Teatro, Música e Cinema: The Musical Instruments in the Decorative Mural Tapestry in the Hall of the Teatro-Cine Da Covilhã

On May 31, 1954, the Teatro-Cine da Covilhã, nowadays called Teatro Municipal da Covilhã (Portugal), was inaugurated. In the entrance hall, on the wall of the staircase, a tapestry called Teatro, Música e Cinema, by Tapetes de Portalegre Lda., today called Manufatura de Tapeçarias de Portalegre, has been displayed since the opening day. As a large tripartite mural tapestry, the work is a reproduction of a cartoon, a manual technique, which had as its starting point an original by an artist. This is João Tavares (1908–1984), painter, watercolourist, draftsman, and teacher at the Liceu de Portalegre. The tapestry we will study has several musical and dance motives in dialogue with other arts, like the Theatre (with allegorical representations of a stage, a scenario, and male and female figures), Music (musical instruments or a female figure linked to mousiké) and the Cinema (with allegorical representations of a horse or a star with luminous rays or a cinema reel). As for the musical instruments, these appear to have references to elements from Classical Antiquity that extend to other later temporal landmarks. Finally, this chapter aims to disseminate the study of the Teatro, Música e Cinema tapestry in a holistic way. Thus, the tapestry was described and analysed from an iconographic and iconological point of view, addressing João Tavares’ aesthetic choices, as well as the historical and acoustic aspects of the Teatro-Cine da Covilhã.