Estêvão Lopes Morago

Estêvão Lopes Morago (Spanish: Esteban Lopez Morago) (c. 1575 in Vallecas, Spain – 1630 in Viseu, Portugal) was a Spanish-born composer who studied, lived, worked and died in Portugal. He is one of the most important polyphonists in the music history of Portugal. Another representative of the high level of cultural interchanges between the two countries, as some of the highest figures of the peninsular cultural history have moved around between the two countries freely and mostly in a way unrelated to the political events of the time (Diego Velázquez was of Portuguese origin; and Alonso Sánchez Coello are some of the examples).

Lopes Morago was born in Vallecas, near Madrid, but he passed the vast majority of his life in Portugal. He was a student of Filipe de Magalhães at the Cathedral of Évora, where he obtained his licentiate degree. After that, in August 1599, he went to the Cathedral of Viseu where he was appointed canon and mestre de capela.

In 1626, the chapter of the Cathedral allowed him to go to Lisbon to publish his works. These included the Livro Comum and the Vesperal, which have survived.

The place and year of his death are uncertain. There are indications that Morago moved to Spain and died there about 1628. However, a later document (1630) states that Morago had retired to a Franciscan monastery in Viseu (Convento de Orgens) and died there.

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