Eurico Tomás de Lima


Eurico Tomás de Lima was a Portuguese pianist, composer and pedagogue.

Life

Eurico Tomás de Lima was the son of António Tomás de Lima, a violinist, composer, conductor and professor at the National Conservatory in Lisbon. He also studied at the National Conservatory, from 1921 to 1929. He studied piano with Alexandre Rey Colaço and José Viana da Mota, aesthetics and music history with Luís de Freitas Branco, and composition with Hermínio do Nascimento. In 1929, he finished the Virtuosity degree, graduating summa cum laude.
In 1932, he presented for the first time a solo piano recital playing only his own compositions. Apart from his own works, his preferences in piano music lean towards "Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt and all of the masters of the slavic school."
In 1940 and 1941, he took part in the Cultural Missions of the Secretariat for National Propaganda, at the invitation of the minister António Ferro. In these chamber music recitals throughout the country, he collaborated with cellist Madalena Moreira de Sá e Costa, violinist Paulo Manso and soprano Leonor Bívar Viana da Mota. Also in 1941, he was awarded a composition prize from National Radio : the First Prize – Golden Poppy, in the Flower Games competition.
In 1949, and again 1952, he toured Brazil to great acclaim.
Between 1956 and 1973, he regularly recorded piano recitals for Emissora Nacional, playing mainly his own works. However, he also gave special attention to Portuguese piano music, as seen in a recital, recorded in 1970, devoted in its entirety to works by Óscar da Silva, a Portuguese pianist and composer who studied in Germany with Carl Reinecke and Clara Schumann. Eurico Tomás de Lima met Óscar da Silva in childhood, and reconnected with him in São Paulo, during his first tour in Brazil. "Tomás de Lima advised to return to Porto and offered his house to stay, so that his situation wouldn't be a repeat of the fate of Marcos Portugal: it took a hundred years after his death for his remains to return to the motherland!"
Eurico Tomás de Lima was also active as a piano pedagogue. He taught at the following schools: Academia de Amadores de Música, Academia Mozart, Academia Beethoven, Academia Parnaso, Academia de Música e Belas-Artes da Ilha da Madeira, Conservatório Calouste Gulbenkian de Braga. The composer is side by side with the pedagogue, as a large part of Eurico Tomás de Lima's piano compositions was written for his students. As a testimony of the reach of his didactic works: the Portuguese pianist Artur Pizarro, in his first public appearance in 1971, played a piece by Eurico Tomás de Lima.

Works for Solo Piano

Eurico Tomás de Lima has a substantial catalogue of compositions for solo piano, one of the largest of Portuguese twentieth century. The only Portuguese composers with more works for piano solo are Fernando Lopes Graça, Óscar da Silva and António Victorino d'Almeida.
Eurico Tomás de Lima was always very methodical in writing and cataloguing his works: he always wrote down in his manuscripts the place and date of his compositions.
YearTitle of Work
1928Nocturno op. 1
1928Prelúdio
1928Estudo de Concerto
1929Valsa
1930Estudo em forma de Dança
1930Estudo de Execução Transcendente em Mi bemol Maior
1932Tema e Variações em Fá Maior
1932Estudo n.º 1
1932Fantasia em Sol bemol
1933Estudo n.º 2
1933Sonata n.º 1
1933Barcarola
1933Minuete
1934Dança Portuguesa
1935Sonata n.º 2
1935Dança Negra n.º 1 – Angola
1938Sonatina n.º 1
1940Dança Negra n.º 2 – Angola
1940Abelhas Douradas
1941Fantasia à memória de Chopin
1941Suite Algarve
1943Dança Negra n.º 3 – Angola
1943Divertimento
1943Estudo n.º 3
1944Marcha n.º 1
1945Samba
1945Buchenwald – Protesto Musical
1947Suite Portuguesa n.º 1
1947Pantomina Rústica
1948Variações Vimaranenses
1948Sonata n.º 3
1948Dança Negra n.º 4 – Angola
1950Sonatina n.º 2
1950O Ferreiro
1950Marcha n.º 2
1951Morna n.º 1 – Cabo Verde
1952Chula do Douro
1952Toccata
1953Morna n.º 2 – Cabo Verde
1953Lundum Açoreano
1954Sonata n.º 4
1954Suite Portuguesa n.º 2
1955Prelúdio e Scherzino
1955Dança
1956Regresso dos Ceifeiros
1957O Bailador de Fandango
1959Estudo Brasileiro
1966Ilha do Paraíso
1969Valsa Caprichosa
1970Canção sem Palavras
1970Profecia
1973Gradual

