Diogo Dias Melgaz

Diogo Dias Melgaz (1638-1700) was a choirboy at the Colégio da Claustra in Évora in 1646. He took holy orders at the Cathedral of Évora, where he stayed the rest of his life, being a student of Manuel Rebelo, and holding the position of mestre de capela for about 30 years. He died blind and extremely poor on 3 February 1700. He was the last of the great Portuguese polyphonic masters, who began to flourish in Évora in the second half of the sixteenth century. The work of Diogo Dias Melgaz is distributed among the archives of Évora and Lisbon, and consists entirely of sacred works. In the Public Library of Évora there are four incomplete villancicos.