Um olhar musical sobre Portugal no final do século XVIII: o diário de viagem inédito de Tilesius von Tilenau

In 1795, the Thuringian naturalist, physician, and illustrator Wilhelm Gottlieb Tilesius von Tilenau (1769-1857) visited Lisbon with Count Johann Centurius von Hoffmannsegg (1766-1849), his patron and amateur scientist. The trip did not go as planned and after a few months both returned to Germany. This expedition resulted, however, in a diary, never published, in which Tilesius described opera, sacred music and the soundscape of the streets of Lisbon. In this text, after a brief biographical
background, the musical content of this diary will be presented, which reveals itself not only as an excellent source of new and valuable information on the Portuguese cultural practices of the time, but also on the author’s mentality and, more broadly, on his cultural context.