NATIONALISM IN TWO WORKS BY

EDMUNDO VILLANI-CÔRTES

By

EDNALDO CAMELO BORBA JUNIOR

A LECTURE-DOCUMENT PROPOSAL

Presented to the School of Music & Dance

in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
Doctor of Musical Arts

November 2018
 i

“Nationalism in Two Works by Edmundo Villani-Côrtes,” a lecture-document prepared

by Ednaldo Camelo Borba Junior in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor

of Musical Arts degree in the School of Music and Dance. This lecture-document has

been approved and accepted by:

Dr. Alexandre Dossin, Chair of the Examining Committee

Committee in Charge: Dr. Alexandre Dossin, Chair

Dr. David Riley
Dr. Marian Smith

Accepted by:

Leslie Straka, D.M.A.

Director of Graduate Studies, School of Music and Dance
 ii

© 2018 Ednaldo Camelo Borba Junior

 iii

CURRICULUM VITAE

NAME OF AUTHOR: Ednaldo Camelo Borba Junior

PLACE OF BIRTH: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
DATE OF BIRTH: October 24th, 1985

Education

Doctor of Musical Arts, 2012-present – University of Oregon.

Master of Music, 2012 – James Madison University.
Bachelor of Music, 2008 – Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro.

Academic Experience

Graduate Teaching Fellow, University of Oregon (2012-2016).

Duties: Provide piano accompaniment for the School of Music and Dance
and the Community Music Institute.
Graduate Assistant, James Madison University (2009-2012).
Duties: Provide piano accompaniment for the School of Music, teach
Group Piano classes assist with a General Education music course.

Performances

Concertos with Orchestra

J. Brahms – Piano Concerto No. 1 Op. 15 in D minor
University of Oregon Symphony Orchestra (2014).
S. Rachmaninoff – Piano Concerto No. 3 Op. 30 in D minor (1st mov.)
James Madison University Symphony Orchestra (2011).
F. Liszt – Piano Concerto No. 1 S. 124 in Eb
Ribeirão Preto Symphonic Orchestra (2008).
UFRJ School of Music Symphonic Orchestra (2007).
W. A. Mozart – Piano Concerto No. 17 K. 453 in G
UFRJ School of Music Symphonic Orchestra (2005).

Solo and Chamber Performances

2012-2018 – Eugene, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, Salem,
Corvallis, Bend, Couer d’Alene, Wichita (USA), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil).
2009-2012 – Harrisonburg, Staunton, Blacksburg, Richmond, Hartford (USA),
Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Curitiba, São José dos Campos and
Angra dos Reis (Brazil).
2007-2008 – Barcelona (Spain), São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Petrópolis, Juiz de
Fora, Vitória and Campo Grande (Brazil).
2004-2006 – Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Juiz de Fora (Brazil).
 iv

Awards

1st place – International Piano Competition VI Forum of Music Barcelona Ciutat (2008).
1st place – ArtLivre National Piano Competition, Category “Tribute” (São Paulo, 2008).
1st place – ArtLivre National Piano Competition, Category “Piano & Orchestra” (2007).
2nd place – MTNA, Virginia State Competition (Richmond, 2011).
2nd place – Villa-Lobos National Piano Competition, Category B (Vitória, 2007).
3rd place and scholarship to James Madison University – 1st National Piano
Competition “Young Musicians” from the “Music on the Museum Series” (Rio de
Janeiro, 2008).
3rd place – 3rd Maria Teresa Madeira National Piano Competition, Division 3 (Rio de
Janeiro, 2004).
Winner – 2nd National Piano Competition “Jovem Destaque” from the Forum of Science
and Culture of the UFRJ (Rio de Janeiro, 2008).

Masterclasses, Festivals and Accompanying Experience

Masterclasses – Luiz Carlos de Moura Castro (2003-2009), Janina Fialkowska (2009),

Alexandre Dossin (2011), Boris Berman (2013), Antonio Pompa-Baldi (2014),
Andre Watts (2016).
Guest Young Artist – Staunton Music Festival (2010-11).
Official Accompanist – Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (2009).
Attendant – VI International Forum of Music Barcelona Ciutat (2008).
Accompanist
Community Music Institute, Suzuki Program for Strings (Eugene, 2013-18).
OMEA State Conference (Eugene, 2014).
Brazilian Symphonic Orchestra Auditions (Rio de Janeiro, 2007-8).
Summer Festival of Music of the Canarinhos de Petrópolis (2007).
Antique and Colonial Brazilian Music Festival of Juiz de Fora (2005-7).
UFRJ opera production of G. Rossini’s “Il cambiale di matrimonio” (2005).
11th Paulo Bosísio National Strings Competition (Juiz de Fora, 2005).

Aditional Experience

Private piano lessons, Eugene (2015-18) and Rio de Janeiro (2004-9).

Pianist, Rio de Janeiro 1st Baptist Church (2008-9).
Pianist and Music teacher, Vila da Penha 1st Baptist Church (Rio de Janeiro, 1998-2006).
2nd Violin, CETEP Quintino Chamber Orchestra (Rio de Janeiro, 2000-1).
 v

To:

My mother, Vilma Isabel Alves de Oliveira.

My sisters, Ana Claudia de Oliveira Borba and Simone de Oliveira Borba.

In loving memory of my grandmother, Ana (Anita) Alves de Oliveira (1924-2015).

 vi

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to express my gratitude to all teachers, mentors and friends who

have contributed to the completion of this project. Especially to my advisor, Dr.

Alexandre Dossin for his insightful guidance throughout this project, and also for his

brilliant teaching during the whole program. Also, to my entire committee, Dr. David

Riley and Dr. Marian Smith for their time, contributions, and inspiring instruction.

To my former piano teachers Claudia Marcia Feitosa, Maria Clara Gebara, Luiz

Carlos de Moura Castro and Dr. Paulo Steinberg, who helped shaping my artistry, shared

their knowledge and instigated my musicality and curiosity. To my dear teacher and

sponsor Idis Marins Benício, the kindest and most generous person I have ever met, and

my main teaching model.

To my dear sponsor and Music Minister Eduardo Transcoveski from the First

Baptist Church in Rio de Janeiro, who was also responsible for my first contacts with

music.

To my mother Vilma who invested in my education and gave me strength and

support to carry on. To my sisters Ana Claudia and Simone for their emotional support

and cheering. To all my family, who stayed present in my life even being very far apart,

especially my father Ednaldo Borba, aunt Maria de Lourdes and my uncle Jorge, for their

care and financial support. To my friend Eduardo Martins Moreira, for helping me during

my weakest moments. To all my friends that came together to provide financial and

emotional support to complete this project.

Most importantly, to God, almighty father of my savior Jesus Christ, since I

believe every blessing, inspiration and knowledge comes from him. All glory to him!
 vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 1
CHAPTER

I. NATIONALISM
1. Definitions and Origins ..................................................................................... 4
2. Manifestations and Classifications .................................................................... 8
3. Nationalism in Brazil
a. Origins .................................................................................................. 16
b. Mário de Andrade and Heitor Villa-Lobos ......................................... 21
c. 2nd Generation and Post-Nationalism .................................................. 31
d. Bossa Nova .......................................................................................... 43

II. EDMUNDO VILLANI-CÔRTES

1. Biography ........................................................................................................ 46
2. Stylistic Considerations ................................................................................... 52

III. HISTORY OF SUITE AND ANALYSIS

1. History of the Suite .......................................................................................... 55
a. Baroque Origins ................................................................................... 56
b. Romantic Variety and 20th Century Revival ...................................... 57
c. The Brazilian Suite .............................................................................. 59
2. Série Brasileira Op. 8 ....................................................................................... 64
3. Cinco Miniaturas Brasileiras ........................................................................... 87

CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................ 105

APPENDIX

A. Manifesto de 1946 by Hans-Joachim Koellreutter ................................................ 109

B. Carta Aberta aos Músicos e Críticos do Brasil

by Mozart Camargo Guarnieri ......................................................................... 113

C. Cadenza by Edmundo Villani-Côrtes, for the improvisation

of the Chôro Op. 8 Nr. 4 ................................................................................. 125

D. Cadenza by Ednaldo Borba for the improvisation

of the Chôro Op. 8 Nr. 4 .................................................................................. 129

BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................ 131

 1

INTRODUCTION

Among many anecdotes about the pianist and composer Frédéric Chopin, a few

describe his free treatment of the rhythmic pulsation, or rubato – a feature often

associated with his piano playing. A peculiar case involves the famous opera composer

Giacomo Meyerbeer, who once attended a lesson Chopin was giving to Wilhelm von

Lenz. The latter was playing the Mazurka Op. 33 Nr. 3 (mazurka is a Polish dance in

3/4), but Meyerbeer insisted that the music sounded binary. Chopin disagreed, but

because of Meyerbeer's relentless insistence, Chopin, who was known to have a very

reserved and quiet personality, lost his composure and yelled at Meyerbeer, leaving the

room in a tempestuous manner. This episode was probably very hurtful to Chopin, since

it seems he never reconciled with Meyerbeer.1

There is still another very similar anecdote, this time involving the pianist and

organist Charles Hallé. After playing a mazurka for Hallé, the later commented to the

composer that it didn't sound in 3/4, but rather in 4/4. Again, Chopin disagreed, but after

playing while Hallé simultaneously counted, the mazurka fitted perfectly in the

quaternary pulsation. But instead of a belligerent reaction, this time Chopin laughed and

gave an explanation that was quite curious: “it was the national character of the dance

which created the oddity.”2

Unfortunately, since the invention of recording devices was yet to come, we can

only wonder how exactly Chopin interpreted rhythm to cause such controversial

reactions. But even more intriguing was his explanation, blaming the folk character of the

dance for his choices of rhythmic fluctuation. However, since the respect that Chopin

1 Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger. Chopin: Pianist and Teacher as Seen by His Pupils (3rd English ed.
Cambridge [Cambridgeshire]; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986), 72-3.
2 Ibid.
 2

upheld for his country and culture is well-known, it is very unlikely that he was just

providing a casual excuse for a musical eccentricity. Instead, he was much likely trying to

faithfully convey a musical gesture that was closer to its original folkloric roots, even at

the expense of being misunderstood.

This folkloric influence is of course not only restricted to Chopin's Polish dances,

this episode is just one single example of how elements from folk music can directly

influence the interpretation of concert music. Nowadays, for example, it would also be

inconceivable for a performer to play one of Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsodies without prior

knowledge of its rhythmic evocation of the csárdás’s dance steps, or the sound of

instruments such as the cimbalom. Similarly, the Spanish music of Albéniz and Granados

would suffer tremendously in the hands of performers unaware of its so characteristic

hemiolas, or the imitation of sounds like the guitar or castanets.

The same is also applied to Brazilian concert music, especially the ones written

after mid-nineteenth century, since by that time they start to be influenced by an aesthetic

ideal loosely defined as nationalism. In other words, they frequently evoke elements from

Brazilian folklore or culture, and they are so intrinsic to their own musical language that

prior knowledge of these elements is necessary to a better understanding of the musical

material, either for performance, listening or analysis.

Considering those facts, in this document I selected two works by the composer

Edmundo Villani-Côrtes – his Série Brasileira Op. 8 for piano and his Cinco Miniaturas

Brasileiras for Piano Trio – to demonstrate how Brazilian Nationalism shapes these

works.

I chose those particular works because it clearly states in their titles that they are
 3

“Brazilian,” which obviously means that cultural references should logically appear

within the works' structure. I also chose the composer Edmundo Villani-Côrtes for two

reasons: First, because unfortunately there is still not much written about his works. To

this day, for example, the composer still lacks an article at Oxford Music Online3, which

is one of the most basic references for music research. Fortunately, many dissertations

and research documents have recently sprouted especially in Brazil and the USA, so this

document is one more effort to fill this gap, examining two of his works from the

perspective of nationalism. And second, because his musical relationship with the

Brazilian Nationalist School is not a straightforward one – even the composer doesn't

consider himself a nationalist – allowing the opportunity to discuss the topic of

nationalism dialectically within composer and compositions.

To answer these questions – whether Villani is a nationalist composer and how

does he use nationalism in his work – we will first glance at the history of nationalism

itself. In the first chapter we will investigate its origins and developments within the

European musical context, and show how it arrived in America, affecting the Brazilian

musical scenario and culminating with a Brazilian Nationalist School. In the following

chapter we will contextualize his work and biography, in order to show what possible

influences could have made their way into his work. Lastly, we will analyze these works’

structure and musical elements (e.g.: form, melody, harmony, rhythm, textures, timbres),

in order to reveal and discuss their Brazilian cultural references.

3 http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/ (last accessed, 28 May. 2018)

 4

CHAPTER I

NATIONALISM

1. DEFINITIONS AND ORIGINS

Previously, I referred to “nationalism” as a loose term. In fact, until nowadays

there is not yet quite a precise connotation for that word, making some scholars even

frown upon its academic use in a carefree manner. The general consensus established

throughout the years (specifically concerning music studies) is that nationalism refers – at

least partially – to an aesthetic movement usually associated with the romantic period,

which strives to express the identity of a particular social group or nation.4 Curiously,

“romanticism” itself is already a very vague definition of the events that took place

during and around the nineteenth century, to the point of a philosopher like Arthur

Lovejoy say it is “one of the most complicated, fascinating, and instructive of all

problems in semantics.”5 Consequently it is not surprising that, like romanticism itself,

nationalism expresses its own characteristics in a kaleidoscopic degree of shades and

nuances, sometimes making it difficult to define its boundaries, offering an opportunity to

even question those pre-established definitions.

But before we proceed to explore its multifaceted manifestations, it is worth

questioning if nationalism even truly has its origins in the Romantic period. Consider the

following statement by Jon Finson, which he writes within his own discussion of

nationalism:

4 Wilfrid Mellers, Romanticism and the 20th century, from 1800 (Man and His Music; 4. Fair Lawn, N. J.:
Essential Books, 1957), 49. See also Rey M. Longyear, Nineteenth-century Romanticism in Music (2nd
ed. Prentice-Hall History of Music Series. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1973), 6. See also Jon
W. Finson, Nineteenth-century Music: The Western Classical Tradition (Upper Saddle River, N.J.:
Prentice Hall, 2002), 10.
5 Longyear, 1.
 5

Human beings organize themselves into groups sharing common cultural

backgrounds, and experience would suggest that they should organize
themselves politically according to their respective ethnic affinities.6

It becomes clear that by being a product of a human social condition – that of

belonging to a group sharing cultural affinities – nationalism could consequentially be

almost as old as the roots of civilization. And, for the purpose of this study, we should not

forget that nationalism also includes aesthetic and artistic expressions of those

individualities. However, as Taruskin reminds us, nationalism is an attitude, and should

not be equated to nationality, which is the human condition.7 Therefore, as a product of

the condition of nationality, nationalism (and its aesthetic branch) will manifest itself

depending on uncountable variables, ones such as a society's own awareness as a nation,

the proliferation of its own culture, or even its economic and political power.

As an example, if we look back at the eighteenth century there are already plenty

of particular representations of different nations or cultures in music. Mark Kroll, in his

discussion about French baroque masters, mentions that those composers' character

pieces tried to portray, among other elements, “scenes from the folk heritage.”8 As an

example, works like François Couperin's Les Nations (a collection of sonatas and suites)

are organized in four volumes designated to a specific “region” or “culture” (the French,

the Spanish, the Imperial and the Piedmontese). Even Johann Sebastian Bach was not far

from this trend, since in his Clavier-Übung II he purposefully contrasted a Concerto after

the Italian taste (Italian Concerto BWV 971) against a Suite in the French style (French

Overture BWV 831).

6 Finson, 11.
7 Richard Taruskin, “Nationalism.” Grove Music Online. (accessed May 28, 2018.)
http:////www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-
9781561592630-e-0000050846.
8 Mark Kroll, “French Masters,” in Eighteenth-century Keyboard Music, ed. by Robert L. Marshall (2nd
ed. Routledge Studies in Musical Genres. New York: Routledge, 2003), 132.
 6

The aforementioned suite, a very popular baroque genre, is per se actually a true

compendium of “nationalistic practice”: each dance has its origins in a particular country

or region, with very specific characteristics associated with each one. In some cases (like

the courant, or the gigue) there are even multiple cultural variants to be observed. We

will have the opportunity to discuss the suite furthermore on chapter 3.

Those few examples demonstrate that at least the basic concept of nationalism's

aesthetic – to express individualities of a particular nation or region through art, in this

case, music – is already latent even before the romantic period. The only question that

persists is: why is there still an insistence to link nationalism with romanticism?

Both Finson and Longyear point towards the answer to that question from the

aesthetical perspective. Finson reminds us that “romanticism placed a premium on

originality, distinctiveness and idiosyncrasy,”9 in opposition to the classical style of the

enlightenment age, which Longyear describes as prizing “harmonious adjustment,

discipline, moderation and adaptation.”10 This means that romanticism was convenient

for the cultivation of nationalism, since its emphasis on the characteristic, the unique, or

even the eccentric (also described as “the other”) bolstered an interest on the

particularities of each national culture. We can clearly observe this change in tendency

when comparing it to the previous classical age, which Longyear contextualizes in a

“rationalist collectivism,” meaning that this same emphasis on the unique would be not

only undesirable, but considered deviations from the good taste of an “idealized

mankind.”11

From an ideological perspective, both Finson and Taruskin remind us that a

9 Finson, 7.
10 Longyear, 2.
11 Ibid.
 7

considerable amount of literature from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (especially

resulting from the modernization of the printing press during the industrial revolution)

dealt with topics directly connected with nationalist aspects. Finson also mentions the

publication of collections of folk songs that sprouted everywhere in Europe, from its first

incipient attempts in the eighteenth century to the realism-inspired folk studies and

recollections of the late nineteenth century.12 Taruskin also mentions the publications of

Johann Gottfried Herder, especially his Abhandlung über den Ursprung der Sprache

(Treatise on the Origin of Language, 1772.) Because this treatise distinguishes humanity

by its use of language – and language is indeed a social and national construct – his ideas

are generally considered the foundation of nationalism, or at least of German

nationalism.13

Lastly, Taruskin also describes how the nationalist agenda corroborates the move

towards the political unification that would take place in Europe during the nineteenth

century, especially in countries nowadays known as Germany, Austria and Italy (and

affecting many adjacent countries as well). These political unifications nurtured a cultural

self-awareness, which was expressed (and encouraged to be expressed) not only in music,

but in every artistic realm.14

Therefore, regarding the origins of nationalism, we can observe that even though

nationalistic aspects were already latent in the European culture, the aesthetical,

ideological and political events leading up to the nineteenth-century romanticism were

truly the decisive factors that fostered its genesis and growth, explaining its usual

connection with the romantic period.

12 Finson, 10.
13 Taruskin, “Nationalism”.
14 Ibid.
 8

2. MANIFESTATIONS AND CLASSIFICATIONS

But how did nationalism express itself in music during the romantic period? The

previous chapter already mentioned the examples of Chopin, Liszt, Albéniz and

Granados. And all those composers have at least one similarity (which happens to be one

of the most common nationalist influence in music): they all adapted their homeland

characteristic dances to their own compositions.

