Biography

Born Mozambique, August 1957. Affiliation: Centro de Estudos de Sociologia e Estética Musical (CESEM), Universidade Nova de Lisboa (UNL). PhD (Musicology, UNL, 2010), Graduated in Musicology (UNL, 1999), BMus (Transversal flute, Escola Superior de Música, Lisboa, 1992), BSc (University of Natal, Durban, 1978). Since 2000, António Jorge Marques devoted his life to the study and dissemination of Marcos Portugal's life and work. In the Ph.D. thesis, "A obra religiosa de Marcos António Portugal (1762-1830): catálogo temático, crítica de fontes e de texto, proposta de cronologia [The sacred oeuvre of Marcos António Portugal (1762-1830): thematic catalogue, source and text criticism, chronology proposal]", extensive handwriting and paper-type studies were developed. The database born from that investigation, MARCOSMUS, was published by the Bernstein Project: The Memory of Paper, a site in 10 languages about paper and its history, containing 56 collections and more than 320,000 researchable watermarks from 22 countries. The critical edition of Marcos Portugal's Missa Grande (2009) has given rise to concerts in Portugal, England, France, Spain and Germany, in addition to two CD recordings (Portugal and France). He was the curator of the exhibition Marcos Portugal (1762-1830): 250 anos do nascimento [Marcos Portugal (1762-1830): 250th anniversary], held at the National Library of Portugal (October 2012 / January 2013) and at the Ducal Palace of Vila Viçosa (June to September 2013). In October 2014, the essay Niccolò Jommelli rediscovered: a new autograph of a 16 voice Laudate pueri won an honourable mention in the 6th Principe Francesco Maria Ruspoli International Competition; the essay and reconstruction of the work (lacking the first 8 pages) was published in 2021 (Saggi Ruspoli, Libreria Musicale Italiana). The joint project with the Lisbon Chamber Choir (CCL), concerning the 19th-century sacred music publications of Marcos Portugal, was financed by the Direcção-Geral das Artes on two occasions (2017 and 2019), resulting in the publication of a book with the critical edition of four works and the release of the corresponding CD. He was the PI of the project MARCMUS - Music paper and handwriting studies in Portugal (18th and 19th centuries): the case study of the collection of the Count of Redondo (EXPL/ART-PER/0749/2021), which laid the foundations for establishing Portuguese source criticism on a par with international standards. António has been a member of the Lisbon Chamber Choir since November 1982.