David de Souza was born on 6th May 1880
in Figueira da Foz. He did his musical studies in the Lisbon National
Conservatory, where he studied violoncello under Eduardo Wagner and Cunha e Silva
and musical theory under Freitas Gazul.
In 1904, having been awarded a scholarship
by the Portuguese state, he went to Germany where, in the Leipzig Conservatory,
he studied with one of the most famous violoncellists of the time: Julius
Klengel.
Once back in Portugal, David de Souza made his début as a conductor in
1913 in a concert in the Portuguese National Theatre. Shortly afterwards, he
was engaged as Principal Conductor of the Lisbon Symphony Orchestra, formed at
that time and based in the Politiema Theatre.
With a passionate temperament, natural
gifts and a great power of communication with the public, David de Souza
conquered a vast audience and had a myriad of admirers. From his enormous repertoire
there stand out the innumerable modern compositions he interpreted for the
first time in Portugal, as for example: the second Symphony by Vincent D’Indy,
the “Valses Nobles et Sentimentales” by
Maurice Ravel and the Symphonic Poem “After
a reading of Antero de Quental” by Luís de Freitas Branco. Passionate for
Russian music, he also interpreted innumerable works by composers from that
country for the first time to the Portuguese public.
In 1916 the National Conservatory appointed
David de Souza as their violoncello teacher and teacher of their orchestra,
while at the same time retaining the position of Principal Conductor of the Lisbon
Symphony Orchestra.
In his works, eminently
nationalistic, appear compositions for the piano, for voice and piano, for violin
and piano and for violoncello and piano, apart from a good number of orchestral
works like: the “Slavic Rhapsody” or
the Symphonic Poem “Babilónia”. David
de Souza also wrote an opera that has never been performed: “Inês de Castro.”
David de Souza died on 3rd October
1918 in Figueira da Foz, a victim of pneumonic fever.
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