“Haydn’s Iberian World Connections”: perspectives on Robert Stevenson’s contributions to Latin American musical studies

Abstract

Studies concerning the dissemination of the classical style during the XVIII-th and early XIX-th centuries, initially focused on the practice of instrumental music in the Luso-Brazilian culture, have opened substantial grounds for the study on the ways of its circulation, reception, and reproduction in the Iberian Peninsula and its New World colonies. A sampling of pertinent data obtained from an analysis of MS 4986, consulted at Lisbon’s National Library, regarding a handwritten catalog of works previously existent in the musical archives of the Conde do Farrobo (1801-69), reveals substantial knowledge and practice of instrumental music from composers assimilated to 18th-century musical styles, with a major predominance of works by Joseph Haydn.