Accompanying the end of summer and the beginning of autumn, the Arte na Paisagem cycle delves into the soundscapes that reverberate through the centuries of Mateus' history. In September and October, in three concerts, we embark on a journey in dialogue with the revisiting of the Figures of Matthew. With the Americantiga Ensemble, we go back to the first quarter of the 18th century and the moment when António José, the 3rd Morgado de Mateus, dreamed of building the House, to hear a set of French motets, including the Leçons de Ténèbres de Mercredi Saint, by François Couperin.

"In the middle of the 17th century, the Leçons de Ténèbres became the subject of increasingly popular musical compositions. Michel Lambert was the first in France to compose a cycle in 1662, soon followed by Charpentier and Lalande. But the most famous - and the first to be played and recorded - are those composed by François Couperin, dating back to 1714. At the end of Louis XIV's reign, France was a land of piety, but also of Italianism in music, including religious music. The emotions Couperin composed for his singers are so dramatic that they seem straight out of an opera... Vocality and spirituality combine artistically, attesting to the refinement of fine French singing practised both in salons and theatres and in places of worship. The divine voices that sing the Lessons on Holy Week days in Parisian convents, the faceless voices of young convent inmates, the voices of heaven... but often opera singers, when the theatres were closed during the penance period before Easter! The candles were traditionally extinguished as the Office of Darkness unfolded, to end in the darkness of night..."