Notice, however, that I did not use the word “transcribed,” but “adapted.” Because

the use of those folk dances are re-interpreted in the context of a classical standpoint on

rhythm, harmony and counterpoint.15 This means that these folk-derived pieces were not

phonographic representations of their original counterparts – neither were they meant to

be – but rather, they were only inspired by folk elements, and meant to be listened in the

saloons or recital halls in the same way as an abstract sonata or quartet would. In the case

of Chopin, for example, Barbara Milewski comments:

In the end, Chopin, like so many of his musical compatriots, was not
interested in recovering rural truths, but in bringing Poles of the urban
upper classes a little bit closer to a highly constructed and desirable idea
of themselves.16

Of course, we must interpret Milewski’s conclusions in context; it does not mean that the

Polish elite had a secret egocentric agenda of “self-promotion,” since they were still

suffering the hardships of a war conflict against Russia, and risking their country to

“vanish from the maps of Europe” at that time.17 Polish artists, such as Chopin, were

instead following a trend, as was the whole Europe, of raising self-awareness of their own

identity as a nation.

15 Longyear, 237.
16 Barbara Milewski, “Chopin’s Mazurkas and the Myth of the Folk,” 19th Century Music 23, no 2
(1999): 134.
17 Ibid, 123.
 9

Ironically, due to this early nationalism, the accurate musical transcription of folk

patterns and genres was not only secondary but also unrealistic; only by late nineteenth

century (decades after Chopin composed his mazurkas) the scientific subject that

properly deals with this topic – ethnomusicology – found propitious aesthetical, political,

and sociological background to flourish. With that perspective in mind, it is entertaining

to reconsider Robert Schumann's description of Chopin's Mazurkas as “cannons buried in

flowers” not only politically, but also aesthetically.

However, that was not by far the only nationalist musical resource of the

Romantic period. Following Herder's discourse on language, there was a consequent

revival of German folk poetry, which led to the flourishing of the German lied.

Eventually, the exploration of folk poetry would not be restricted only to the German

own culture. Like Herder himself, Germans would also further explore the poetry of other

cultures,18 like Brahms's use of a folk Scottish ballad in his Op. 10 and Op. 75, or

translated Persian poetry in his Op. 65.

Those two examples – the use of folk dances or poetry – refer to a kind of

nationalism known as “defending nationalism”19 or “tourist nationalism.”20 Unfortunately

there is a plurality of nomenclatures in the subject of nationalism, which only exemplify

the lack of precision that still lingers in defining or classifying it. Anyhow, those

definitions refer to a nationalism that draws its inspiration from the folk, usually

considered “pure,” “unspoilt” or “primitive,”21 thus appropriate material to be “elevated

through the higher forms of art.” Even though, as pointed out by Taruskin, this

18 Taruskin.
19 Longyear, 6-7.
20 Taruskin.
21 Longyear, 214.
 10

“elevation” is actually a covert nationalism in itself, German centered, which he defines

as “musical colonialism.”22

Opposed to that, there is an “aggressive nationalism,”23 which is less identifiable

by musical elements than by ideological connotation, since its objective is not only to

elevate a particular folk culture, but also to “impose a cultural identity on others.”24 The

operas of Wagner and Verdi are classical examples, since independent of their use (or

non-use) of folkloric material in their music, their operas also served a political agenda

that sought to diminish other cultures (Jews in the case of Wagner, if we couple his

operas with his writings; and the Austrian Empire in the case of Verdi, if we consider his

audience's reception).25 The implications of this kind of nationalism will be further

discussed below.

In any case, Europe after the 1850’s would become a spectator of international

shows and fairs with exhibitions of music (and other arts) from everywhere in the planet,

including Africa and Asia.26 With the romantic emphasis on “the other,” that influence

was quickly translated into concert music, mostly in operas such as Delibes's Lakmé,

Saint-Säens's Samson et Delilah or Verdi's Aida (and even Bizet's Carmen, since he was

not Spanish), but also found its way to instrumental music, such as in Tchaikovsky's

Capriccio Italien, Balakirev's Islamey, Chabrier's España, or Debussy's Pagodes.

This rage for foreign culture and music reinforced yet another complicated

category related to nationalism: the phenomenon called “exoticism.” While Ralph Locke,

22 Taruskin.
23 Longyear, 6-7. Also mentioned in Taruskin.
24 Longyear 7.
25 Taruskin.
26 Ralph P. Locke, “Exoticism” Grove Music Online. (accessed May 28, 2018.)
http:////www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-
9781561592630-e-0000045644.
 11

in his article on the subject, defines exoticism as any kind of “evocation” that contrasts

with the local customs,27 Taruskin in the same source equates exoticism to any “non-

German tourist nationalism.”28 Meanwhile Longyear defines exoticism as “the opposite

side of nationalism.”29 This just demonstrates again how issues of national identity have

yet to be thoroughly defined. But at the core of all these definitions resides the

relationship between composer and composition: if the composer borrows or tries to

emulate folk material foreign to his own culture, it would be considered exoticism.

Ralph Locke, in his most recent book about exoticism, also brings another

component that explores the relationship between nationalism and exoticism even further:

the point of view of the receptor, the listener. By his definitions, the receiver’s perception

also changes the nationalist (or exoticist) qualities of a particular work. For example, a

Spanish artist’s work imbued with Spanish folklore (e.g.: Albéniz’s Iberia) – and

therefore deemed nationalist – will usually be perceived by non-Spanish audiences

instead as “exotic.” Locke even suggests, through a quote by Frederick Bohrer, that

“reception is not merely a useful methodology in the study of exoticism. Rather

exoticism, in a fundamental sense, is reception.”30 In that same source, Locke mentions a

list of elements that have been classically associated with exoticism – such as non-

normative modes and harmonies, rhythmic patterns deriving from dances, departure from

normative types of formal continuity, evocation of specific musical instruments and their

techniques, among others.31 Curiously, those could apply directly to nationalism as well.

In order to illustrate the complexities of these classifications of nationalism and

27 Ibid.
28 Taruskin.
29 Longyear, 214.
30 Ralph P. Locke, Musical exoticism: Images and reflections (Cambridge; New York: Cambridge
University Press. 2009), 11-2.
31 Ibid, 51-4.
 12

exoticism, we will consider three examples of Csárdás, which is a Hungarian folk dance

very popular during the nineteenth century.32 The first example is Liszt's Hungarian

Rhapsody No. 2, the second is the aria Klänge der Heimat from Johann Strauss II's

operetta Die Fledermaus, and finally Vittorio Monti's Csárdás for violin and piano. All

three examples adopt the usual slow (lassan) – fast (friska) formal scheme, and adopt

characteristic musical gestures, such as the lassan’s sharp dotted rhythms of its final

cadences, as demonstrated in examples 1, 2 and 3.

LASSAN
Andante mesto.

Ex. 1: F. Liszt – Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 in C# minor S. 244/2, mm. 9-14.

Ex. 2: J. Strauss II – Klänge der Heimat from the 2nd Act of Die Fledermaus, mm. 19-22.

32 Jonathan Bellman, “Csárdás” Grove Music Online. (accessed May 28, 2018.)
http:////www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-
9781561592630-e-0000006918.
 13

Ex. 3: V. Monti – Csárdás for Violin and Piano, mm. 9-12.

The first one is clearly an example of “tourist nationalism” (or defending), since

Liszt is Hungarian and the whole piece is clearly inspired by Hungarian folk references

(the evocation of the cimbalom was also already previously mentioned). Oppositely,

Strauss's Die Fledermaus (ex. 2) would undoubtedly feature as an example of exoticism:

both the composer and the plot of the opera are Austrian, and the aria only portrays a

façade where the character Rosalinda pretends to be a Hungarian countess, singing an

aria from her homeland (that's her only aria in the Style Hungrois in the whole opera).

One interesting point to observe is that the music itself had virtually nothing to do with

those classifications, but rather the social context of those works.

However, it is with the popular Monti Csárdás (ex. 3) that we find a controversial

problem. According to every definition, we should classify it as another example of

exoticism, since the composer is Italian and writing in a foreign, non-German style. But it

is worthy to observe that Monti’s piece and Liszt's share exactly the same aesthetical

objectives: they are both fantasy pieces inspired by Hungarian folklore, meant to be

enjoyed in the saloons as virtuosic tour-de-force works. The only parameter that

distinguishes classifying one as nationalism and the other as exoticism are their
 14

composer's ethnic origins, which seems quite unrefined to say the least, since it implies

that a non-Hungarian composer can't ever write Hungarian nationalist music just because

he is not native.33

One reaction against this nebulous situation would come in the shape of a stylistic

shift: the late nineteenth-century realism, with its emphasis on a truthful depiction of the

habits of the lower classes34 (coincidentally also often considered to be the most rich

source of folk cultural heritage). Even though at first realism was a partner to exoticism

(as in Bizet's Carmen), eventually, by annihilating the fantastic and subjective in music, it

gradually paved the path for more literal representations of folk culture, or, paraphrasing

Jacques Rivière comments on Stravinsky, “passed from the sung to the said, from

invocation to statement, from poetry to reportage.”35 This aesthetical posture change was

definitely propitious also for the momentum gained by ethnomusicology at the dawn of

nineteenth century.

Also by the turn of the century, another concept to be considered is Schoenberg's

“emancipation of the dissonance” – which affirms that a dissonance, especially if

constantly used or out of its historic context, with time would call less and less for a

resolution, even to the point where it could sound as a consonance by itself.36 This

observation – allied to the ethnomusicologic treatment of folk material – encouraged

composers to be much more faithful to the original folk melodic, harmonic and rhythmic

constructs in their own compositions, especially regarding the use of modes and

33 In fact, Bellman in his Csárdás article uses Monti’s piece as an example of the style’s increasing
distance from its folk roots by the late 19th century, justifying the example precisely because of the
composer’s non-Hungarian nationality.
34 Finson, 8.
35 Quoted in Taruskin, “Nationalism.”
36 The expression first appeared in an essay written by the composer in 1926, see Arnold Schoenberg,
“Opinion or Insight?” in Style and Idea: Selected Writings of Arnold Schoenberg, ed. by Leonard Stein
(New York: St. Martins Press, 1975), 258-64.
 15

asymmetrical rhythms, freeing them from the stylistic constraints of the traditional rules

of harmony and counterpoint. One of the most famous examples is Béla Bartók, since not

only as an ethnomusicologist he recollected thousands of melodies from eastern Europe,

but he also used this material in his compositions in loco, or without necessarily mixing it

with nineteenth-century tonal-centered adaptations. Other composers borrowed folk

materials to use in their compositions just as musical tools, without any desire to

explicitly represent a particular nation or culture, as in the case of Debussy's use of the

whole-tone scales from the Javanese gamelan.

From this point – the early 20th century – Brazilian aesthetical nationalism had

already begun to established itself, so we can proceed to start discussing its origins and

developments. But before, we should consider some important general factors that are

also connected to Brazilian nationalism: First, after the technological advancements in

communication during the twentieth century (such as radio, TV and internet), the concept

of a “pure,” “unspoilt” folk heritage has increasingly disappeared. Even though Locke

still considers post mid-twentieth-century cultural borrowings as exoticism,37 it is

unlikely that, especially with the help of media, a composer or musician would be totally

unaware of other foreign cultures. Besides, with the mutual cultural exchange between

societies, provided by the high speed of information exchange, it would make much more

sense to speak of a “globalized” or perhaps “neo-cosmopolitan” nationalism (since the

folk influences of twentieth-century music usually trace back to multiple distinct

cultures) rather than exoticism.

Second, as we observed before with “aggressive nationalism,” the idea of

elevating one's culture can at the same time consequently diminish the culture of others.

37 Locke, “Exoticism.”
 16

As Taruskin puts it:

Any act of inclusion is an act of exclusion as well. Nationalism, whatever

its democratizing and liberalizing early impact, has always harbored the
seeds of intolerance and antagonism.38

It is true, as observed before, that nationalism can be used as a targeted weapon, but I

refuse to agree that it always is. Nationalism becomes harmful only when there is also an

intrinsic moral judgment attached to it. By themselves, even Wagner's and Verdi's operas

don't necessarily display any xenophobia; it is only when put within their social contexts

(adding moral evaluation between conflicting societies) that they become dangerous.

Nevertheless, the nationalist label is not only a hazy one, but could also be oddly

incriminatory, and thus should not be taken lightly. All those factors will be considered as

we analyze Villani-Côrtes work from a nationalist perspective.

3a. NATIONALISM IN BRAZIL: ORIGINS

Every society had different ways to deal with their own “awareness as a nation,”

hence the fact that usually most books dealing with nationalism usually attach a

nationality to it: “Hungarian nationalism,” “Polish nationalism,” “Russian...,”

“Scandinavian...,” “American...,” and etc. With Brazil it was not different. In fact, while

the roots of nationalism were being planted in Europe, by the beginning of the nineteenth

century Brazilian composers were still writing mostly sacred music, reproducing the style

of European baroque and classical oratorios.39

This is not a surprising fact at all, since Brazil was then still a Portuguese colony.

38 Taruskin.
39 Gerard Béhague, “Music in the New World: The Baroque in Mexico and Brazil” in The World of
Baroque Music: New Perspectives, ed. by George B. Stauffer (Bloomington: Indiana University Press,
2006), 274.
 17

Taruskin's expression “musical colonialism” achieves here a very literal meaning, since

as a colony, Brazilian artists could only create, write or compose through the Portuguese

metropolis’s educational and cultural monopoly: until 1808, by the occasion of the court

transference from Portugal to Brazil, printing presses were still forbidden and there were

no universities in the country (as opposed to the Spanish and British colonies).40

Similarly to Europe, the first roots of Brazilian nationalism would germinate in

the artistic field of literature. So it is no surprise (and somewhat ironic) that only after the

arrival of the Portuguese court – and consequently the freedom of press and

encouragement of literary consumption – that nationalism was possible in Brazil. Its first

romantic writers – Gonçalves de Magalhães, Gonçalves Dias and José de Alencar – were

also referred to as “Indianistas,” due to the fact that their themes often borrowed from the

native Amerindian culture.41 The latter was of major significance to the birth of

nationalist music in Brazil.

Both Gerard Béhague and José Maria Neves point out that, also with the court

transference, there was an increasing interest in opera and theater in the colony.42 Some

restorations and the construction of new theaters and music institutions followed, but

most productions were still dominated by Italian operas and companies. It was only after

the foundation of the National Opera in 1857 that a consistent support to original

Brazilian operas would happen.43

In any case, the Italian opera would have a significant influence in the musical

40 Ibid.
41 José Luís Jobim. Indianismo Literário na Cultura do Romantismo. Revista De Letras 37/38 (1997): 35-
48. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27666689
42 Gerard Béhague, Music in Latin America: An Introduction (Prentice-Hall History of Music Series.
Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1979), 111-113. See also José Maria Neves, Música
Contemporânea Brasileira (1a. Ed., São Paulo, SP, Brasil: Ricordi Brasileira SAEC, 1977), 16.
43 Béhague. “Music in Latin America,” 112-113.
 18

production of Antônio Carlos Gomes (1836-1896). Its popularity enchanted the

composer, who as young as 25 years old was already premiering his first opera in Brazil,

A Noite do Castelo (“The Castle's Night”).44 But it was one of his later operas, “Il

Guarany”, composed and premiered in Milan nine years later in 1870 that would be the

first landmark in Brazilian musical nationalism. The opera was a great success that

attracted the interest even of opera composers like Verdi, being the first Brazilian opera

to be acclaimed abroad.45 Furthermore, it was inspired by the indianista José de Alencar's

romance O Guarani, and as mentioned above, the writer was also one of the main

representatives of the early Brazilian nationalist school, showing that this nationalist

movement was not only literary or musical, or neither were they independent movements,

but it was rather a trend intimately felt on various realms of artistic expression,

connecting them as a whole.

However, Ermelinda Paz recognizes Taruskin's “musical colonialism” even in this

major work. She writes:

The objective of this movement [the 1920’s Brazilian Modernism] was the
esthetic-musical liberation from the influences of the Italian melodrama
and the German and French Romanticism. Then, the necessity to protect
the national patrimony from imported elements arose.46

It is clear that when mentioning “Italian melodrama,” she was referring to the Brazilian

opera practices of the nineteenth century. And her reflection is absolutely appropriate:

despite the use of a Brazilian nationalist theme, Carlos Gomes makes Peri (the main role

of the native Amerindian) sing in the most perfect Italian language, and his fellow

Amerindian companions dance in a very fine European choreographic ballet style.

44 Vasco Mariz, História Da Música No Brasil (6a. ed. ampliada e atualizada. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil:
Editora Nova Fronteira, 2005), 76.
45 Neves, 17.
46 Ermelinda A. Paz, O Modalismo na música brasileira (Brasília: Editora Musimed, 2002), 128.
 19

However, it was one year before Carlos Gomes's opera debut that another

Brazilian composer, Brasílio Itiberê da Cunha (1846-1913), published a piano piece

named A Sertaneja, Fantasia Característica (“the country song, a characteristic

fantasy”).47 This piece is considered one of the earliest examples of Brazilian

nationalism, especially because it quotes a very popular folk melody from that period,

known as “Balaio.”48 But, even though the utilization of the folk rhythm of this melody

imbues the piece with a certain nationalistic (or even “exotic”) flavor, as we can see in

example 4, the piece still owns a great deal of its virtuosic passages to the Lisztian piano

school.49 Indeed, it is faithfully reproducing the early 19th-century European nationalism

of Chopin and Liszt, bringing to the Brazilian saloons music inspired by its folk heritage

masked in a classical musical accent.

&'X' - - - I &'X'- - - I
&'X'- - -,

Ex. 4: B. Itiberê da Cunha – A Sertaneja, Fantasia Característica, mm. 112-116.

Other composers contemporary to Itiberê also started moving towards this

“romantic nationalism,” sometimes even challenging his pioneering. Béhague, for

example, remarks Alexandre Levy's (1864-1982) Tango Brasileiro as the “first known

Brazilian nationalist work by a professional musician,” since Itiberê was actually an

47 Vasco Mariz, “História Da Música” 115.

48 Ibid. See also Neves, 18.
49 Liszt even supposedly played it. Mariz, 115.
 20

amateur.50 José Maria Neves, alternatively, states that Alberto Nepomuceno (1864-1920)

“could be considered the pioneer of Brazilian nationalism,” especially because his works

were publicly performed more often than that of his contemporaries, with the possible

exception of Carlos Gomes.51 But, as we can see in one of his most famous nationalist

works, a piano piece named Galhofeira (which could be translated as “playful” or

“mockery”, ex. 5), it is still in a very similar language to Itiberê's A Sertaneja.

Nevertheless, Nepomuceno's nationalistic influence also spread into other genres, since

he was the first composer to use Portuguese language systematically in his vocal music

(solo and choral).52 As discussed above, since any language is a national construct

according to Herder (including of course the Brazilian Portuguese), its native

incorporation into its own art music (rather than the imported Italian, French, and

German languages) was a decisive step for the flourishing of musical nationalism.
COM VIVACIDADE E ESPIRITO.

>:------------- >------------

Ex. 5: A. Nepomuceno – Galhofeira, mm. 1-8.

50 Béhague, “Music in Latin America” 118.

51 Neves, 21.
52 Ibid.
 21

By the turn of the 20th century, the Brazilian musical scenario would remain

under the influence of this early romantic nationalism. Even the most iconic nationalistic

works from this period – like the celebrated Odeon (1910) by Ernesto Nazareth (1863-

1964)53 – still rely on the formula of the European saloon piece (ex. 6). But in its early

decades two personalities would turn Brazilian musical nationalism into a new direction:

they were Mário de Andrade (1893-1945) and Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959).

gingando

Ex. 6: E. Nazareth – Odeon, mm. 1-4.

