MANUEL CARDOSO  

The Portuguese composer Manuel Cardoso was trained as a chorister at the cathedral in Évora, an important musical centre, and became a Carmelite, spending much of his career at the Convento do Carmo in Lisbon. He enjoyed royal patronage from both King John IV of Portugal and Philip IV of Spain.

Church Music

Cardoso followed the example of Palestrina, whose contrapuntal practices he mastered. His surviving church music, published in his lifetime, includes three books of Masses, a Cantica to the Blessed Virgin and a collection of various motets, music for Holy Week and other pieces.