Biography
Serving as chapel master at Rio de Janeiro Cathedral, Garcia earned recognition as Brazil’s foremost composer and stood as the most successful and respected musician from the Americas in his era. An expert organist, composer, and conductor, he directed the first Brazilian performance of Mozart’s Requiem Mass. Among his own output, the Requiem Mass stands as the finest illustration of his distinguished craftsmanship. Scored for four-part chorus, soloists, strings, two clarinets—an instrument that later gained prominence in his writing—two horns, flute, trumpets, and kettledrums, the work remained modest in scale, reusing several thematic ideas and suggesting it was prepared within a limited timeframe. A pupil of Haydn once hailed Garcia’s keyboard improvisations as unmatched anywhere in the world. In total he produced more than 230 compositions, encompassing masses, mass movements, funeral music, pieces for Holy Week, music for morning and evening services, hymns, litanies, motets, and canticles.