3b. NATIONALISM IN BRAZIL: MÁRIO DE ANDRADE AND HEITOR VILLA-

LOBOS

Mário de Andrade was the philosopher, researcher and theorist of the Brazilian

Nationalist School. He graduated from and later taught at the São Paulo Conservatory,

and one of his major contributions to the Brazilian nationalism was his monograph

Ensaio sôbre Música Brasileira (Essay on Brazilian Music, 1928).54

Andrade's essay would pinpoint the major faults of Brazilian artists in their

attempt to create an authentic national identity, as well as the author's thoughts for a

53 Mariz, 123.
54 Norman Fraser and Gerard Béhague, “Andrade, Mário (Raul) de,” Grove Music Online. (accessed May
28, 2018.)
http:////www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-
9781561592630-e-0000000871.
 22

“true” Brazilian nationalism. Considered to be the cornerstone of the Brazilian

Nationalist School, the essay states that “a national art is already made into people's

minds”, and should not be sought in one single ethnicity (Amerindian, African or

European), but rather embrace any of its origins. Additionally, his idea was not to react

against a foreign culture, but rather to transform and adapt from and into it in clever

ways. However, still according to his thoughts, an artist should not conform to the

European models, as he would be much more productive and efficient paving the way to

a true national art.55

On the other hand, Villa-Lobos was the practical example, the composer that

would bring a totally new approach to the inclusion of Brazilian folk culture into music

and art. As acclaimed by Béhague, “musical nationalism in Latin America found in Villa-

Lobos its strongest supporter and one of its most original creators.”56 Curiously, by his

definitions of nationalism, Mário de Andrade seems to have been highly inspired by

Villa-Lobos (whom he constantly quotes, praises and criticizes in his essay) and his

ideas, since this quote by Maria Neves basically summarizes many of Andrade's points of

view:

More than his predecessors, Villa-Lobos saw the folklore and popular
tradition as a whole, like a complex mixture from which is impossible to
isolate this or that element. Because of that, his music wasn't tied to
African or Amerindian characteristics, but would seek to reflect a
sonorous ambient that, like said by many writers, displays more the
country than the race.57

In fact, it almost seems that in Villa-Lobos's case the process of early romantic

nationalism is reversed: adopting the “exotic” European music into his main language,

55 Mário de Andrade, “Ensaio sôbre Música Brasileira” (S. Paulo, Brasil: I. Chiarato & Cia., 1928), 4-9.
56 Béhague, “Music in Latin America” 204.
57 Neves, 24-5.
 23

the Brazilian vernacular.

However, those achievements in developing a “new nationalist sound” happened

gradually throughout his life, and since Villa-Lobos is a central figure in the

consolidation of the Brazilian nationalism, we will investigate his biography more

closely.

Curiously, he had a very rigorous early musical training with his father, Raul

Villa-Lobos, a teacher, librarian and well-rounded musician.58 But by the time of his

father’s early death in 1899, popular music (such as the maxixe, the tango and later, the

chôro) started to become more popular and less frowned upon by the Brazilian elite.

Consequently, as a teenager, Villa-Lobos would continue his musical training on the

streets, to the dismay of his mother. He never completed a full academic program,

although he did attend a few classes with teachers from the National Institute of Music,

where he found musical friends and enemies alike.59

The fact that Villa-Lobos developed his musical tastes without formal training,

but rather truly inspired by the music of the people in the streets is already a novelty and

absolutely outstanding; but additionally, Villa-Lobos's search for Brazilian cultural

influences led him to further explore in the most remote regions of Brazil. He allegedly

traveled around the country from 1905 to 1911, getting in touch with authentic native

folklore from the regions he came across.60 But as Béhague explains, even if he did

collect any folkloric materials during those trips, his approach was not as scientific as his

European counterparts like the Spanish Felip Pedrell or the Hungarian Béla Bartók.

58 Mariz, 137.
59 Mariz, 139-142.
60 Ibid.
 24

Instead, these experiences were for him rather more intuitive than musicologic.61

Strangely, even after all those experiences, his first compositions for piano and

chamber ensembles from the 1910's still reflect a strong influence from European models,

especially the late romantic French school. For example, his character piece The Cat and

the Mouse from Characteristic Fables (1914) seems like a direct descendent from

Debussy's Books of Preludes (1910, 1913), composed during that same decade. This

influence could be explained by his personal studies of European composers at the early

1910's, and Mariz also mentions that he did came across Vincent d'Indy's Cours de

Composition Musicale (Course on Musical Composition, 1912), which definitely closes

the link with the French school.62 Those early compositions, despite their artistic value,

had little importance (if any) to the construction of the Brazilian Nationalist School.

Even so, by this same decade he starts experimenting with folk elements in his

compositions. The first piano set that displays that particular tendency are the Three

African Dances (1914-15, ex. 7). This set was later orchestrated and, even though it is

still under the harmonic influence of French music, its rhythmic syncopations are an

obvious tribute to the African musical influence. Some scholars such as Vasco Mariz and

Simon Wright point out another interesting aspect about this set: Villa-Lobos affirmed

that he used authentic material from the Caripuna Indians from Mato Grosso, a state from

the central region of Brazil.63 But of course many scholars, such as Béhague, contest this

claim, since there is no proof of this supposed native Caripuna folk material.64

61 Béhague, “Music in Latin America” 184.

62 Mariz, 141.
63 Simon Wright, Villa-Lobos (Oxford Studies of Composers. Oxford; New York: Oxford University
Press, 1992), 9-11. See also Mariz, 167.
64 Gerard Béhague, review of Villa-Lobos, by Simon Wright, Latin American Music Review / Revista de
Música Latinoamericana, Vol. 14, No. 2 (Autumn - Winter, 1993), 294-7.
 25

ALLEGRO GIOCOSO

bene marcato il canto e sempre legato

Ex. 7 – H. Villa-Lobos – Three African Dances Op. 47 – 1. Farrapos, mm. 9-12.

Whether those claims are true or not, it is actually not really relevant, since in this work

there is a clear transformation in his musical language from an early lyric and chromatic

post-romantic style (mostly from the French influence) into a more percussive and

repetitive one (connected to the Afro-Brazilian folklore). So much so, that this set is

actually considered to be the one that marks the change from Villa-Lobos's first stylistic

period (featuring heavy European influence) to his second stylistic period (when he turns

his attention to more nationalistic matters).65 This technique – to employ (or emulate)

authentic native musical elements – certainly brought Villa-Lobos a lot of criticism: his

concerts often received bad reviews, and the “academic musical elite” constantly

dismissed his works.66 Still, this is when his nationalist language starts to germinate, as

Maria Neves rightly asserts regarding another work from this same period, the symphonic

poem Amazonas (1917):

… a nationalism that has nothing to do with the lightness of the late-

romantic saloons, assuming thoroughly a violent “primitivism” like the
tropical nature. It is through this new form of expression, rude and direct,
that opens … a “new phase in Brazilian music history: possessing a
legitimate national expression, total and clear.67

65 Mariz, 166.
66 Mariz, 143.
67 Neves, 25.
 26

The 1920's was “the golden age” of Brazilian nationalism, with its pinnacle at the

Semana de Arte Moderna de 1922 (1922 Modern Art Week). By that decade, Villa-

Lobos's nationalistic vein aligned with the ideals of other Brazilian artists, and Maria

Neves explains how that happened: leaded by Mário de Andrade, a group of artists from

São Paulo (mostly comprising writers and painters) had already organized themselves

into a group baptized as “the futurists” by Oswald de Andrade (not everyone from the

group agreed with that label, including Mário de Andrade). These artists planned the

already mentioned Modern Art Week in São Paulo one hundred years after the Brazilian

Republic Proclamation, their goal being exactly to achieve cultural independence from

Europe in the same way that they achieved political independence from Portugal.68 Not

surprisingly, Villa-Lobos was invited from Rio de Janeiro to be the artist responsible for

the musical concerts, since his already matured nationalist ideals matched the aspirations

of the group.

The event, however, was terribly received by the general audience, especially

because of these artists’ strong reaction against the traditional European models still

cultivated and cherished by the academicians. But it was also a milestone in defining the

future path for the Brazilian culture in general: no art or artist was left untouched by the

ideals proclaimed during that event.69 In fact, one of the main purposes of the Modern

Week was actually to challenge the “lukewarm and provincial academic traditions” in

Brazil.70 So it was no surprise that their reception in the Brazilian artistic scenario was

met with severe resistance. Even Villa-Lobos, who programmed some of his “less

68 Neves, 30-8.
69 Ibid.
70 Roberto Pontual, "Semana de Arte Moderna," Grove Art Online. (accessed May 28, 2018.)
http://www.oxfordartonline.com/groveart/view/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.001.0001/oao-
9781884446054-e-7000077514
 27

adventurous” music still reflecting much of a post-romantic style from his early period,

was poorly acclaimed.71 But nevertheless, with the 1922 Modern Art Week was born the

Brazilian Nationalist School, and for the purposes of this study, the expressions

“Brazilian nationalism” or “Brazilian Nationalist School” will conform specifically to the

ideals preached by Mário de Andrade and other artists during this event.

Another important fact that happened to Villa-Lobos during his transitional years

were his meetings with two very important musicians: French composer Darius Milhaud

and the internationally-renowned pianist Artur Rubinstein by the end of the 1910’s.

These men not only helped to acquaint Villa-Lobos with the avant-garde music produced

in Europe during that time, but Rubinstein also performed his works worldwide and

introduced him to the wealthy Brazilian businessmen brothers Arnaldo and Carlos

Guinle. These men were instrumental in supporting Villa-Lobos’s financial needs during

his travels to France in the 1920’s. Without their help Villa-Lobos may never have had

the chance to become internationally known.72 After all this assistance – cultural,

financial and moral –Villa-Lobos sails to France in 1923. In 1927, when he was in Paris,

he gave a series of concerts in the Salle Gaveau, which brought him international

acclaim. From there, he departed to several European countries and conducted (or had his

works performed) in many concerts throughout Europe. His international fame was then

established.73

During this decade, at the peak of his nationalist style, he produces his most

famous masterworks, including the massive collection of Choros. This work includes 14

Choros (from which Nrs. 13 and 14 are unfortunately lost) plus an Introduction to the

71 Neves, 37.
72 Mariz, 143-5.
73 Mariz, 147-9.
 28

Choros and the Choros Bis. The reference to the urban Brazilian chôro (which is a

popular genre often played by folk ensembles) in the title is already a hint to the

nationalistic influences in this work. And in fact, the whole set is a huge compendium of

Brazilian traditional musical practices, and authors like Maria Neves don't hesitate to

claim it as the culmination of the ideals of the Brazilian Nationalist School.74 In Ex. 8, the

opening of his Choros Nr. 5 “Alma Brasileira” (Brazilian Soul) for Piano, it is already

noticeable how more intimately connected with Brazilian folk music his writing is,

compared to the earlier African Dances. According to the composer himself, “what is

most interesting in this Choros, are the rhythmic and melodic cadences, irregular within a

quadruple meter, giving the disguised impression of rubato, or of a delayed melodic

execution, which is precisely the most interesting characteristic of the serenaders.”75

Moderado (41 . 52: J)

Oo/11111,

PIANO. ~

r·
Ex. 8: H. Villa-Lobos – Choros Nr. 5 “Alma Brasileira”, mm. 1-4.

74 Neves, 50-5.
75 Béhague, “Music in Latin America” 194-5.
 29

When Villa-Lobos came back to Brazil in 1930, he met a country in the process of

revolution (the following period was also known as the Vargas Era from 1930-1945, a

totalitarian dictatorship governed by president Getúlio Vargas). Upon his arrival, Villa-

Lobos wrote a plan to fix the precarious method of music teaching in Brazil, what led

him a few years later to be hired by the government to take charge of the

Superintendency of Musical and Artistic Education for Rio de Janeiro, the country’s

capital at that time. The government during the Vargas Era was known to have made

significant improvements for the Brazilian lower social classes, and was also known to

have supported an extreme patriotism (once again, aligning with the modernist and

nationalist ideals), but was also compared to its contemporary fascist European regimes.76

Villa-Lobos always had a deep interest in writing pieces for pedagogical purposes.

But because of his new appointment, he increased even more his pedagogical production

to attend the artistic necessities of the government: pride in national folklore. These

circumstances culminated with the Guia Practico (Practical Guide), a method that Villa-

Lobos compiled with several folksong arrangements (not only for piano, but also for

choir or voice ensembles) to be used throughout all schools in Brazil.77 Considering

Villa-Lobos's bold statement “I am folklore,” its connotations gains a deeper meaning

with his government appointment and the institution of the Guia Practico. As Maria

Neves points out, the statement implies that since Villa-Lobos musical background was

in the streets and country travels, he “is” folklore because that is the natural language that

76 Gerard Béhague, “Villa-Lobos,” Grove Music Online. (accessed May 28, 2018.)
http:////www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-
9781561592630-e-0000029373.
77 Neves, 55.
 30

comes out of his music due to the pragmatism of his cultural experience.78 However,

since he had the power to create pedagogical material that was taught throughout the

entire country, nowadays it is rather difficult to draw a line between what material is

vernacular and what was actually composed by Villa-Lobos. He indeed became an

inseparable part of Brazilian folklore. Besides, his agenda to align music making with

nationalistic pride were remarkably well-received during his political appointment, and

received notorious government support.79

Yet, during his association with the government, Villa-Lobos experienced a subtle

change in his style. As it happened with other composers during totalitarian regimes

(especially the Germans and Russians), Villa-Lobos now feels the necessity to ally his

use of nationalistic traits with universal forms (or traditional European forms, such as

symphonies, concertos, dances, etc), which means that there is a certain abandon from the

“primitivist” qualities of his middle period, changing into a clearer and lighter neo-

classical approach. His main experiment with those ideals is the impressive cycle known

as Bachianas Brasileiras (comprising 9 suites), in which he combines Baroque features

inspired by the music of Johann Sebastian Bach with Brazilian elements. He admired the

music of Bach immensely since his youth. According to him, Bach is a “universal

folkloric source, rich and profound, with all the popular material from all countries,

connecting all people.”80 Together with the cycle of Choros, they comprise the most

varied and thorough display of Villa-Lobos musical capabilities.

After that, there were no particular innovations in the Brazilian nationalistic style

78 Ibid, 27.
79 David E. Vassberg, “Villa-Lobos: Music as a Tool of Nationalism.” Luso-Brazilian Review, vol. 6, no.
2 (1969): 55–65. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3512733
80 Neves, 53.
 31

throughout Villa-Lobos's life. In 1943 he embarked in his first travel to the USA, where

his works once more achieved a lasting success. He attended several international

appointments in the USA (especially New York), Europe and Israel, until he died in

1959. During these international travels, he not only propagated his own works, but also

disseminated the works of his fellow Brazilian composers.81 The labor that Villa-Lobos

did for the improvement of the Brazilian musical culture was unprecedented, and very

possibly will never be surpassed.

3c. NATIONALISM IN BRAZIL: 2nd GENERATION AND POST-NATIONALISM

The stylistic shift witnessed in Villa-Lobos's musical output can also be

contextualized within the American continent, which is another way to demonstrate that

this nationalistic trend was not only present in Brazil, but it was a growing phenomenon

worldwide.

Beardsell, in his book Europe and Latin America, Returning the Gaze explains

how Latin America (mostly the Spanish speaking countries) and its artists struggled to

achieve this same cultural independence described above in the birth of Brazilian

Nationalism. He also makes use of two words which connotations we already alluded to:

acculturation and transculturation.

Acculturation refers to a one-way process of conversion and substitution

of native cultures by European ones, whereas transculturation, … is
concerned with the mutual transformation of cultures, in particular of the
European by the native.82

81 Mariz, 154.
82 W. Rowe and V. Schelling, Memory and Modernity. Popular Culture in Latin America (London and
New York: Verso, 1991), quoted in Peter Beardsell, Europe and Latin America, Returning the Gaze
(Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 2000), 173. It is noteworthy to mention that
the definition provided for “acculturation” share many similarities with Taruskin's “musical
colonialism.”
 32

Meanwhile, Ralph Locke in his article about the shift of American artistic tastes

during the turn of 20th century objectively states:

Composers needed to begin to speak a more recognizably American

dialect and to reflect … the character of the American people.83

Therefore, this search for a national art, exemplified in the ideals of Mário de

Andrade, the 1922 Modern Art Week or the music of Villa-Lobos, were not only

products of regional circumstances or the eccentricities of a particular group of artists, but

part of a global process: a sort of response from the former European colonies in their

search for political and cultural independence from Europe.

This growing thirst for nationalistic music, allied to the innovations found in

Villa-Lobos’s works, affected the way Latin-American composers digested that material

into their own music, and in Brazil that is especially noticeable in the musical production

of the composers that lived during Villa-Lobos's life. In order to show how that translates

into actual musical elements, compare the examples of piano music prior to Villa-Lobos

(Exs. 4-6), with this section from composer Oscar Lorenzo-Fernández's (1897-1948)

Jongo, from his Suíte Brasileira Nr. 3. (1942, Ex. 9).

83 Ralph Locke, “Music Lovers, Patrons, and the Sacralization of Culture in America,” Nineteenth-
Century Music, Vol. 17 No. 2 (Autumn, 1993): 166-7.
 33

r=:-::
, ""
tJ •
-
1 r-i!
> > > > > :,. '
>
\
. ~ ~ ~
,,, - - , D
> > ~ > > > > >
I
;
,, -
I~
- #._" fl"~.~
l~ !If! ~,,#j'ill!#~ - ,i ~ #f#R#1.,
fllf, •

Grandioso
> > > > >

fff_

Ex. 9: O. Lorenzo-Fernández - Suíte Brasileira Nr. 3 – 3. Jongo, systems 11 and 12.

In the selected extract, we can already notice some modernists tendencies, such as

the chromaticism in the bass line (shared between the lower staves), played alternately

between both hands. However, the heavy modal inflection noticeable in the main melody

in the second system (treble clef) isn't only derived from modernism, but is actually a

reflection of the modal melodies of Brazilian folklore, by its turn also heavily influenced

by African inheritage. The constant percussive ostinati in the lower registers are also

reminiscent of the percussion instruments of that culture. But it is the repetitive nature of

the music (with a melodic fragment being repeated several times from the beginning of

the piece, and, of course, the left hand ostinati), already hinted at in Villa-Lobos's African

Dances, that shows a definite break with the European traditional forms.
 34

In fact, many composers from the early decades of the 20th century started to gear

towards this new nationalistic direction. Mariz calls them the Second Nationalist

Generation (the first being Villa-Lobos)84, featuring composers as the aforementioned

Lorenzo-Fernández, the also prolific composer Francisco Mignone (1897-1986), among

others. Those composers share one fact in common with Villa-Lobos: unlike Bartók,

none developed a systematic way of studying and writing folk music. Besides, even

though Villa-Lobos eventually promoted a very intense political nationalist agenda, as

observed above, still in the majority of his compositions (and the other composers) his

use of folklore remains only as a source of inspiration, or, in other words, there is no

“aggressive nationalism” attached to his nationalist aesthetics. Furthermore, all three

composers, after an intense nationalist period, would experience a universalist period,

where traditional European forms and influences would become more evident, even

though still marked by a Brazilian accent. It was only with Mozart Camargo Guarnieri

(1907-1993) that the ideals of Mário de Andrade (who called Guarnieri his favorite

disciple)85 and Brazilian Nationalism would find some ethnomusicologic support.

