composers of the 17th century include Pedro de Cristo, D. Pedro da Esperança and D. Gabriel de S. João. The manuscripts kept at the General Library of the University of Coimbra reveal innovative polyphonic practices, such as polychorality, accompanied monody and instrument obligato.

The Royal Chapel In spite of the absence of the King, it remains an important centre, with Mestres de Capela such as Francisco Garro, Filipe de Magalhães and Marcos Soares Pereira.

Chapel of the Dukes of Bragança at Vila Viçosa