José Vianna da Motta (1868-1948) is one of the most significant figures in the history of music in Portugal. He was active as a composer, pianist, teacher, administrator and editor. In many senses he marks the full flowering, late as it was, of romanticism in Portugal, and at the same time the beginning of a consciously nationalist approach.

The Symphony À Pátria (“To the Fatherland”) was completed in 1895, and is one of a series of three works inspired by the poetry of Camões, the others being the overture Dona Inês de Castro, from 1886, and the cantata Invocação das Lusíadas, op.19, begun in 1897 and finished during 1913-15. The choice of Camões, the national poet of Portugal, was far from mere jingoism on the composer’s part. For him, the symphony was part of an attempt to re-establish the glory of Portugal during this culturally and economically disheartening period – indeed, the fourth and final movement is entitled “Decadence – Struggle – Resurgence”. While linguistically the work shows the influence of Liszt and Wagner, as well as the heritage of the classical symphony and a nationalism inspired by the Russians, such grandiosity of conception inevitably recalls Mahler, who happened to be Vianna da Motta’s exact contemporary.