Tomás
Borba

Tomás Vaz de Borba (1867-1950) was an Azorean Catholic priest, musician, composer and teacher. He stood out not only as a scholar but also as an innovator in the pedagogy of music in Portugal. He did his literary, philosophical and theological studies at the Episcopal Seminary of Angra, then working at the Convento de São Francisco. He was a student of Guilherme Augusto da Costa Martins, musician, organist, violinist and piano teacher. In 1891 he went to Lisbon to attend the Royal Conservatory, where he enrolled in the Piano and Composition courses. In 1901 he was appointed professor of the Harmony class at the Lisbon Conservatory of Music, a position he exercised with great proficiency until 1937, when he was retired due to age. In addition to that chair, he was the first professor of History of Music at that institution, which he led for some years.