However, this “ethnomusicologic support” would not come necessarily from

Guarnieri’s own research. Instead, since his twenties, Guarnieri frequented the house of

Mário de Andrade, who would not only supply him with folkloric materials to use as

inspiration for his own compositions, but would also provide a cultural and aesthetical

environment for the composer. About those experiences Guarnieri himself states:

Then I started to visit his house [Mário de Andrade’s] relentlessly. […]

This companionship gave me the opportunity to learn a lot. The little
house at Lopes Chaves Street was always buzzing as a beehive. We

84 Mariz, 195-242.
85 Mariz, 246.
 35

discussed literature, sociology, philosophy, art and the devil! That was for
me the same as watching classes at any university.86

But it would be wrong to assume that Mário de Andrade purposefully turned Guarnieri

into a nationalist composer. By 1928, when they first met, Guarnieri showed him two of

his piano compositions, the Dança Brasileira and the Canção Sertaneja (ex. 10), both

already influenced by folkloric elements and quite aligned with the musicologist’s artistic

ideals. Mário de Andrade only provided the basis to nurture Guarnieri’s own aesthetical

aspirations.

Dolentemente M M ,J = 58

>

>

Ex. 10: M. Camargo Guarnieri – Canção Sertaneja, mm. 1-8.

As a counterpart to Guarnieri, Neves also mentions the composer Luciano Gallet

(1893-1931), who perhaps was the earliest composer to consciously develop studies in

Brazilian folklore to support his musical nationalist writing. He (and the omnipresent

Mário de Andrade) even published posthumously a theoretical study named Estudos de

Folclore (Folkloric Studies, 1934), but his life was unfortunately cut short too early for

86 Neves, 66.
 36

his musical and literary works to mature.87 Regarding those last four composers, Neves

further states:

Therefore, we can see four nationalist postures that don’t directly

interconnect, […]: Luciano Gallet and his extreme intellectual honesty,
that makes him study the Brazilian folklore deeply before venturing into
composition; Lorenzo-Fernández, that allows the spirit of Brazilian
popular music to permeate his work without further rationalizations;
Francisco Mignone, which better represents the populism in Brazilian
music, composing accessibly to be easily understood by the masses; and
Camargo Guarnieri, the most self-conscious, perhaps the most technically
prepared, but the most artificial, less spontaneous, and the one that heavily
influenced the next generation of young composers.88

Perhaps, calling Guarnieri “artificial” and “less spontaneous” may be an

exaggeration, but it is true that – as opposed to the initial primitivism encountered in the

early nationalism of Villa-Lobos, Fernández and Mignone – this folkloric influence

seems already diluted in Guarnieri’s works. Mariz writes that “Guarnieri keeps himself in

an elevated state of distilled Brazilianism, intimate and non-exhibitionist, less accessible

to the big masses at first contact.”89 Nevertheless, he was one of the major defenders of

the Brazilian Nationalist school, and counted among his students many of the most

prominent names of the next generations of Brazilian composers. In any case, it was

propitious for Brazilian Nationalism to find Guarnieri as its idealistic defender, as its very

foundations would be vehemently questioned by a foreign German composer that arrived

in Brazil in 1937, Hans-Joachim Koellreutter (1915-2005).

It would be naïve, however, to claim that Koellreutter alone was the arch-enemy

of Brazilian nationalism. In truth, the nationalist agenda in general was becoming very

87 Neves, 57-9.
88 Neves, 69.
89 Mariz, 246.
 37

unpopular especially due to the political configuration of Europe, with the rises of

Nazism, Fascism and the consequent Second World War outbreak. Since those regimes

adhered to a strong nationalist agenda, as the war became quite unpopular, so did

nationalism.

Koellreutter came from Europe precisely in order to escape from a Germany

facing the challenges of war, obviously an unfruitful situation for artists in general (like

him, many composers flew from Europe to America). Already influenced by the distaste

for the strong nationalism he experienced in his homeland, nothing would be more

natural than to combat the nationalism he found lingering in the artistic realms of his new

home country.

Consequently, in 1939 he created the group of composers named Música Viva

(Music Alive), which sought to elevate the current musical environment by advertising

the newest European aesthetic trends (such as the twelve-tone method). It was a few

years later that the group published one of the most important documents concerning

musical aesthetics in Brazil, the Manifesto de 1946 (1946 Manifest, Appendix A). This

document reflects the core ideals of the group: an art that is a product of the social, and

that strengthens it, not by enhancing individualities, but by cultivating the new and

universal.90

This document was considered by many composers (including Camargo

Guarnieri) as an attack to the Brazilian nationalism, and prompted a reaction years later.

However the Música Viva group would not live much longer to feel its impact, since the

group suffered a huge blow when the 1948 Prague International Convention of

90 Mariz, 298-99.
 38

Composers and Music Critics declared the twelve-tone technique as “decadent,”91

encouraging many members of the group either to drop the avant-garde techniques

completely or at least start to come back to nationalistic traits.

However, the document still prompted a reaction, and its most scandalous

document was not less important than the previous Manifesto, and was written by no one

else other than Camargo Guarnieri himself. The document, entitled Carta Aberta aos

Músicos e Críticos do Brasil (Open Letter to the Brazilian Musicians and Critics, 1950,

Appendix B,)92 criticized the teachings of Koelleutter with a great deal of violence,

accusing the dodecafonic method of being too artificial and even anti-national, and

encouraged all other musicians to fight against that “foreign intrusion.”

In fact, many artists actually sided with Guarnieri, but as pointed out by Neves,

none of his supporters actually commented or developed new arguments to support his

cause, while Koellreutter and his students (besides other artists, critics and writers)

attacked the letter point by point, exposing Guarnieri’s ignorance on the method, and

advocating for all young artists’ freedom to choose their own aesthetical path. This was

the first Brazilian musical-aesthetical conflict to gain widespread notoriety in the press,

and its impact will be discussed below.93

It is important to notice, however, that by this point the nationalism of certain

composers (like Camargo Guarnieri, César Guerra-Peixe and possibly Cláudio Santoro),

assumed a certain degree of “aggressive nationalism,” since they could be socially

interpreted as a reaction to the modern methods implemented by Koellreutter. That

91 Mariz, 305.
92 Neves, 121-4.
93 Neves, 127-33.
 39

perspective becomes clear when we read Mariz’s statement that Guarnieri wouldn’t

“write at the top of the page larghetto or allegro not to concede an inch-worth of land to

the enemies of modern nativism.”94

The aforementioned César Guerra-Peixe (1914-1993) and Cláudio Santoro (1919-

1989) are perfect examples of the consequences of this aesthetical fight, since they are

some of the first composers to be classified in the post-nationalist (or post-modernist)

generation.95 Regarding this period, Salles states:

The post-modernism is far to be a stage of consensus. In Brazil, the most

radical extremes seem to be, at one side, the electroacoustic composers
and, at the other, the neo-romantic/nationalists; however, we can’t
appreciate any hegemony among these orientations. That is confirmed by
the fact that the most recent Brazilian periodicals and universities open
equivalent spaces for all those approaches.96

That means that post-nationalism started as a period of “taking sides”: either one was a

nationalist or an avant-garde composer. Curiously, even though both Santoro and Guerra-

Peixe started as Koellreutter disciples, composing through the dodecafonic system, by the

time of the conflict they had already turned their styles towards nationalism, and actually

sided with Guarnieri.97 But in contrast to the previous nationalist generation, they actually

conducted field studies in music and Brazilian folklore, supporting their nationalist

writing with authentic folkloric material.98

As the years passed, the effects of the conflict diminished, and composers felt

94 Mariz, 247.
95 Mariz, 301-28.
96 Mônica Giardini, “Processos composicionais de Edmundo Villani-Côrtes na sua Sinfonia no. 1 para
Orquestra de Sopros” (PhD th., Universidade do Estado de São Paulo, São Paulo, 2013), 19.
97 Neves, 127-33.
98 Gerard Béhague, “Guerra-Peixe, César,” Grove Music Online. (accessed June 14, 2018.)
http:////www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-
9781561592630-e-0000011926.
See also Gerard Béhague, “Santoro, Cláudio,” Grove Music Online. (accessed June 14, 2018.)
http:////www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-
9781561592630-e-0000024553.
 40

much freer to transition between aesthetical tendencies: Guerra-Peixe and Santoro

eventually turned back to atonal writing, mixing them with nationalist elements,99 and

even the pivot of the conflict, Camargo Guarnieri, eventually tried the dodecafonic

system in his later works.100 The separation between the nationalist and avant-garde

schools may have stayed somewhat pronounced since the conflict, but it certainly didn’t

prevent composers to meander in between those schools.

It is true that some older nationalist composers, such as Radamés Gnatalli (1906-

1988), were already dealing with stylistic eclecticism much before the battle of the

manifestos. However, there was always a public thought that Brazilian nationalism, to

achieve its “pure state,” should not mingle with external influences, contrary to Mário de

Andrade’s ideals of absorption and re-invention. Gnatalli himself felt it was necessary to

separate his works into two categories: “popular” (with jazz influences, usually for the

media or entertainment industry in general) and “serious” (concert music for the concert

halls, usually molded after classical European models)101, a kind of classification that

actually mirrors many other composers and Brazilian culture in general, especially

amongst musicians and music critics of that century. However, even those classifications

proved to be non-exclusive – at least in Gnatalli’s case – since it is possible to identify

traces of each style in his compositions from both categories. However, it is the

“necessity to conform to labels” that makes all the difference, since after the

establishment of post-modernism that kind of attitude weakened considerably amongst

composers.

The next generation that displayed nationalist tendencies – represented by

99 Neves, 137-40.
100 Neves, 142.
101 Mariz, 263-4.
 41

composers such as Edino Krieger (1928) and Marlos Nobre (1939) – were immensely

affected by those cultural dynamics. During their youth they would start writing in a

romantic nationalist style as expected, but that would quickly change due to their

immediate contact with Koellreutter and his avant-garde school. Therefore, when shortly

later these composers decide to include back Brazilian folk elements into their

composition, that inclusion already accepts other influences without restrictions or

reservations, even foreign trends such as the dodecafonism, electro-acoustic devices and

aleatory. It doesn’t mean that those later techniques would necessarily be their main

musical language; actually, they are usually not aligned together with the Brazilian avant-

garde composers at all (such as Gilberto Mendes, Jocy de Oliveira, Almeida Prado, Jorge

Antunes, among others); but following the post-modernist tendencies, they would adapt

any compositional tendencies they felt appropriate to a particular work, independent of

their nationalist traits (if any).

It is among this generation of composers that we find Edmundo Villani-Côrtes

(1930). Like Edino Krieger and many other composers, he studied with both Camargo

Guarnieri and Koellreutter, absorbing the musical styles and ideologies from both

schools. He also lived through the same duality that Gnatalli experienced regarding his

stylistic eclecticism: both composers were very well versed in popular music, working for

jazz symphonic bands, pop singers and the TV. But, as usual with post-modernist

composers, he never felt the necessity to compartmentalize each style. Much to the

opposite, Villani often mixes those disparate influences in subtle and harmonious ways.

Monica Giardini also points out the connection between the post-modernist period and
 42

Villani’s eclectic writing, justifying then his stylistic “freedom of expression.”102 We will

have the opportunity to further scrutinize his biography in the next chapter.

But it is worth mentioning that the two works by Villani that we will analyze, the

Série Brasileira Op. 8 and the Cinco Miniaturas Brasileiras actually reflect those cultural

dynamics quite characteristically. The Série (composed in 1957) reflects a more

primitivist nationalism from the young Villani, mixing Brazilian cultural references with

jazz and European classical traditions, and it is certainly still under the influence of his

teachers from the Conservatório Brasileiro de Música – exponents of the older nationalist

generation, including Villa-Lobos himself. Meanwhile, the Miniaturas (composed in

1978) showcases a more mature Villani, who had already studied under Guarnieri and

Koellreutter, and consequently had also ventured into the avant-garde writing, especially

in pieces such as his first two Timbres for piano and his prized Noneto. The style of the

Miniaturas, however, is clearly directed towards a “purer nationalism” (meaning folk

references without much “foreign disguising”), be it due to the piece’s pedagogical

intentions to preserve a lighter texture, or perhaps due to the “stylistic exodus” of his

contemporary composers already witnessed years before.

Nevertheless, Villani, alike many composers, is definitely part of the post-

modernist movement, which until the present has preserved its characteristics. And that is

the contemporary state of Brazilian nationalism: a period that honors the knowledge and

use of authentic folkloric sources, an inheritance from Mário de Andrade and the

Brazilian Nationalist School; but also tolerates the co-existence of disparate influences,

national or not, due to the advent of post-modernism.

102 Giardini, “Processos composicionais” 19-20.

 43

3d. BOSSA NOVA

However, there is still one important factor unaccounted throughout the musical

production of those Brazilian composers in general. Consider Mário de Andrade’s

following statement:

…If the Brazilian composer could employ the syncope, our constancy, he
could especially employ melodic movements apparently syncopated, albeit
lacking accents, respecting the prosody, or musically fantastic, free of
remeleixo maxixeiro [his words for the usual frenetic swing of the samba],
movements completely out of measure or rhythm from which the piece
goes by. Effect that besides being exquisite could, as in the folk tradition,
become extraordinarily expressive and beautiful. But that depends on what
the composer will have to tell us…103

Andrade’s remark refers specifically to the characteristic of the syncope in Brazilian

folklore, often not being an accentuation displacement, like in the European tradition, but

usually a prosodic effect based on the particularities of the language. In fact, we can now

safely conclude that his prediction did not become true within the first or second

generation of nationalist composers, since they were more often attracted to the piquancy

of the Brazilian rhythm rather than its subtleties.104 Ironically, the concretization of that

prophecy would not become alive in the hands of any classical composer, but rather in

Brazilian pop music, specifically in the music movement nowadays known as bossa

nova.

Writing about the bossa nova style, Béhague comments:

103 Andrade, “Ensaio” 14.

104 Villa-Lobos is arguably an exception, as Andrade quotes many of his original uses of Brazilian
rhythms. But Villa-Lobos’s prosodic treatment of the Portuguese language has quite often been severely
criticized.
 44

…The deliberately intimate character of bossa nova expression called not

only for simplicity of language (reinforced by colloquialism), but also for
the specific sound effects of the words, showing some affinity with
Brazilian concrete poetry of the 1960s. This remarkable preoccupation
with the language’s sounds was also reflected in the close relationship of
text and melody in many songs, where the lyrics do not seem to have been
conceived separately from the music itself.105

Béhague remarks explains how bossa nova was much more than just another

“commercial label,” but rather a change much anticipated since Andrade’s premonitions:

a musical style that would first and foremost be intimately connected with the Brazilian

Portuguese language – fact which as we have already observed, is one of the most basic

steps for the blossoming of musical nationalism. If bossa nova was indeed Andrade’s

actual vision, it is difficult to assess, since he died before the bossa nova movement

actually started – the first recording credited to João Gilberto and dating to 1952.106 But

its impact makes this kind of confirmation irrelevant, since bossa nova was not only a

success in Brazil, but actually thrived abroad, being quite often the first musical

association that foreigners would link with Brazilian culture. And that is why bossa nova

is so relevant to Brazilian nationalism, not only because it became a staple of Brazilian

music internationally (even more than international composers such as Heitor Villa-

Lobos, Cláudio Santoro, José Siqueira, Edino Krieger or Marlos Nobre), but also because

it affected the musical production inside the country in many levels.

But what are the characteristics of the bossa nova style? First, as described above,

its connection to language is a major factor. Besides, Caetano Veloso in his biography

asserts:

105 Gerard Béhague, “Brazil,” Grove Music Online. (accessed September 30, 2018.)
http:////www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-
9781561592630-e-0000003894.
106 Ibid.
 45

…At bottom the music of bossa nova, even in its incorporation of Brazil’s
deepest samba roots with America’s freshest cool jazz, was
quintessentially Brazilian and therefore carried tremendous historical
valence. Put another way, bossa nova did not represent a grafting of a
foreign branch on to an indigenous rootstock but rather the continuation of
a process of innovation that had always been integral to an ever-changing
samba.107

Therefore, bossa nova is undeniably a fusion of styles: the “cool jazz from the fifties”108

with the Brazilian samba, which is itself the heir of the Brazilian chôro. Therefore, not

only bossa nova has an intimate connection with the national language, but also with

Brazilian musical roots.

Furthermore, Béhague also specifies a few other musical elements of the bossa

nova: a certain nonchalance (or sprezzatura, meaning to avoid displays of extreme

emotions), flowing singing in a subdued tone (making it even closer to the spoken

language), a bigger connection between harmony and rhythm (harmonic instruments

usually provide both harmonic support and rhythmic variety) and a preference for more

complex chords derived from American jazz.109

Eventually, bossa nova would originate other movements (such as the Tropicália)

or even merge with other styles, but none had as much significance and influence over

Brazilian nationalism, and of course, its nationalist composers. Villlani certainly

consumed and absorbed it, and bossa nova left quite identifiable marks in his

compositions. But before we analyze those influences, we will glance at his biography.

107 Caetano Veloso, Tropical Truth: A Story of Music and Revolution in Brazil. (London: Bloomsbury,
2004), 22-3.
108 Ibid.
109 Gerard Béhague, “Bossa Nova,” Grove Music Online. (accessed September 30, 2018.)
http:////www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-
9781561592630-e-0000003663.
 46

CHAPTER II

EDMUNDO VILLANI-CÔRTES

1. BIOGRAPHY

Edmundo Villani-Côrtes was born on November 8th, 1930 in Juiz de Fora, one of

the biggest cities of the state of Minas Gerais. This state was responsible for most of the

gold production and other precious minerals during the Brazilian colonial period, and the

positive economic effects could be felt even during the first decades of the twentieth

century: during Villani- Côrtes's youth years Juiz de Fora already featured a Municipal

Conservatory and a Municipal Symphony Orchestra – commodities mostly found only in

the biggest cities of the country – and consequently was very active musically. Even

nowadays, the city still maintains its cultural reputation: it is one of the pioneers for

research on baroque and classical music from the Brazilian colonial period.110

Also, it is noteworthy to remind that 1930 was the year when president Getúlio

Vargas assumed the Brazilian government, and composer Heitor Villa-Lobos became his

minister of culture, raising awareness for music education throughout the country.111

These facts attest that Villani-Côrtes was born in a very propitious environment to

develop his innate artistic qualities.

His childhood coincidentally shared many similarities with Villa-Lobos's: his

father, Augusto de Castro Côrtes, was a famous flutist in the city, and would often bring

his fellow musicians to rehearse or serenade at his home saraus,112 not much differently

from Villa-Lobos's household. He also had an older brother, named Augusto like his

110 Affonso Romano de Sant’Anna, “Edmundo: simplesmente criativo” in Edmundo Villani-Côrtes:

Música Contemporânea Brasileira, ed. by Francisco Carlos Coelho (São Paulo, Brazil: Discoteca
Oneyda Alvarenga, Centro Cultural São Paulo, 2006), 27-8.
111 Giardini, 24.
112 Saraus were very popular Brazilian family parties in the early 20th century, where people would reunite
for entertainment, including serenades. Giardini, “Processos composicionais” 24.
 47

father, who played the guitar. Since his early years Villani was part of his house's musical

events, and had a cavaquinho (Brazilian small guitar) to imitate his older brother. When

the later left the country to study in the USA, Villani picked up his guitar and taught

himself to play it.113 He later received informal lessons on the instrument, but they had

very little theoretical or technical foundation.114

Perhaps the main difference between Villani's and Villa-Lobos's childhood was

the result of a few particular technological innovations, such as the radio and the movies

with sound. Villani's family were eager listeners, and the repertory offered was quite

eclectic, including classics, Brazilian popular music, Broadway musicals and movie

soundtracks.115 Of course the young Villani was deeply influenced, especially by the

performance of Chopin waltzes by the pianist Alexander Brailowsky.116 Therefore, since

an early age, Villani was already exposed to a very broad musical repertory.

