Artist page

Alfredo Cristiano Keil (3 July 1850 – 4 October 1907) was a Portuguese romantic composer and painter, born in Lisbon to Johann Christian Keil and Maria Josefina Stellflug. Of German origin, he is celebrated as the last significant Portuguese painter in the Romantic style. Keil studied in Munich and Nuremberg under German romantic painters Kaulbach and von Kreling. Upon returning to Portugal, he became known for his melancholic intimate scenes and landscapes, contemporaneous with the Naturalist generation. As a composer, he gained recognition for his operas, including Donna Bianca (1888), Irene (1893), and Serrana (1899), which was regarded as the best Portuguese opera of its time. He is also known for composing the music for A Portuguesa, the Portuguese national anthem, in 1891, with lyrics by Henrique Lopes de Mendonça; it was officially adopted in 1911 following the proclamation of the Republic. Ironically, Keil passed away in Hamburg almost three years before the Revolution began.

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