Recordings

Canções. Canção sem Palavras. Sonatina No. 2. Sara Braga Simões, soprano and Luís Pipa, piano. Câmara Municipal da Maia, 2008.
This CD contains Eurico Tomás de Lima's complete works for voice and piano, paired with two solo piano works: Canção sem palavras e Sonatina n.º 2.
  1. Canção sem palavras
  2. Por tuas próprias mãos
  3. Este lenço em que chorei
  4. És tu!
  5. Dorme, dorme, meu menino
  6. Triste cantiga de amor
  7. Balada dos olhos verdes
  8. Canção da vida e da morte
  9. Mors-Amor
  10. Duas canções para canto e piano: Com calma e docemente – Vivo
  11. Duas canções para canto e piano: Moderato
  12. Brasil
  13. Trovas satíricas
  14. Ó ribeira, ribeirinha
  15. Senhora quintaneira
  16. Marianita
  17. Vira
  18. Sonatina n.º 2: I. Allegro deciso
  19. Sonatina n.º 2: II. Pastoral - Andante
  20. Sonatina n.º 2: III. Vira - Vivo
  • Saber Ouvir - Eurico Thomaz de Lima, Vol. 1. João Lima, piano. Numérica, 2010. NUM1210.
"The current CD has chosen to include a diverse group of works for piano, which will allow the general public to witness the progressive evolution of the composer's oeuvre throughout nearly forty years of productivity."
  1. Estudo
  2. Prelúdio
  3. Nocturno
  4. Fantasia
  5. Dança Negra n.º 1
  6. Dança Negra n.º 2
  7. Dança Negra n.º 3
  8. Dança Negra n.º 4
  9. Buchenwald - Protesto Musical
  10. Suite Portuguesa n.º 1: Vira
  11. Suite Portuguesa n.º 1: Coral Alentejano
  12. Suite Portuguesa n.º 1: Fandango
  13. Suite Portuguesa no. 2: Prelúdio
  14. Suite Portuguesa no. 2: Burlesca
  15. Suite Portuguesa no. 2: Fandango
  16. Barcarola
  • Música Portuguesa para piano, vol. 3., piano. Numérica, 2012. NUM1228.
"This CD is the third of a series of recordings of Portuguese Piano Music that I have researched and made since 1999. This particular volume is produced to accompany my own book PORTUGUESE PIANO MUSIC: AN INTRODUCTION AND ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY. The main objective here is to bring a wide variety of styles and composers to the listener in order to show the richness of the pianistic repertoire of Portugal, including didactic piano music."
This CD contains a vast collection of Portuguese piano music, including Eurico Tomás de Lima's Valsa Caprichosa, no. 25 from Gradual.
  • Saber Ouvir - Eurico Tomás de Lima, Vol. 2. Miguel Campinho, piano. Numérica, 2013. NUM1249.
This double CD contains the complete solo piano sonatas e sonatinas of Eurico Tomás de Lima.
  1. Sonata n.º 1, in C-sharp Minor: I. Allegro Maestoso
  2. Sonata n.º 1, in C-sharp Minor: II. Andante sostenuto ed molto doloroso
  3. Sonata n.º 1, in C-sharp Minor: III. Finale. Allegro con fuoco
  4. Sonata n.º 2, in E Minor: I. Allegro appassionato
  5. Sonata n.º 2, in E Minor: II. Scherzo. Allegro deciso - Molto piu lento - Tempo primo
  6. Sonata n.º 2, in E Minor: III. Andante cantabile
  7. Sonata n.º 2, in E Minor: IV. Finale. Allegro impetuoso
  8. Sonatina n.º 1, in A Major: I. Allegro moderato
  9. Sonatina n.º 1, in A Major: II. Andante
  10. Sonatina n.º 1, in A Major: III. Allegro assai
  11. Algarve : I. Aben-Afan
  12. Algarve : II. Praia da Rocha
  13. Algarve : III. D. Paio Péres Correia
  14. Algarve : IV. Ponta da Piedade
  15. Algarve : V. Olhão, Vila Cubista
  16. Algarve : VI. Jardins de Estói
  17. Algarve : VII. Bailarico
  18. Algarve : VIII. Sagres
  19. Sonata n.º 3, in A minor: I. Allegro risoluto
  20. Sonata n.º 3, in A minor: II. Andante
  21. Sonata n.º 3, in A minor: III. Vivo
  22. Sonatina n.º 2, in C Major: I. Allegro deciso
  23. Sonatina n.º 2, in C Major: II. Pastoral - Andante
  24. Sonatina n.º 2, in C Major: III. Vira - Vivo
  25. Sonata n.º 4, in F Major: I. Allegro giocoso
  26. Sonata n.º 4, in F Major: II. Andante
  27. Sonata n.º 4, in F Major: III. Vivace
  28. Ilha do Paraíso : I. Nossa Senhora do Monte
  29. Ilha do Paraíso : II. Funchal ao Luar
  30. Ilha do Paraíso : III. Penha d’Águia
  31. Ilha do Paraíso : IV. Ribeiro Frio
  32. Ilha do Paraíso : V. “Bailhos” Cruzados
  33. ''Ilha do Paraíso : VI. Cabo Girão''