He tried to play the repertory he listened to by ear, and he soon felt the desire to

learn how to play the piano. He arranged to practice at his aunt's house, since he didn't

have a piano at home, and finally started lessons at age 17 with Nialva Bicalho.117 It is

surprising to consider that only ten years after his initial studies – in 1957 – he was

already concluding his Série Brasileira Op. 8, one of the works that will be discussed in

the next chapter.

113 Thais Lopes Nicolau, “The Piano Concertos of Edmundo Villani-Côrtes” (DA diss., University of
Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO, 2013), 8-9. See also Giardini, 25-6.
114 Irailda Eneli Barros Silva Rodrigues, “The Art Song of Edmundo Villani-Côrtes: A Performance Guide
of Selected Works” (DMA diss., University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 2014), 7-8.
115 Alfeu Rodrigues de Araujo Filho, “Timbres e Ritmatas para Piano Solo de E. Villani-Côrtes: Conceito,
Análise e Interpretação Pianística” (PhD th., Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, SP, 2011),
8-9. See also Nicolau, “Piano Concertos” 12.
116 Irineu Franco Perpetuo, “Datas referenciais” in Edmundo Villani-Côrtes: Música Contemporânea
Brasileira, ed. by Francisco Carlos Coelho (São Paulo, Brazil: Discoteca Oneyda Alvarenga, Centro
Cultural São Paulo, 2006), 17.
117 Giardini, 26.
 48

Nialva Bicalho was the niece of one of the most prominent piano teachers of Juiz

de Fora, Cincinato Duque Bicalho. Unfortunately, he also had a very conservative

character, and dismissed the young Villani due to his excessive curiosity and taste for

popular music.118 Yet another coincidence between Villani-Côrtes's and Villa-Lobos's

life, this is just another example of the prejudice still reminiscent from the academicians

against popular music and musicians. Nonetheless, Villani kept his inspiration alive, and

managed to compose the first piano work of his catalog, the Nine Preludes (1949), which

displays a clear indebtedness to his beloved composer Chopin.119 He showed those

preludes to the pianist and composer João Octaviano, who encouraged him to complete

his musical studies.120

But before he left his hometown, he acquired experience playing with orchestras

and small ensembles. In 1950 he started playing for the Juiz de Fora Philharmonic

Orchestra. Shortly after, he also performed for the radio PRB3, and the Industrial Radio

Mário Vieira Orchestra.121 Those ensemble experiences were important because they

provided him the chance to get acquainted with the popular music played in ballrooms

and nightclubs, and would have a definite influence in his compositional language.

In 1951 he moved to Rio de Janeiro, starting his studies at the Conservatório

Brasileiro de Música. There he encountered some initial difficulties due to a certain lack

of musical formal education, but he still graduated in 1954. While in Rio, he was able to

support himself by playing again for orchestras and nightclubs, including the Radio Tupi

Philharmonic Orchestra, which was known for its diverse repertory, including Americans

118 Giardini, 26. See also I. Rodrigues, “The Art Song” 8-9.
119 Nicolau, 13.
120 I. Rodrigues, 9.
121 Giardini, 29.
 49

like Gershwin, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, and also Brazilians like Ary Barroso, Custódio

de Mesquita and Garoto.122

By now, we can establish a very clear pattern in Villani's musical life, which is his

curiosity and willingness to explore different styles of music. In his early years, he was

exposed both to classical and popular music and showed interest in both, while during his

educational years he received formal training at the conservatory while gaining practical

experience in piano bars. This tendency to conciliate disparate sources will persist even

further in the following decades, and certainly helps to explain the plurality of influences

in his works.

After his graduation in 1954, Villani returned to his hometown, where he would

live for the remaining of that decade. He stayed very active during those years, being

appointed soloist and composer-in-residence for the city's orchestra, and had the chance

to premiere his Piano Concerto No. 1 as soloist. He also directed the conservatory and

took an accompanying position at a voice studio, where he met his wife Efigênia Côrtes,

a singer, marrying her during this period. And on top of all this activity, he also managed

to complete a law degree.123 It was also during those years that he completed the Série

Brasileira Op. 8 for piano solo, in 1957, and it should be no surprise that many of the

previously discussed musical influences would make their way into this work.

In 1960 Villani moved to São Paulo with his family, to further his studies with the

renowned piano teacher José Kliass from 1960-63. On the following years, from 1963-

65, he took composition lessons with Mozart Camargo Guarnieri.124 Both musicians were

significant defenders of the Brazilian Nationalist School, and perhaps that is why there is

122 I. Rodrigues, 10.

123 Ibid.
124 Ibid, 11. See also Perpetuo, “Datas referenciais” 18.
 50

a general misconception in readily classifying Villani-Côrtes as a nationalist.

Nevertheless, Villani refuses to accept those labels; he never pursued specific studies in

Brazilian folklore, or, as he admits it, he has never even read Mário de Andrade's Ensaio

sôbre Música Brasileira, as shown previously, one of the most important documents of

the movement's mentor.125 Instead, the nationalist elements characteristic of his music

come to him naturally, due to his own practical experiences.

While he was pursuing those studies, he started having financial difficulties, what

prompted him to interrupt his studies to accompany singers Maysa Matarazzo and

Altemar Dutra on tours abroad in South America. Upon his return, he took his usual jobs

playing for orchestras and started working as a composer and arranger for the former TV

Tupi. Tragically, now most of this prolific work is lost due to hazardous fires that

happened on the late 70's, and to the disposal of the company’s files when they closed in

1980.126 In any case, all this work for the TV and radio stations brought him notoriety,

and he was in high demand as an arranger and performer on shows such as the popular

Brazilian late night talk-show, Jô Soares Onze e Meia.127

Those work engagements unfortunately prevented him to keep having lessons

with Camargo Guarnieri, while they brought him his first teaching opportunity: he started

in 1973 to teach theory and composition courses at the Paulista Academy of Music. It

was there, through his students, that he met the German composer Hans-Joachim

Koellreutter,128 and under his guidance got acquainted with the most recent European

compositional techniques, such as Schoenberg's twelve-tone system, extended techniques

125 Lutero Rodrigues, “Música de câmara de Edmundo Villani-Côrtes” in Edmundo Villani-Côrtes:

Música Contemporânea Brasileira, ed. by Francisco Carlos Coelho (São Paulo, Brazil: Discoteca
Oneyda Alvarenga, Centro Cultural São Paulo, 2006), 41.
126 I. Rodrigues, 12-3.
127 Perpetuo, 22. See also de Sant’Anna, “Simplesmente criativo” 31.
128 de Sant’Anna, 31.
 51

and electronic experiments.129 Through Koellreutter's influence, Villani composed a

Noneto to submit for a competition in Munich, through the Brazilian Goethe Institute.

That would become his first relevant prize, the first of many to come in the following

years.130 The completion of the Cinco Miniaturas Brasileiras would follow soon, in

1978.

Curiously, in the same way that he distanced himself from the nationalist school,

he refused to strictly adopt the Música Viva ideals. After his brief excursion into

dodecafonism, he soon came back to his usual tonal language. Later he commented:

“When I studied with Koellreutter, he would say that to achieve respect a composer

should have his compositions contain 90% of new elements, including structural ones. I

don't think like that. For me, a good writer is the one who is able to use the vocabulary

known and understood by all to transmit a new idea with clarity. He doesn't need to

invent a new vocabulary or language to be original.”131

Shortly after, in 1982, he becomes teacher at the prestigious UNESP (São Paulo

State University). At this point, his engagement with TV and radio reduced significantly,

mostly after the closing of TV Tupi.132 Consequently his musical production increased,

making the following decades the most productive for his catalog of compositions.

From 1985-88 Villani worked on his Masters at UFRJ (Rio de Janeiro Federal

University), studying with the esteemed Henrique Morelenbaum. And ten years later,

in1998, he concludes his PhD at UNESP, retiring from his teaching position in the next

129 Nicolau, 16-7.

130 Perpetuo, 21.
131 Giardini, 17.
132 Perpetuo, 21.
 52

year,133 but still remained active as a teacher at the Tom Jobim Center for Musical

Studies.134

After the 90's, the Brazilian musical scenario started to recognize the value of

Villani's work, since many of his works were prized by competitions and institutions. In

1990, his Ciclo Cecília Meirelles received the “Best of 1989” prize by the Paulista

Association of Art Critics (APCA). In 1994 he received a commendation from his

hometown Juiz de Fora, the “Comenda Henrique Halfeld.” In 1995 he received another

prize from APCA, this time for his work for choir and orchestra Postais Paulistanos, and

received yet again another prize from this institution in 1998, for his Vibraphone

Concerto. Besides those recognitions, many other works and songs also received prizes in

Brazilian competitions.135 The composer remains still active nowadays, and I had the

opportunity to meet with him in the early 2000's in São Paulo, when I was performing the

Série Brasileira Op. 8 discussed in the next chapter.

2. STYLISTIC CONSIDERATIONS

By observing his musical choices, it is clear that Villani preferred not to be

labeled by any “school” or “trend;” he preferred to absorb different styles around him,

synthesizing them into his own writing. Nevertheless, some of those styles left some

recognizable traces in his musical language.

It is important to consider that even though Villani always listened to classical

music, most of his early performances and professional engagements were in the area of

133 I. Rodrigues, 14.

134 Perpetuo, 22.
135 “Edmundo Villani-Côrtes,” Orquestra Sinfônica Edmundo Villani-Côrtes, accessed May 30, 2018.
http://orquestravillani.blogspot.com/p/edmundo-villani-cortes.html
 53

popular music, playing for ballroom orchestras and composing and arranging for the

radio and TV. As Mariz states, “he worked intensely with popular music until

transferring to the academic setting.”136 This fact left a very indelible mark in his writing,

especially texturally and harmonically: lighter textures are usually preferred over heavy

counterpoint, allowing the composer to explore more complex harmonies, which are also

reminiscent of his jazz practice.137

Another definite characteristic is his use of Brazilian dances, rhythmic

configurations, and even indigenous titles in his pieces. It is already established that

Villani doesn't label himself as a nationalist composer, but as Lutero Rodrigues

comments, “any superficial approach to his music will elicit the question: isn’t Villani-

Côrtes a nationalist composer?”138 But, as we already discussed, this influence doesn't

come from extensive studies or research on Brazilian folklore, but rather happens

spontaneously due to his own background.

One may then ask, where does the classical influence come from? The answer lies

in the structural forms, which usually follow very definite traditional patterns. Besides, he

also displays an innate lyricism that is quite vocal, in the same way that Chopin, one of

his major classical influences, borrowed from the early 19th-century operatic style to

compose his Nocturnes. But this lyricism also shares a debt with the Brazilian popular

music styles of the 50’s and 60’s, especially the bossa nova.

But what is truly inherent to his style, is that those characteristics from disparate

origins are usually intertwined in a blend that doesn't prioritize one style over another,

they usually coexist comfortably. As Thais Nicolau paraphrases from the composer

136 Mariz, 383.

137 L. Rodrigues, “Música de câmara” 40-1.
138 Ibid.
 54

Marlos Nobre, his music is surely a “mixture of everything.”139 And as a result of his rich

cultural exposure, it is natural that the composer himself would state: “my way of

composing is linked to my life. Composition became for me a way of expressing myself.

I discovered that, through music, I could say what I felt.”140

139 Nicolau, 7-8.

140 Perpetuo, 23.
 55

CHAPTER III

HISTORY OF SUITE AND ANALYSIS

Mário de Andrade, the idealist of Brazilian nationalism, noticed one characteristic

of the Suite that was very advantageous for his artistic plans. In his Ensaio, he writes:

…The Suite form (a series of dances) is not patrimony of any country.

Among us it appeals well… It was just repugnant to me that our suites
had to be labeled “Suíte Brasileira.” Why not “Fandango”, a perfectly
nationalized word? Why not “Maracatú” for another more solemn
group?... Or else to invent individual names alike Hindemith’s “Suite
1922” or the “Alt Wien” by Castelnuovo Tedesco.
Imagine, for example, this Suite:
1 – Ponteio (prelude in any meter or speed)
2 – Cateretê (fast binary meter)
3 – Coco (slow binary meter, choral polyphony, Sarabande’s substitute)
4 – Moda or Modinha (in triple or quaternary meter, old Aria’s substitute)
5 – Cururú (utilizing Amerindian motives, or imagine an African dance to
employ Afrobrazilian motives, without established meter)
6 – Dobrado (or Samba, or Maxixe, fast binary meter or imponent
ending).141

This time, Andrade’s prophecy became true rather quickly: just a few years after the

publication of the Ensaio, many Brazilian composers started meddling with those kind of

ideas (for example, Lorenzo-Fernández’s Suíte Brasileira in ex. 9.)

However, Andrade’s first statement is not entirely true. Given the essay was

published in 1928, when the research on pre-classical music was still very timid and far

to be as comprehensive as today, it is understandable that the author ignored that the suite

can be indeed traced back to multiple ethnic origins, and displays characteristics of

particular courts, regions or countries. In order to clarify this misunderstanding, we will

briefly look into the origins of the suite.

141 Andrade, 30.

 56

1a. HISTORY OF SUITE: BAROQUE ORIGINS

Dance was among the most basic abilities a nobleman was required to pursue

during the European monarchies from the 15th to 18th century. John Hill explains that “a

high degree of skill in dancing was expected of all noblemen and ladies, and several

kings of France distinguished themselves as solo dancers on stage.”142 One can therefore

conclude that the demands for music, in order to supply the dance needs of the court,

would also be of utmost importance. It was a common practice to group those dances

together: Fuller remarks that they “could be danced in four mensurations, corresponding

to four dance types… Three and even four of these were used in the pantomimic balli,

though the norm for ordinary dancing was the pair.”143

The first groupings of dances into suites are found in late 16th-century France, in

the works of Estienne du Tertre144 and Denis Gaultier145. Hill also credits Gaultier to be

the first mixing dances together (rather than separating by each type) and adopting the

model of organizing them by mode.146 That tradition became quite popular and

culminated with the suites of the high-baroque era across Europe, as in the examples of

composers such as François Couperin (in France), George Frideric Händel (in Britain)

and, of course, Johann Sebastian Bach (in Germany), to mention just a few.

It was already mentioned that each dance had its particular ethnic origin, and

sometimes they even had cultural variants on one single type of dance (for example the

courante and the corrente; or the jig, gigue and giga). That already could be used to

142 John Walter Hill, Baroque Music: Music in Western Europe, 1580-1750. (1st ed. The Norton
Introduction to Music History. New York: W.W. Norton, 2005), 126.
143 David Fuller, “Suite,” Grove Music Online. (accessed September 30, 2018.)
http:////www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-
9781561592630-e-0000027091.
144 Ibid.
145 Hill, “Baroque Music” 126.
146 Ibid.
 57

question Andrade’s statement of “cultural patrimony”, even though he would still be

partially right, since the incorporation of contrasting nationalities would render the suite

more universal rather than national. However, the national characteristics of the suite

surpass the ethnicity of its components: further research showed that each court would

have their specific manners in regarding to composing, interpreting, listening and dancing

to their suites. Kirby, for example, details that in between French, German and British

suites, differences such as order and number of dances, style interpretation, phrasing

regularity and ornamentation could differ significantly.147

Curiously, after its peak during the high-baroque period, the suite gradually faded

away, being replaced by other formal structures such as the sonata, concerto and

symphony. They arguably preserved many of the suite characteristics (movements

organized by key signature, eventually even including dances), but the “suite”

designation virtually disappeared.

1b. HISTORY OF SUITE: ROMANTIC VARIETY AND 20th CENTURY REVIVAL

When the label “suite” returned to common use by mid 19th century it was given a

slightly different signification: it still remained a set of pieces, but now rather connected

through an external program – and not necessarily by key signature. The movements

could be dances numbers from an opera or ballet (Bizet’s Carmen Suite or Tchaikovsky’s

Nutcracker Suite) sometimes even with nationalistic or exoticist colors (as in Saint-

Säens’s Suite Algérienne Op. 60, or even the previous examples as well).

As Fuller points out, the original conception of the suite (as a collection of dances

147 Frank E. Kirby, Music for Piano: A Short History. (Corrected Reprint ed. Portland, OR: Amadeus
Press, 2000), 30-33.
 58

in the same key) became quite old-fashioned by the 19th century, used more as a

composing exercise, even though the composition and publication of dances never really

stopped. But it was the “suite idea,” as Fuller puts it, that still attracted the composers of

the 19th and 20th century: “sets of pieces meant to be performed at a sitting.” Through that

concept, much of the piano 19th-century repertory could be thought as suites even if not

carrying the title (Schumann’s and Brahms’s Klavierstückes, for example.)148 It is also

important to clarify that I’m including Villani’s Série Op. 8 in the suite tradition not only

because it fits this particular romantic trend, but also because according to one of the

composer’s work catalogues (on Monica Giardini’s dissertation), the title of the piece

reads Série (ou Suíte) Brasileira.149 Yet the Cinco Miniaturas Brasileiras definitely falls

into that category of nationalist inspired settings that borrows the “suite idea.”

As if the suite genre did not have enough connections with nationalist aesthetics,

further developments of late 19th century tightened their association even more. By mid

19th century the overgrowing German dominance in music (exemplified by the “cult” of

Beethoven’s symphonies, the growing fame of Wagner operas and even the revival of

Johann Sebastian Bach), among other factors, lead a reaction by French composers

culminating with the creation of the Société Nationale de Musique in 1871, with the

intention to promote instrumental compositions by French composers.150 Additionally,

the Schola Cantorum de Paris was founded a few decades later in 1894 over a

disagreement with the teaching methods of the Paris Conservatoire, encouraging a

curriculum that was founded on Gregorian chant and old counterpoint methods.151 By one

148 Fuller, “Suite”.

149 Giardini, 243.
150 Finson, “Nineteenth-century music” 218-9.
151 Robert Orledge and Andrew Thomson, “Vincent d’Indy,” Grove Music Online. (accessed September
 59

side, there is a movement that sought to encourage French compatriots to disseminate

their art, while by the other there is a strong movement towards the revival of ancient

music. The results were not only the rediscovery of baroque French music (composers

such as François Couperin and Jean-Philippe Rameau) but also the resurrection of their

compositional techniques and genres. The suite, appealing to both trends, was then

brought back to life and became popular again in its old practice, first in France

(Debussy’s Suite Bergamasque, Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin) and later – as the

tonal system became outdated (and genres that depend on it highly as well, such as the

sonata) – in Germany (Schoenberg’s Suite Op. 29, Hindemith’s Suite 1922 Op. 26) and

abroad.

Composers that were strongly influenced by their homeland folk music (such as

Isaac Albéniz, Manuel de Falla, Bela Bartók, among others) quickly borrowed the “suite

idea” into their own agenda. Therefore, Andrade’s comments about the suite were not

really an entirely new concept, but still illuminating for Brazilian composers, since, as

already observed above, Brazilian nationalism did not take shape until the 1920’s.

