Mar Português

Album: Flor Do Mar (1973)
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Songfacts®:

  • Mar Português literally Portugese sea, is a famous poem by Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935); Portugal was an Imperialist power, and this poem asks if the conquest of the seas was worth the cost in human suffering.

    Britain too was once a great seafaring nation, and the 1373 Treaty Of Windsor between England and Portugal is the oldest alliance in the world still in force.

    The 600th Anniversary in 1973 was obviously marked in some style by both governments, including a special piece of music commissioned by the British from the composer Sir Arthur Bliss (1891-1975). Pessoa's poem was translated by the Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman (1906-84). Documents relating to the collaboration are held by the Public Record Office in file PREM 15/1826. >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Alexander Baron - London, England

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