The Portuguese pianist and composer José Vianna da Motta studied the piano and composition in Berlin, and in Frankfurt with Hans von Bülow. He attended Liszt’s final classes in Weimar and his close association with the music of Liszt continued after the latter’s death in 1886. One of the leading pianists of his time, he finally returned to Portugal in 1917, becoming director of the Lisbon Conservatory in 1919 and doing much to establish there a broader system of musical and cultural education.

Piano Music

The influence of Liszt is apparent in Vianna da Motta’s compositions for piano, where Portuguese elements have an increasing part to play.