Consequently, the “suite path” in Brazil would take a slightly different shape

1c. THE BRAZILIAN SUITE

As mentioned previously, until early 19th century Brazilian musicians focused

most of their production on sacred repertory. Instrumental secular music, although

present, was definitely much rarer in comparison, and the few examples that survived are

quite scarce. One of the earliest examples of instrumental music, which actually shares

30, 2018.)
http:////www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-
9781561592630-e-0000013787.
 60

certain similarities with the suite, is Priest José Maurício Nunes Garcia’s Compendio de

Música e Methodo de Pianoforte (Music Compendium and Pianoforte Method, 1821).

But it only compares to the suite as it is also a set of pieces. They clearly serve primarily

as technical or musical etudes, without the intention of being performed as a set (perhaps

not even intended for performance at all).

By mid 19th century, after the court transference to Brazil and the European

romantic style started to disseminate, the label “suite” was still not yet popular. However,

two of Carlos Gomes earlier piano works, his Quilombo (1856) and Caxoeira (1867)

already display the romantic tradition of the set of characteristic pieces to be performed

as a cycle (both are sets of quadrilhas, a typical Brazilian country dance)152. However, as

described above, those early Brazilian nationalist romantic pieces still are much indebted

to the European romantic composers.

Besides those early examples, the practice of writing dances was quite common:

waltzes, polkas, mazurkas, galanteries (such as the minuet, gavotte, etc.) were then

common instrumental compositions. It was just not usual to compose or publish them in

sets or suites. One of the earliest uses of the title “suite” would be credited to Alberto

Nepomuceno, his Suite Antique Op. 11 (1893, the movements are named Prélude, Air,

Menuet and Rigaudon). However, the piece also shows a clear indebtedness to the

imitative style of its high-baroque European models, which the composer is clearly

alluding to, even in their French titles (ex. 11).153

152 Maria Abreu and Zuleika Rosa Guedes, O Piano Na Música Brasileira: Seus Compositores Dos
Primórdios Até 1950. (Coleção Luís Cosme, 22. Porto Alegre: Movimento, 1992), 48.
153 Abreu and Guedes, “O Piano” 81.
 61

Allegro com,,.,,do. M.ltl. J: 108.

PIANO.
mf

Ex. 11: A. Nepomuceno – Suite Antique Op. 11 – 1. Prélude, mm. 1-7.

Heitor Villa-Lobos would be the first composer to make extensive use of the

“suite idea,” either as a label or just as a concept. Earlier works, such as the Suíte Popular

Brasileira for guitar (1908-12), the Suítes Infantis Nrs. 1 and 2 for piano (1912-13) and

the Suíte Floral (1917-18) are just a few examples of pieces that use the word suite in its

title (not to mention sets of pieces, which are many since Villa-Lobos was quite a prolific

composer.) But those earlier works were also still very subtle in their nationalism – they

still display a strong influence from the late 19th-century French school – since only in the

late 1910’s would Villa-Lobos start his primitivist nationalist style.

It is during the 1930’s that we find the first examples of suites that could possibly

fit Andrade’s ideals: Villa-Lobos’s cycle known as Bachianas Brasileiras (9 suites

composed in between 1930-45.) The title, as suggested by Andrade, avoids the labels

“Suíte Brasileira” or even “Suíte,” but remaining remarkably satirical, since it alludes

both to Johann Sebastian Bach (whose suite production is one of the largest and most

widespread, and was also deeply admired by Villa-Lobos) and to its Brazilian influences.
 62

Indeed, almost every movement from each suite has a European baroque “Bachian” title

followed by another title referencing Brazilian culture. For example, Béhague comments

about the first movement (Ária - Cantilena) of the worldly famous Bachianas Brasileiras

No. 5 for soprano and cello ensemble (ex. 12) describe the following:

…The pizzicatos in contrary motion of cellos II and IV in the first two

measures and the descending progression of the bass line (cello III)
suggest an amplified version of the picked style of guitar playing known in
Portuguese as “ponteio.”154

As we will observe further below, this “ponteio opening” mentioned by Béhague

(lyrical melody with active accompaniment usually inspired by guitar playing,

quite often in descending harmonic progression) became quite a standard

procedure for Brazilian suites, even on both Villani works we will analyze.

Adagio

Ex. 12: H. Villa-Lobos – Bachianas Brasileiras Nr. 5 – 1. Ária (Cantilena), mm.

1-2.

Following Villa-Lobos example, an array of suites followed. Just to name

a few examples, composers such as Francisco Mignone, Radamés Gnatalli, César

Guerra-Peixe, Osvaldo Lacerda, all composed nationalist suites during this period,

highly inspired by Andrade’s ideals and Villa-Lobos’s model. Perhaps the most

famous examples are Lorenzo-Fernández’s Suítes Brasileiras Nrs. 1, 2 and 3 for

154 Béhague, “Music in Latin America”, 200-1.

 63

piano (1936, 1938, 1938, ex. 9 above). The opening of the Suíte Nr. 2 (ex. 13)

being another classical example of the “ponteio opening.”

Lento e expressivo (J=58)

(ligado)

p allarg.
(rit.)

Ex. 13: O. Lorenzo-Fernández – Suíte Brasileira No. 2 – 1. Ponteio, mm. 1-3.

However, consider Andrade’s statement that follows his previous quote:

And since I am imagining big works, it is easy to avoid the forms of

Sonata, Tocata etc. very outdated nowadays. Just follow the example of
Cesar Franck in his “Prelude, Choral and Fugue.” Amongst those
creations, but always preserving individual liberties, we could obey the
human obsession for ternary constructions and heed the reasonable advice
for diversity between movements. “Ponteio, Acalanto e Samba”;
“Chimarrita, Abôio e Louvação” etc. etc.155

Virtually every Brazilian composer followed this advice, and Villani’s

contemporaries mentioned above – Edino Krieger and Marlos Nobre – are just a

few examples. Krieger’s Prelúdio e Fuga (1954) shows that kind of influence

(perhaps influenced more directly from Bach’s Well Tempered Clavier than Cesar

Franck), but also follows Villa-Lobos model, since it also pairs a Brazilian title to

each movement (Cantilena e Marcha-Rancho), and its opening movement (ex.

14), is yet another example of the “ponteio opening.”

155 Andrade, 30.

 64

Ex. 14: E. Krieger – Prelúdio e Fuga – 1. Prelúdio (Cantilena), mm. 1-3.

Based on those facts, we can conclude that Villani’s works are not just

pieces of exhibitionist nationalism, or designed to attract by its “exotic flavor.”

They are rather part of an aesthetical trend existing not only in Brazil, but

throughout Latin America in general. But before answering if we can actually

consider Villani as another nationalist composer, we must first verify which

nationalist elements are present in those particular works.

2. SÉRIE BRASILEIRA OP. 8

It was after Villani-Côrtes’s return to his hometown Juiz de Fora, following his

graduation from the Conservatório Brasileiro de Música in 1954, that he wrote his Série

Brasileira Op. 8, dated 1957 in his composition catalogue from the Centro Cultural de

São Paulo's publication.156 Curiously, the published scores reveal contrasting dates, 1958

for the first two movements and 1956 for the last. Nevertheless, it is remarkable that with

only about 10 years of piano studies he was already able to compose a very consistent

156 Francisco Carlos Coelho, ed., Edmundo Villani-Côrtes: Música Contemporânea Brasileira (São Paulo,
Brazil: Discoteca Oneyda Alvarenga, Centro Cultural São Paulo, 2006), 59.
 65

piano cycle.

During the years he spent in the conservatory he may have got acquainted with

some of the most recent piano works by Brazillian composers, perhaps including some of

the nationalist works and suites mentioned above (the conservatory was founded by

Lorenzo-Fernández, who died before Villani's studies, but the institution also counted

with other illustrious teachers while he was there, including even Villa-Lobos himself).157

Those influences could have been models or at least some kind of inspiration behind the

Série Op. 8, since according to his composition's catalogue, the Série is not only one of

his earliest works (the 6th item on the list and shortly composed after his conservatory

studies), but also the first to explicitly acknowledge a “Brazilian” (nationalist) quality in

its own title.158

The Série Op. 8 is divided in four distinct movements: Prelúdio (Prelude), Dança

(Dance), Movimento em Três por Quatro (Movement in ¾) and Chôro em Forma de

Rondó (Choro in Rondo Form). Those pieces are not linked by key as in the baroque suite

tradition, and they also don't share any evident thematic connections (even though it is

possible to argue, as will be shown below, some intervallic and harmonic quotations

foreshadowing the last movement throughout the cycle). The only structural ties

connecting all four movements as a whole are their Brazilian folk roots, allowing each

piece to be consistently performed individually out of the set. But the whole work, as we

will see, also share some structural tendencies (preference for repeating sections in

different textures, or forms that resemble a sonata) that make the work organic as a

whole. We can also observe a symmetric fluency in the organization of each movement’s

157 Mariz, 198.

158 Coelho, ed., “Música Contemporânea Brasileira” 59.
 66

speed and character (moderate, moderate/fast, slow, fast), conveying a certain

progression towards the lively last movement, but interrupted by the lyrical and nostalgic

third movement (very similar kind of progression witnessed in the late baroque sonata da

Chiesa). Since these movements are very contrasting, even coming from different places

and styles from the Brazilian culture, we will proceed to analyze each movement

individually.

The Série's opening movement, the Prelúdio, is a short 47-measure piece in G

minor (ex. 15), constructed in an AA'B scheme, where B is just a small codetta with 8

measures that borrows the first fragment from Section A's main theme. It is the only

movement that has a “freer” formal structure, unrelated to classical preconceived binary

or sonata forms. Section A (mm. 1-18) starts with a 2-measure accompaniment pattern in

the left hand that remains throughout most of the piece, changing pitches in order to

provide the harmonic structure, while the main theme starting on m. 3 in the right hand

(marked cantabile) comprises two symmetrical 8-measure phrases (mm. 3-10 and 11-18).

Section A' preserve most of the first half of the theme's melody (mm. 19-26), while

exploring new harmonic contexts in a fuller and louder texture, but completely changes

the second half (mm. 27-39), which is expanded to arrive at the dominant cadence on

mm. 35-39. The piece is not only short, but also not very demanding technically.

However, the melodic line must be played very legato with careful attention, since the

melody alternates rhythmically between long notes and short syncopated rhythms,

requiring a deliberate tone control very reminiscent of Chopin’s Nocturnes.

 67

Moderato

Ex. 15: Villani-Côrtes – Série Brasileira Op. 8 – 1. Prelúdio, mm. 1-10.

But what is “Brazilian” about this prelude? Undoubtedly the Brazilian influence is

the subtlest in this short opening movement in comparison to the subsequent ones, but it

is still identifiable. First, the aforementioned syncopated rhythms in the melody (also

shown in ex. 15) are a staple in Brazilian music, intimately connected to the samba

rhythm (coincidentally also a dance written in 2/4 usually played in faster tempos, but

also have slower variants such as the samba-canção). Furthermore, there is also a certain

melancholy felt throughout the piece, especially due to the chromatic harmonic descent

present in the accompaniment line (ex. 16). If we compare the analysis of Villani’s

Prelude with other opening movements from other nationalist suites, such as the analysis

shown above of Lorenzo-Fernández's Ponteio from his Suíte Brasileira Nr. 2 in ex. 13 or

Edino Krieger's Prelúdio (Cantilena) in ex. 14, we will quickly identify a tendency to use

a descendent accompaniment pattern below a long lyrical melodic line as a very common

opening gesture, used classically in Brazilian nationalist music and inspired by the guitar

playing of the ponteios, as already established above by Béhague.

 68

Villani - Preludio

I4::.-~ff,
u
==q• = &q.-

Fernandez - Ponteio

Ex. 16: Analysis of the melodic contours of Ex. 15, 13 and 14.

The second movement, the Dança, is completely opposite formally to the opening

Prelúdio. It is a much longer piece (201 measures) with multiple sections that are very

contrasting in tempos and mood. Despite the fact that no key signatures are given, the

piece clearly ends in E minor, even though it starts in F major. Its formal structure,

ABCA’B’D, resembles that of a sonata allegro, where C represents a developmental

section and D a coda. Since each section has a very distinctive quality and function, also

borrowing from different elements of Brazilian culture, we will analyze each section

separately.

Section A (mm. 1-16) presents another long lyrical melody (ex. 17) also marked

Moderato and accompanied by syncopated rhythms distributed between the hands. Even

though the texture is somewhat similar to the Prelúdio, the syncopated rhythms allied to
 69

the parallel major 7th chords create a very different nuance, it is not a melancholic ponteio

anymore, but a song rather inspired by the urban bossa nova. Indeed, the qualities we

have described above for that particular Brazilian style – complex rhythms in a subdued

and “laid back” mood, small pitch range approaching the spoken language, plus the

preference for complex harmonies (major 7ths) inspired from American jazz – are not

only present, but basically describe the whole section. So, even though there is a lack of

dynamics indication in this section (especially if compared to the previous movement), if

the performer recognizes the bossa nova style, he should be able to create the right color

and mood.

Ex. 17: Villani-Côrtes – Série Brasileira Op. 8 – 2. Dança, mm. 1-6.

Also, inserted in the chords’ parallelism, there’s another Brazilian element subtly

hidden. In the first two measures (and further repetitions), the composer plays with two

harmonies, Fmaj7M and Ebmaj7M, establishing a very modal flavor to the song. Since Eb

is the flat 7th degree of the F major scale, that makes a reference to the modal scale

known as mixolydian (ex. 18). As noted by many researchers and scholars, this particular

scale (as well as some of its other mixed variants) are very commonly used in the folk

music of Brazil, especially in the Northeast region.159

159 Paz, “O Modalismo” 32-3.

 70

~ C mixolydian F mixolydian

.,. J w J JJ ~r r 11 . . w J ~r r r •r r
Ex. 18: Mixolydian mode starting on the pitches C and F.

Section B (mm. 17-34), marked Allegretto, totally abandons the previous stylized

bossa nova mood in favor of a more energetic rhythmic drive. We can notice the

influence of a more repetitive and percussive articulation, similar to Villa-Lobos’s

African Dances discussed previously, exchanging the jazzy parallel major 7ths from the

previous section for expanded dominant chords and quartal harmonies in the

accompaniment (ex. 19). This almost atonal accompaniment – considering every measure

has an unresolved tritone (or multiple tritones) – reinforces the rhythmic emphasis,

bringing one African-inspired rhythmic element to the forefront: accentuation

displacement.

Ex. 19: Villani-Côrtes – Série Brasileira Op. 8 – 2. Dança, mm. 17-23.

 71

Section C (mm. 35-92) acts like a developmental section (hence the similarity

with the sonata form), picking certain elements from the previous sections and mixing

them to create new textures. It starts with a 6-measure false entrance of Section A, which

leads into the Allegretto (also only 4 measures) and Allegro (mm. 45-80). The following

Allegretto (mm. 81-92), is an elision between Sections C and A’.

Section C is very playful and inventive: after the false start (which is a true copy

of the 6 first measures of the piece), the following Allegretto (mm. 41-44, ex. 20) plays

with the syncopated rhythms of Section A in a more energetic and percussive manner,

now polarizing C rather than F. The following Allegro borrows the following descendent

chromatic idea from the bossa nova section (mm. 5-6 in ex. 17) and transforms it into an

almost diatonic passage in C major (mm. 45-48, ex. 20), which becomes the

accompaniment for the innocent percussive theme borrowed from Section B (mm. 19-23

in ex. 19), first presented in C major (mm. 52-56, ex. 20,) but later modulating to Eb

major, F# major and A major. The passage climaxes at m. 68 where a cascade of

syncopated rhythms starts to descend exploring a great deal of the keyboard’s extension.

This climax starts with augmented chords, but sneakily transforms into the key of Ab

major, before modulating back to F at the arrival of the following Allegretto.

 72

Ex. 20: Villani-Côrtes – Série Brasileira Op. 8 – 2. Dança, mm. 41-56.

The Allegretto sub-section from mm. 81-92 doubles as the conclusion of the

developmental Section C as well as the beginning of Section A’ (ex. 21). It is still

developmental because – even though we are back to the thematic material of Section A

and also back to the key of F major – it is re-elaborated into the previous percussive

mood of Section C. Because Section C only reworks material from previous sections,

most of its Brazilian elements obviously refer to the aforementioned ones. However, at

the end of this Allegretto, at mm. 91 and 92, Villani’s interplay of black against white

keys (ex. 22) certainly brings a hint of Villa-Lobos’s music, not seen anywhere else in the

whole cycle.160

160 Even though Igor Stravinsky was famous for his use of the bitonality between the keys of C and F#
major (black against white keys,) especially in his ballet Petrushka, Villa-Lobos started using this
device before travelling to France and most likely never heard the ballet before using it in his own
compositions. He most likely was influenced instead by French composers such as Darius Milhaud or
possibly Claude Debussy. For a reference of his travels and composition dates, see Mariz, 135-194.
 73

Allegretto

~~i:
3 3 3 3

Ex. 21: Villani-Côrtes – Série Brasileira Op. 8 – 2. Dança, mm. 81-86.

Ex. 22: Villani-Côrtes – Série Brasileira Op. 8 – 2. Dança, mm. 91-2.

Sections A’ and B’, being restatements of previous sections, don’t bring new

Brazilian elements. Section A’ (mm. 81-106) starts, as stated above, with the re-

elaborated Allegretto sub-section. However, as it suddenly resumes the original bossa

nova spirit (mm. 93-106), the key mode is exchanged, starting in F minor and then

exploring other keys centers introduced in the development: Ab major, A major and Gb

(F#) major. Meanwhile, Section B’ (mm. 107-139) is just a more exciting version of

section B. The previous atonal harmonies are now explored with arpeggios flying across

the keyboard (ex. 23, mm. 107-108) and the accentuation displacement is now

constructed with large 9th chords in the right hand against a low 5th dyad in the left hand.

The innocent melody that was intensely explored in Section C is absent here (ex. 23, mm.

109-110). After replaying that passage within chromatic modulations, a series of

 74

augmented chords explores the rhythmic interplay between hands (mm. 121-127), and

finally, from mm. 128-139, sequences of expanded chords in chromatic progression are

interpolated against rhythmic articulations of sixteenth notes.

Allegretto
- - ----

Ex. 23: Villani-Côrtes – Série Brasileira Op. 8 – 2. Dança, mm. 107-110.

Section D (mm. 140-201) starts with a clear and sudden rupture, a very low B

octave in the left hand, which later (m. 148) will be revealed to be a dominant to the key

of E minor. At that point (mm. 148-160) we are presented with yet another version of the

bossa nova theme, this time with a syncopated samba rhythm first in E minor (ex. 24),

and then in A minor. An outburst of virtuosic octaves starting at m. 160 lead the way

back to E minor in m. 169, where we hear the samba rhythm for the last time in E minor,

and then in C7, which could prepare us for a regular conclusion in F major. Instead, at m.

177 we drop back to E minor, into another torrent of flowing sixteenths that lead us to a

virtuosic cascade similar to the one at m. 68 in section C. But this time, Ab major

modulates into E minor instead of F major, concluding the piece very forcefully in that

foreign key.
 75

Ex. 24: Villani-Côrtes – Série Brasileira Op. 8 – 2. Dança, mm. 148-153.

