Luiz Costa: in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of his death

This text is dedicated to the commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the death of the composer, pianist and teacher Luiz Costa (S. Pedro do Monte de Fralães, 1879 – Porto, 1960). The preface begins by clarifying the meaning of commemoration as a ritual. The text is divided into two parts. The first, anthropologic in nature, undertakes the problems involved in the construction of the identity of Luiz Costa as a person and as an artist within the more general question of this construction emerging from the anthropological themes of birth, suffering, love and death. The second, musicological part demonstrates that events and circumstances in the life of an artist can leave their marks on his works. Some characteristic compositions of Luiz Costa are analysed with the intention to gain information about the mind and character of the man and the artist that he was.