António Fragoso's Canções do Sol Poente: A Song Cycle of Saudade from the Renascença Portuguesa

Portuguese art song is an underexplored niche in the song recital repertoire. One factor that makes it difficult for singers to make sense of it is the limited information on Portuguese culture. In this discussion of the music of Fragoso and the texts of António Correia de Oliveira in relation to the cycle Canções do Sol Poente (Songs of the Setting Sun), the author provides cultural and historical information with particular reference to the Portuguese concept of saudade, with discussion on how saudade is intertwined with the movements of nationalism, neoromanticism, and saudadismo of the 1890s that led to the Portuguese revolution in 1911 and the subsequent blossoming of creative arts in the nation.