Similarly to the idea of the whole cycle, the contrasting sections of the Dança still

work together due to their Brazilian roots: the bossa nova, the African rhythms, the

samba, among others. Here we certainly have a clear example of Nicolaus’s paraphrase

on Villani’s music as a “mixture of everything,” as mentioned above in his bio. The

Dança, as opposed to the Prelúdio, is definitely not a beginner’s piece. Some of its

virtuosity require a great deal of strength and flexibility, not to mention its references to

specific instances of Brazilian culture (such as the bossa nova), which demands from the

performer very tasteful musical choices in regards to color, character and style.

The Movimento em Três por Quatro, third piece of the set, resembles the Prelúdio

in its contemplative mood. It’s marked Lento (the slowest movement of the set) and

piano (soft), with a very gentle flowing melody soaring over a delicate accompaniment.

Despite a short turmoil in the middle, the movement retains its tenderness throughout,

working nicely as a break from the forceful and agitated ending of the previous

movement. It is a short 97-measure piece, an uncomplicated slow dance in Db major

(even though it is assigned the key signature of Ab major).

The Movimento is divided in 4 sections, ABA’B’ as in a classical binary form

(section A mm. 1-19.2.1, section B mm. 19.2.2-43, section A’ mm. 44-78.2.1, section B’
 76

mm. 78.2.2-97). However, unlike the Dança, those sections don’t need to be discussed

separately, since they have more similarities than contrasts. In fact, the only arguable

difference between sections A and B is that A resembles a minuet with its fluid

counterpoint, while section B resembles a waltz. This ambiguity could perhaps be the

reason for labeling the movement Movimento, rather than a generic dance like minuet or

waltz.

In regards to form, it is worth noticing that the first half of the piece doesn’t end

in the dominant (Ab), as it is customary in a classical binary form. Section B ends instead

in a half cadence of the major mediant (F major). The choice of F major is indeed

curious, since it is the key we expected the previous movement to conclude on, linking

both movements harmonically. Section A’ starts in F major as well, but gets greatly

expanded and concludes on an ambiguous altered and expanded Dmaj7th9th#11th chord (ex.

25 m. 78, Gb enharmonic of F# and Ab of G#), while section B’ resumes in the dominant

of Db straight away, concluding the piece in that expected key.

Ex. 25: Villani-Côrtes – Série Brasileira Op. 8 – 3. Movimento em Três por Quatro, mm.

77-8.

Once again we ask ourselves: “what is Brazilian about this piece”? Brazilian

influence here is very subtle, since the harmonies aren’t far from any European
 77

counterpart, in fact, some of the harmonies are even very evocative of Debussy and Ravel

(expanded, altered and parallel chords, and even the occasional excursion into whole-tone

scales, ex. 25 and 26). Yet, all this European interference doesn’t obscure the distinct

“Brazilian flavor” that this piece is imbued with. But in order to understand this

“Brazilian flavor”, we have to understand the development of the waltz in Brazil.

Ex. 26: Villani-Côrtes – Série Brasileira Op. 8 – 3. Movimento em Três por Quatro, m. 10.

The salon waltz, quite popular in Europe during the 19th century, also enjoyed the

same status here in Brazil. By mid 19th century Chopin was definitely the main model, as

we can observe in the waltzes of Carlos Gomes, Chiquinha Gonzaga, Alberto

Nepomuceno, among others. Additionally, even though Carlos Gomes counts one

Grande Valsa de Bravura (Great Bravura Waltz) in his piano catalogue, still most of

those early waltzes tends to imitate the slower lyrical waltz (such as Chopin’s Op. 64 no.

2 in C# minor or Op. 69 No. 1 in Ab major “l’Adieu”). Mårio de Andrade named this

process “Modinhismo,” when not only European dances were being adapted (such as the

waltz, polka, schottish, among others), but also a flow of sentimental songs (usually

named modinhas) inspired by European models also became very abundant during this
 78

period.161

However, no one championed the Brazilian salon piano waltz more than Ernesto

Nazareth, with over thirty items in his catalogue. It is also worth noticing that most of his

famous waltzes (Epônina, Coração que sente, Confidências, etc), are from the slow

lyrical quality. Later, Francisco Mignone would compose one of his biggest and most

prominent piano cycles, the Valsas de Esquina (Waltzes from the Street Corners), which

definitely owns a great deal to Chopin and Nazareth. Villa-Lobos also composed works

reflecting this tradition of the Brazilian waltz, from the early Tristorosa (from 1910), to

some of his most famous piano pieces, like the Valsa da Dor (Pain Waltz) and

Impressões Seresteiras from the Ciclo Brasileiro (Serenade Impressions, usually also

translated as “Minstrel Impressions”).

Consequently, by early and mid 20th century the waltz was already well

established in Brazil, either as entertainment salon pieces or concert music, and it had a

more common reputation of an intimate, lyrical piece. This was also quickly absorbed

later by the pop-music artists: composers like Tom Jobim (in his song Luiza) and Chico

Buarque (in his song Beatriz, from the musical O Grande Circo Místico, in partnership

with Edu Lobo) quickly captured this sweet nostalgic atmosphere of the waltz not only on

those songs, but in several others that relate to the waltz either by name or meter.

Therefore, even though there is not a specific chord, rhythm, theme or melody in

the Movimento that we could specifically pinpoint as inherent of the “Brazilian folklore”

(other than the imported waltz), it is the general mood of the piece, its tenderness and

lyricism, that drinks from the source of the old Brazilian masters. It is the historical

161 Gerard Béhague, “Brazil,” Grove Music Online. (accessed May 30, 2018.)
http:////www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-
9781561592630-e-0000003894
 79

context of its background that gives the Movimento a shade of nationalism, even if it is

just a subtle nuance. In fact, Villani even evokes a “recollecting” mood in section B’,

where he holds the dominant in the bass for about 14 measures while replaying theme B

with its harmony virtually unaltered, making this thematic material to seem out of place,

far away removed, truly as a remembrance (ex. 27). It should be performed with lots of

rubato, as in the romantic tradition, and convey an incredible sense of nostalgia and

intimacy, an advice appropriate also for the whole piece.

- - - - -
r- r- r- r- r-
Ex. 27: Villani-Côrtes – Série Brasileira Op. 8 – 3. Movimento em Três por Quatro, mm.

79-84.

Following the symmetrical architecture of the work, the last movement couldn’t

be more contrasting to the Movimento. The extroverted Chôro em forma de Rondó, the

fourth and concluding piece of the set, has a toccata-like feel, quite appropriate to the

chôro, which is a popular Brazilian genre antecessor to the samba. It is the longest piece

of the set (218 measures), a fast dance in A minor written in binary meter (as usual for

Brazilian chôros).

It is not only the lively mood of the Chôro that contrasts with the previous piece.

If the Brazilian influence in the Movimento was the subtlest, here it couldn’t be more

exposed than in the title itself. The reference to the Brazilian chôro is not only in its label,

but also in the constant use of offbeat and syncopated rhythms, which are quite
 80

characteristic of the genre (ex. 28). Furthermore, the toccata-like feel mentioned above is

also quite often associated with the chôro, since it often allows the performers to play

virtuosic improvisations from the chamber ensembles, usually comprised of wind

instruments accompanied by guitars and percussive instruments.162

(M.M. J= 100 + ou-)

Ex. 28: Villani-Côrtes – Série Brasileira Op. 8 – 4. Chôro em Forma de Rondó, mm. 1-6.

However, the Brazilian influence in this piece surpasses the association with the

Chôro. In order to properly analyze its influences, we will investigate each of its sections

separately.

The Chôro em forma de Rondó, as its title suggests, is in a classical Rondo form

divided as ABACAD. The opening section A (mm. 1-16), which appear unaltered twice

(mm. 33-48 and 147-162), immediately starts in the spirit of the chôro as showed above.

Allied to the rhythm and texture, the harmonic element contributes to the Brazilian

essence of this section: the melody of the theme (ex. 28, m. 5) is constructed within the

ascendant melodic minor scale (with the raised 6th and 7th degrees, even on descending

melodic contours), giving the main theme a very modal inflection.

162 Gerard Béhague, “Chôro,” Grove Music Online. (accessed May 30, 2018.)
http:////www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-
9781561592630-e-0000005679
 81

Throughout the whole cycle, Villani has prepared us for this particular mode,

since the melodic fragment from m. 5 (ex. 29, the pitches have been numbered for

comparison with the following fragments in different keys) has been imperceptibly

introduced in every movement, as shown in the following examples. In the first

movement, the introduction of the mode (G minor with E natural and F#) has such a

significant impact, that it interrupts the left hand rhythmic accompaniment that started the

piece in order to introduce the new scale configuration (ex. 30). In the second movement,

a subtle reference is made in the outline of the quartal harmonies (ex. 31), but it is at the

end of the piece that we find a clear new quote in E minor (ex. 32). And the Movimento

rearranges the pitches within a new harmonic context, giving a fresh diatonic major

harmonic support to the fragment (ex. 33). Since there are no thematic or cyclic

connections between the movements, this little fragment works as a connective element

linking all pieces together.

12 3 4 5 6

~I !JJffilJt
Ex. 29: Melodic fragment from the main theme of the Chôro em Forma de Rondó, m. 5.

3 4 2 3 6 5 4

Ex. 30: Villani-Côrtes – Série Brasileira Op. 8 – 1. Prelúdio, mm. 33-4.

 82

1 3 4 1

Ex. 31: Villani-Côrtes – Série Brasileira Op. 8 – 2. Dança, m. 19.

12423623

a tempo cresc.

Ex. 32: Villani-Côrtes – Série Brasileira Op. 8 – 2. Dança, m. 177-8.

12451-6

Ex. 33: Villani-Côrtes – Série Brasileira Op. 8 – 3. Movimento em Três por Quatro, m. 1-2.

Furthermore, it is interesting to notice an obvious jazz influence in Villani’s

language: the sixteenth-note accompaniment of the left hand (ex. 28) matches perfectly

the lilting accompanying chords of Gershwin’s popular lullaby Summertime from the

opera Porgy and Bess (ex. 34). The chords, and even its expanded notes (added#6), are

exactly the same. On another hand, the passage on mm. 187-196 (ex. 35), could also be
 83

linked to Rachmaninoff’s opening of his famous Second Piano Concerto (ex. 36). It is

hard to determine if those quotes were purposefully done; in any case, Villani definitely

played Gershwin during his activities as a pianist for the orchestras and ensembles in his

hometown and in Rio de Janeiro, and also certainly must have heard Gershwin’s and

Rachmaninoff’s music.

jsoparano Solol
,~
~- ., .
t,
(with Vin 1 )

Sum-mer
I
"
"
-
-----------
ti.me
r ~

an'
.
~

the
~
.
~
~

"' !iv - in is I
I

rJ

eas -
--
Y, - -

,~ -

I
I
-. u
- ~ - ~ - ,_
t,
r______,, r r~r r______,, r
Str.l ~ I
I - ..... - ,_ ,,u _ - l~ ~
--
I
- l~I
,_ ,_
I •

1 ______,-1
- I I
-
1 ______,- I

Ex. 34: G. Gershwin – Summertime from the Act 1 of “Porgy and Bess,” mm. 34-36.

Ex. 35: Villani-Côrtes – Série Brasileira Op. 8 – 4. Chôro em Forma de Rondó,

mm. 187-196.
 84

Moderato. (d = 66.) rit. -

-&
P.P

Ex. 36: S. Rachmaninoff – Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor Op. 18 – I. Moderato,

mm. 1-8.

Section B (mm. 17-32) keeps the restless rhythmic drive, without introducing any

particular distinctive Brazilian feature (other than keeping the chôro mood). In fact, this

section seems more like an improvised passage, with quartal harmonies transposed

chromatically (mm. 17-20), polyrhythmic passages in the scale of A major (mm. 21-22),

and virtuosic broken chords and arpeggios outlining augmented harmonies (mm. 25-32).

Section C (mm. 49-146) starts after a literal restatement of Section A. It is a fairly

large section (almost 100 measures), and introduces many new elements associated with

the Brazilian culture. Its first subsection, c1 (mm. 48-79), works as a bridge to the main

thematic material of Section C. It starts by introducing a dominant to Gb (mm. 49-50),

leading into the re-elaboration of a fragment of the chôro theme in E major (with

chromatic modulations to the neighboring semitones). A cascade of broken chords in the

dominant of C (mm. 59-61) suddenly leads the section into the chôro theme in C major

(mm. 62-68). Then, finally, another modulating passage outlining tritones (mm. 69-72)

brings back the chôro theme into the arrival key of D melodic minor (mm 73-79).

In the second subsection c2 (mm. 80-128) we are introduced to new Brazilian

elements. The composer introduces the bass rhythm of a northeastern Brazilian dance

known as baião (starting at mm. 80), as shown in ex. 37. Then Villani proceeds to unify
 85

that new rhythm with a transformed version of the choro theme now in D dorian (82-

109). The choice of a modal scale (embellished with some lydian excursions at the end,

on mm. 109-110), allied to the new Brazilian rhythm, creates an unmistakable Brazilian

sound.

Ex. 37: Villani-Côrtes – Série Brasileira Op. 8 – 4. Chôro em Forma de Rondó,

mm. 80-5.

Following the baião, Villani introduces a new pattern in mm. 112-115 (ex. 38), to

be utilized as an accompaniment for a cadenza, an opportunity for the performer to

display his improvisation skills. As shown in example 38, he offers a graphic as a

suggestion to guide the improvisation, but he also wrote out a cadenza in case the

performer would prefer not to create his own. Villani’s cadenza is offered in Appendix C,

my own cadenza (written prior to knowing Villani had his own) is offered in Appendix

D, with an explanation of my own interpretation of Villani’s graphic.

~\/"\,... ~
IMP. AD LI~. v • ~ t r -

Ex. 38: Villani-Côrtes – Série Brasileira Op. 8 – 4. Chôro em Forma de Rondó,

mm. 112-5.
 86

It is definitely impressive for a composer with only about ten years of familiarity

with an instrument to compose such a consistent cycle as this Série. Even more

impressive is the fact that Villani uses a notation procedure (graphic notation) that had

just been introduced abroad, due to the experimentations of the composer John Cage.163

In Brazil, most of the well-known avant-garde composers (such as Hans Joachim

Koellreutter, Gilberto Mendes, Ernst Widmer, Jocy de Oliveira, Jorge Antunes, among

others) didn’t start experimenting with alternative notations until the 1960’s.

It is also possible to connect this improvised cadenza with other Brazilian folk

elements. In the Northeast region of Brazil, the tradition of the desafio (the same

Portuguese word for “challenge”) is very popular during folkloric events: it is usually

performed between two singers or players, when they both improvise interchangeably,

usually by comically commenting on the lines of the last improvisation, until the other

runs out of ideas and technically “loses the challenge.”164 With that perspective, it is at

least humorous to consider this cadenza as a desafio between the composer and the

performer, where the performer borrows the suggestions provided by the composer to

create his own desafio.

After the cadenza, the baião returns for a few measures (mm. 116-128), leading

into the last subsection of Section C, c3 (mm 129-146), which starts by transposing a

fragment from the chôro theme into several key areas (mm.129-134), followed by a

bridge (mm. 135-146) that transitions harmonically through the dominant and

subdominant areas (and even with phrygian accents) of A minor, in order to prepare the

163 James Pritchett, Laura Kuhn and Charles Hiroshi Garrett, “Cage, John (Milton, Jr.),” Grove Music
Online. (accessed May 30, 2018.)
http:////www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-
9781561592630-e-1002223954
164 Béhague, “Brazil,” Grove Music Online.
 87

second restatement of Section A in that original key.

Section D (mm. 163-218), doesn’t present any new folkloric materials. Instead it

reworks materials from Sections A and B, presenting the theme in whole-tone scales

(mm. 168-174), virtuosic syncopated broken chords (mm. 175-186), the “Rachmaninoff

passage” in samba rhythm discuss above (mm. 187-196, ex. 35), and the final re-

elaboration of the chôro theme, traveling from F minor back to A minor (arriving at m.

201) to conclude the piece in a display of virtuosic fireworks. The Chôro is definitely the

most demanding piece of the set, requiring absolute technique control of double notes,

arpeggios, broken chords and a clear articulation. If a pianist decides to approach this set,

it would be wise to start with the Chôro, not only because of its technical demands, but

because it will certainly affect the interpretation of the other movements regarding tempo

decisions (none should really feel faster than the Chôro), unity (highlight passages that

relate to the Chôro theme’s fragment) and cohesion of Brazilian folk elements (how to

play with colors and characters that would reinforce those elements).

4. CINCO MINIATURAS BRASILEIRAS

The Cinco Miniaturas Brasileiras (Five Brazilian Miniatures), composed in 1978,

are certainly one of Villani's most well-known works. The set was originally composed

for recorder and piano and intended as a didactic piece. It became so popular that

nowadays it has originated fifteen versions, including ones for strings orchestra, piano

trio, baroque recorder and harpsichord, among others.165 For the purposes of this paper

we will use the version for piano trio arranged in the same year of the original.166

165 I. Rodrigues, 94.

166 Coelho, ed., “Música Contemporânea Brasileira”, 61.
 88

The five movement's titles are Prelúdio (Prelude), Toada, Chorinho, Cantiga de

Ninar (Lullaby) and Baião. Even though the cycle has an even lighter writing in

comparison to the Série Op. 8 – especially due to its pedagogical character – we also find

a more mature Villani, who had by now studied under both Camargo-Guarnieri and

Koellreutter. He condenses into those small pieces clear Brazilian folk references in a

very refined stylistic economy.

The Cinco Miniaturas, similarly to many cycles from the romantic period, has a

strong connection with the suite genre, much alike the Série also does. However, the

movements’ connections also lie more in their cultural Brazilian references than in

formalities such as key signature or thematic material, with the possible exception of the

Chorinho and the Baião.

The opening movement, Prelúdio, is certainly the most famous of the set and

therefore was the movement most arranged by the composer. In fact, there is even a very

illustrative version for voice and piano, a song composed 20 years later (1998) to the

same music with lyrics by the composer, entitled Para Sempre (Forever), which we will

examine after the formal analysis of the movement.167

The Prelúdio, in A minor and marked Moderato, is cast in the traditional ternary

form ABA', where both sections have two affirmative phrases (they start similarly but are

modified at their final cadences). The first phrase of section A (mm. 3-10, ex. 39), starts

and concludes in the tonic, while the second phrase (mm. 11-18) is interrupted at its final

cadence with subdominant inflections, by introducing the pitches Bb and C# leading to D

167 Ibid, 70. See also I. Rodrigues, 94. In the same year an arrangement of that movement for piano solo
was published as his Prelúdio Nr. 10. See: Luciana F. Hamond, “Prelúdios para piano solo de Edmundo
Villani-Côrtes: um estudo técnico-interpretativo” (MM diss., Universidade do Rio de Janeiro, RJ,
2005), 53.
 89

minor. The texture is very straightforward: soaring melodies for the strings accompanied

by ascending waves of eighth notes in the piano. It is also affirming to observe that a

harmonic analysis of the first phrase (ex. 40), also conforms with the expected

melancholic character of the Brazilian ponteio as described in the analysis of the Série’s

Prelúdio as well (Ex. 16).

Moderato so~
e
Ve.
p cantabile

Pno.
., .,
& & &
#u

Ve.
e
---- ~

~i ~u #e ~~
~
u
-
&

Ex. 39: E. Villani-Côrtes – Cinco Miniaturas Brasileiras – 1. Prelúdio, mm. 1-9

--- e

Ex. 40: Analysis of the melodic contour of Ex. 39.

