Analysis of the calligraphic characteristics of autograph manuscripts attributed to José Joaquim Emerico Lobo de Mesquita: a proposal for identification of authorship
Lobo de Mesquita - Musical Autograph - Grafoscopy
The present study aims to identify the calligraphic characteristics of José Joaquim Emerico Lobo de Mesquita ([1746?] - 1805) in autographs attributed to the composer in order to produce a catalog of the main elements of his handwriting, shown in words and phrases found in three specific works credited to him: Regina Cæle Lætere (1779), Tercio (1783) and Salve Regina (1787). The organization and cataloging of musical collections is a fundamental step that precedes other researches carried out by musicologists, in documents of historical archives. In turn, many documents that have been cataloged in Brazil add up to a huge diversity of sets of musical manuscripts or complete parts, many of them without identification of the author or copyist. In this context, many works are filed as having anonymous composers or attributed to certain composers, using traditional and speculative musicological methods. These attributes are vulnerable to objections about their authorship and await concrete evidence or hypotheses that reinforce the authenticity of the document. To strengthen the musical manuscript authentication tools, this work is supported by the methodology of existence of certified autographs per exam. So, to carry out the purpose of this research, the analyzes of Lobo de Mesquita's works are based on the foundations of Diplomatic and Grafoscopy as tools that provide the data of recurrent characteristics of the document's author. It is expected that the results obtained expand the possibilities of identifying the authorship of musical manuscripts.