Section B introduces a contrasting chordal texture to the piano accompaniment,

 90

while the strings keep carrying the melody. The first phrase (mm. 19-26) starts in the

anticipated subdominant D minor, and instead of concluding back in the tonic A minor,

the composer repeats the previous interrupted cadence to lead the melody back to D

minor, starting the second phrase (mm. 27-32) again in the subdominant, but leaving the

conclusion suspended in the dominant, since the last note of the violin melody, the

leading tone G#, does not resolve in the next measure. Instead, the cello brings back the

first phrase of Section A (mm. 33-40), while the second phrase (mm. 41-56) finally

resolves the piece in A minor, being expanded at the conclusion by repeating a plagal

cadence three times.

Irailda Eneli, in her dissertation about Vilani songs, describes how one of the

major styles of Brazil's popular music, the bossa nova, influences this piece.168 Even

though the melodic treatment is not necessarily closely related, being quite lyrical and

somewhat eloquent rather than spoken and intimate, some elements are definitely there.

She points out specifically the chromatic inflections in the melody (m. 7, ex. 39)

comparing them to Tom Jobim's popular song Insensatez (ex. 41, compare with m. 6) and

the harmonic complexity such as the use of tall chords and chromatic relationships, which

are quite common bossa nova features.169

1
A-b

1 ~ 1; 3f2J? era r fff5?ir cr~ar fir P'r P 1

Ex. 41: Tom Jobim – Insensatez (mm. 1-8).

168 I. Rodrigues, 20-2.

169 Ibid.
 91

In fact, perhaps the lyrical quality of the melody was what led Villani to re-write it

as a song. And his choice of subject, inspired by wedding vows,170 certainly reflects the

intensity and solemnity of the music's spirit. The lyrics of the poem with my own English

translation are included below.

Para Sempre Forever

Ah! Quanto amor trago dentro do meu coração Ah! How much love I bring inside my
heart
E passou a ser maior And it became bigger
A razão de toda minha vida The reason of my whole life
Nem mesmo a dor a tristeza o sofrimento Not even pain, sadness or suffering
Irão mudar meu pensamento Will change my thoughts
Prometo só te amar I promise to only love you
Sempre contigo estar Always be with you
Até que a morte nos separe Until death do us part
E a Deus entreguemos nossos corações And to God let us give our hearts
Vem sou teu destino Come, I'm your destiny
E você também o meu será And you also mine will be
Pra todo o sempre eu vou te amar Forever and ever I will love you
Pra sempre Forever

The piece presents little technical difficulties for the piano, which should remain

subdued to avoid getting in the way of the strings’ melody, but from the string players it

is required a good control of bowing and vibrato in order to manage the long phrases.

The Toada, second piece of the cycle, is a very short 27-measure song in G major,

marked moderato. The word toada is a term widely used to describe many songs of

folkloric origin.171 It is also usually associated with very dry and monotonic melodic

contours and textures, due to its often improvisatory nature.

Villani captures those folk elements quite captivatingly. He sets the piece in a

simple ternary ABA' structure with one 8-measure phrase per section (except Section A'

that gets expanded with one extra measure). Section A reflects the toada’s monotonic

170 I. Rodrigues, 94.

171 Béhague, “Brazil”.
 92

tendencies by alternating the harmonies in the piano accompaniment between the tonic

and subdominant measure by measure, coloring the subdominant with minor inflections

(ex. 42). Furthermore, the simplicity of the melodic contour and its formal predictability

allude to the aforementioned improvisatory qualities of the toada.

A tempo
.., \ II

Vln.
t. I I I I

Ve.
L.'-• - - ~
.. .. '"' • fl. ~~
T"

A tempo

-~ -~
~ II
,

~ .. 7
~~
---=::i:-.
Pno. <
' ~
-

I ~ I I ~ I I ~ I I ~ I
L'°• - &

Ex. 42: E. Villani-Côrtes – Cinco Miniaturas Brasileiras – 2. Toada, mm. 3-6.

Section B (11-18) certainly is one of the most compelling moments from the

cycle. He shifts the textural color by bringing the melody from the violin to the piano, but

spreads the melody a 10th apart (ex. 43) in the high register, in a subtle reference to

Brazilian popular country music, where usually a male duo sings a third (or sixth) apart

throughout the song. However, this common practice found in commercial Brazilian

country music also has its roots in folkloric tradition. Suzel Ana Reily, in her article

about the musical practices of the old Brazilian festivities of the folia de reis (folly of the

kings, a catholic procession following Christmas, symbolizing the travels of the “Three

Kings” that visited Jesus), shows an example of toada paulista that uses this exact kind of
 93

melodic construction: parallel thirds (ex. 44).172 But it is her comment about the toada

baiana that will show an even more intimate connection with this particular section of

Villani’s Toada. She writes:

The toadas in this style [toada baiana], however, tend to be more

syncopated [than the toada paulista] and the accompaniment is dominated
by drums and percussion instruments, which perform various rhythms
against the Bantu eight-pulse timeline of the largest drum.173

That description matches Villani’s texture precisely: the melody in tenths symbolizing

the parallel thirds, the syncopated rhythm similar to the toada baiana, and the eight-pulse

represented by the violin part.

Vln.

Ve.

Pno.

Ex. 43: E. Villani-Côrtes – Cinco Miniaturas Brasileiras – 2. Toada (mm. 10-14)

,= ~ 1 tJ Ir r r r Ir e ~ r Ie: t e Ir
Pe-yo a Deus, aos Tres Reis San-tos, pra vo - ce eu vou can - tar
'-'

Ex. 44: Toada Paulista

172 Suzel Ana Reily, "Political Implications of Musical Performance." The World of Music 37, no. 2
(1995): 72-102. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43561446. (accessed September 30th, 2018).
173 Ibid.
 94

Besides those melodic and rhythmic qualities, throughout the Toada the use of the

mixolydian mode is quite accentuated (already mentioned above as a common feature in

the northeastern Brazilian folklore) especially on final cadences.

The Toada is certainly the less challenging piece of the cycle, since its simplicity

also reflects the unpretentious aspects of its folk heritage. However, careful attention

should be given to balance, since the melody in the violin is quite low compared to the

counterpoint in the high tessitura of the cello, which should not overpower the former.

The final result should sound very melancholic and expressive.

The Chorinho (little chôro), the third piece of the cycle, is a 41-measure scherzo

in C major, very humoristic, which is noticeable already by its assigned tempo marking

of vivo saltitante (lively “jumpy”). The title obviously refers to the same Brazilian

influence of the last movement of the Série – the chôro – and they logically share many

stylistic similarities.

The form of the Chorinho coincidentally also resembles that of a rondo,

ABAB’A’, and the sections’ length follow a very regular 8-measure pattern (ex. 45, m. 1

works as a pickup to m. 2). Example 7 already shows many similarities with the Série’s

Chôro: texturally, Section A also resorts to the toccata-like characteristics of the chôro,

but here the constant sixteenths are spread throughout the instruments, resembling even

more the style of traditional chôro ensembles. It is also hard to miss Villani’s subtle

reference to Nazareth’s Odeon (shown in ex. 6), the chromatic bass line clearly alluding

to the former’s iconic melodic opening.

 95

Vivo saltitante

Vin.

Ve.

f
Vivo saltitante

Pno.

Ex. 45: E. Villani-Côrtes – Cinco Miniaturas Brasileiras – 3. Chorinho, mm. 1-5.

Section B (ex. 46) stops the running sixteenths to introduce the characteristic

syncopated rhythm of the samba, which is one of the modern successors of the chôro.

The melody also becomes less contrapuntal, with the cello doubling the violin melody a

10th below (as we have seen in the Toada, another characteristic of Brazilian folk song).

The result is not only quite percussive and humorous, but also impregnated with Brazilian

flavor.

Vin.

Ve.

Pno.

Ex. 46: E. Villani-Côrtes – Cinco Miniaturas Brasileiras – 3. Chorinho, mm. 10-13.

 96

Since the sections are repeated, there aren’t any other Brazilian folk influences

throughout the piece. Section B’ only trades the melody doubled by 10ths from the strings

to the piano, giving the accompaniment to the former, and Section A’ ends with a

comical two-measure abrupt ending, marked mais rápido subtamente (suddenly faster)

after a fermata in the tonic chord of C major.

The Chorinho is the hardest movement of the cycle after the Baião. The

individual difficulties of each instrument aren’t overbearing at all, but the ensemble has

to be very communicative in order to coordinate the offbeat entrances of the thematic

material. In its didactic purposes, this piece is certainly a great cueing exercise. It is also

important to achieve the lively spirit of the piece without over-exaggerating the quickness

of the tempo, since it is important to give the last two measures enough room to be even

faster.

The fourth movement Cantiga de Ninar (lullaby), marked calmamente (calmly),

works as the slow movement of the cycle. It is a 28-measure lyrical piece in F major,

where the violin plays the melody accompanied by counterpoint or lilting eight notes in

the cello and piano parts (ex. 47). The form is a simple ternary ABA’ (mm. 4-11, mm.

12-19, mm. 20-28), where A’ presents the same thematic material of A but with

differences in register, harmony, and with a measure expansion at the end to conclude the

piece in a plagal cadence.

 97

Vin.

Ve.

Pno.

Ex. 47: E. Villani-Côrtes – Cinco Miniaturas Brasileiras – 4. Cantiga de Ninar, mm. 4-7.

Since the lullaby is a universal phenomenon, perhaps this is the movement that

will look the less “exotic” or “picturesque” in its use of Brazilian nationalism. But

nonetheless the Cantiga is still a typical example of Brazilian cultural practices, even if

those practices share many similarities with other cultures around the world.

Perhaps one of the most famous models of lullaby would be Johannes Brahms’s

Wiegenlied Op. 49 No. 4, which is still very well-known and sung nowadays, especially

across occidental countries. Of course, many other composers wrote lullabies – Chopin,

Schubert, Grieg, Stanford, to name just a few – but none reached as much popularity as

Brahms’s. In fact, there are even striking similarities between Villani’s and Brahms’s

melodic treatment, but especially the polarization of the subdominant harmonic area at

the start of the contrasting phrase (m. 11 in Ex. 48 and m. 12 in Ex. 49), and that

particular moment also coincides with the melodic contour’s highest climax.
 98

.
V
II •

Decll':
___ , -
mor - gen friih ,
I
wennOoU will, win\ du - wie . der
.
ge .
,! I •
' -- . -,, •
ti -r . ,, _/ I
-......J .. ~ -•-_l
-----
~
. -; ;-- -, y y I

Ex. 48: J. Brahms – Wiegenlied Op. 49 No. 4, mm. 10-3.

II
. ~

--
, ~

<I

:
-
p
-"
I
'
I
~

f\
- ' I

:
'

t.J
/r I I I
~ -. n ~= o: Q; <>:

Ex. 49: E. Villani-Côrtes – Cinco Miniaturas Brasileiras – 4. Cantiga de Ninar, mm. 11-5.

Curiously, the two most famous folk Brazilian lullabies share those same

characteristics: the highest pitch coincides with the subdominant appearance. The melody

of Boi da Cara Preta (Ox with a Black Face, ex. 50) has its climax on the subdominant at

m. 3, while Dorme, neném (Sleep, little baby, ex. 51) has its climax on the pitch B at m.

5, which works as a neighbor note to the pitch A, which also belongs to the subdominant

harmony. However, those folk melodies and Villani’s also share another similarity that

distinguishes them from Brahms’s lullaby: their melodic contour equilibrium, relying

more on step motion rather than skips and arpeggios. Instead, foreign lullabies like

Brahms’s don’t particularly show any emphasis on step-motion at all, fact also noticed in
 99

lullabies such as Rock-a-Bye Baby, and to some degree even the aforementioned

Gershwin’s Summertime (ex. 34). However, all three Brazilian examples (ex. 49, 50 and

51) display a considerable upwards leap right by the subdominant arrival, emphasizing

that moment expressively even more.

Boi, boi, boi, boi da ca-ra pre - ta pe-ga..___.,

es-te me - ni-no que tern me-do de ca - re - ta

Ex. 50: Boi da Cara Preta, mm. 1-8.

Dor - me ne - ne, que a cu-ca vai pe - gar, ma - rnae ta na ro - 9a, pa - pai foi tra-ba - lhar

Ex. 51: Dorme, Nenê, mm.1-8.

Comparing Villani’s lullaby with those by nationalist Brazilian composers will

also reveal those same tendencies. Lorenzo Fernández’s Suave Acalanto (Gentle Craddle

Song) from his Brazilian Suite No. 1 is a curious example (ex. 52). The subdominant bass

arrives at m. 11, but when the melody reaches its climax by the second half of the

measure, the harmony shifts to a secondary dominant, bringing a new harmonic color to

emphasize it even more. Meanwhile, Francisco Mignone’s song Cantiga de Ninar (ex.

53) displays all the traditional characteristics: melody emphasizing step-motion, with an

expressive big leap by the subdominant arrival, where the melodic contour finds its

climax (mm. 18-21).

 100

••
I

Ex. 52: O. Lorenzo-Fernández – Suíte Brasileira Nr. 1 – 2. Suave Acalanto, mm. 10-2.

- -, - - "'f 'PP!!---.=
A
'
----- . . .
V
miio de 'l'a. ,tlr.
------ B quan .
.
.
do tu dor • mi . ru can. ca .
r
do Ji' i . ca •

...
f in . dA do mar. B quan do Pl . !ache. gou tu. do r i . a,E quan . do
A I I
I

t.) - I/ . L,. - - I r I I . ....., I

II I r
-
'

I - \-~
,-._
I 1,....... .. J I .
......-- • .. It .~.. "
PPP
..
---=--
--==

' '-1' 1
'
t' I V ·v ' V
I
I
-
L-
--,i.---, i.---,
I
I r, ' I
I -

Ex. 53: F. Mignone – Cantiga de Ninar, mm. 16-23.

Those similarities demonstrate that Villani’s Cantiga de Ninar is strongly rooted

on Brazilian traditions, even if those traditions were adapted from abroad, similarly to the

imported waltz from the Série’s Movimento. The Cantiga doesn’t require any kind of

virtuosic agility, but the quality of sound and control of the phrasing are vital to an

appropriate interpretation, due to its intimate lyrical nature.

The Baião concludes the cycle with an unmistakable Brazilian flavor. It is the

longest piece of the cycle with 134 measures and certainly the most difficult, not only

because of its length, but also because the instruments get more virtuosic passages to

play, especially at the middle Section B. Marked decidido (with resolution), the Baião,

written in D mixolydian (but using the key signature of D major), is divided in three large
 101

sections in ternary form ABA’ (mm. 1-22, m. 23-114, mm. 115-134), where Section A’ is

a shorter restatement of A, without the second phrase, and repeating the closing cadence

of the first phrase three times as a conclusion to the whole piece and cycle.

As mentioned before, the baião is a northeastern dance characteristic of its use of

a syncopated rhythm in the bass (ex. 54, mm. 1-2). The dance became quite popular after

performances of the folk singer Luiz Gonzaga, known as “the baião king.”174 One of his

first successes was the song actually also entitled Baião (ex. 55), which not only helped

to popularize the style, but also became a model for the following baiões. One similarity

between Villani’s and Gonzaga’s examples is their adoption of the mixolydian mode, one

more influence from Brazilian’s northeast region already previously discussed. But

Villani goes one step further, and also utilizes the lydian mode (ex. 56) at the final

cadence of the first phrase (see m. 10 at ex. 54), in a clear case of modal dualism.

Oecidido

b~~ :::r:::r=r::1
·:· 1
l
Ex. 54: E. Villani-Côrtes – Cinco Miniaturas Brasileiras – 5. Baião, mm. 1-11.

174 Béhague, “Brazil”.

 102

~ iff i 'Jfilgctc.f 1,;ifilgctc.f 1,;fil gctcf ToorJJ1JJNI

Ex. 55: Luiz Gonzaga – Baião, mm. 1-8.

C lydian D lydian

~ .. J J ffJ J J r r 0 J f J .w J F f r r
Ex. 56: Lydian mode starting on the pitches C and D

Furthermore, compare Gonzaga’s melody (ex. 55) with the melodic contour of the

violin in Villani’s Section B opening (ex. 57). The similarities are striking: an upwards

arpeggio outlining the tonic chord with its 7th minor, followed by stepwise descending

notes. The highest pitch in both cases is achieved at the latter half of the melody, the 9th

in both cases, followed again by a descending stepwise motion. It becomes clear that

Villani not only borrowed from the folk tradition, but also absorbed and reproduced the

very core of the style.

-- · q~ ,r ~ ,,._ , __ , .t ~. q~ ·- -
--
1l II

Vin. - TI. -

~
..

.~
--.
I.

l II
n

I
I.
TI a ~

:
~

~=
~

:
~

q, ~

:
~

~=
~

:
~

~=
Pno. .
--:: ~ -:: r-:: --:: r-: r-:: -:
I .11..•• - n
. . .
TI -

11 • 11 11 11 • 11 ·11 11 • 11 11 11 • 11 11 11 • 11 11 ll • 11 11 11 • ll 11 11 •ll 11

Ex. 57: E. Villani-Côrtes – Cinco Miniaturas Brasileiras – 5. Baião, mm. 23-30.

Villani’s Baião also provides the conclusion of the cycle with a certain structural

unity. Compare, for example, the intervallic 4ths in the first phrase of the Baião (ex. 54,
 103

mm.3-4) with a similar passage in the Chorinho (Ex. 45, mm. 3-4). Even more

compelling are the similarities between the Section B of the Chorinho (Ex. 46) and the

Section B of the Baião (Ex. 58).

J I\ "
-
., L.-J

- •
'
:
- ... .._.. qil ii ii -._ T.!
u --
. .- ~·.. : .:.;,:
p
-.: •.::_,• ===
--· - ·~ 4 .:.

- - . -... .. -~
<

- .·. .
I I
. • •• •
.
.•
• • 0

l.i 4 4 ,:t

Ex. 58: E. Villani-Côrtes – Cinco Miniaturas Brasileiras – 5. Baião, mm. 12-5.

Lastly, similar to the Série’s Choro, section B is also presented in a very similar

manner of the northeastern desafio: the violin opens with the melody inspired by

Gonzaga, and proceeds to comment on it in many virtuosic and improvisatory ways, until

giving its spotlight to the cello (m. 55), that then plays its own virtuosic passages. At m.

87, the strings take the accompaniment pattern and the piano starts his own melody, as if

each instrument had their chance to respond to the desafio before coming back together to

play the baião once more to conclude the performance. All those northeast references

seem even like an homage to that particular Brazilian region, which is very rich culturally

and certainly influences all others with their music, dance, folk literature, festivities, food

and culture.
 104

Villani’s Série Brasileira Op. 8 and his Cinco Miniaturas Brasileiras have a wide

array of Brazilian cultural references as they were analyzed, described and deciphered

above. They have influences that are more universal, such as the lullaby and the waltz,

but also very specific regional instances like the chôro and baião, to finally even

commercial pop music references like the bossa nova. But we also inferred that those

allusions are not a result of any field studies, and they don’t have the intention to portray

those cultural elements “in loco”, meaning that they are reinterpretations of those

elements to be expressed in a place and context alien to their original counterparts,

namely the recital chambers or concert halls. And sometimes those national references

are even mixed with elements foreign to Brazilian culture, such as the American jazz and

European concert music. Previously, Villani’s style was described as very eclectic, and

those pieces, aside their strong Brazilian ties, certainly are no exception.
 105

CONCLUSION

After examining the music of the Série Brasileira Op. 8 and the Cinco Miniaturas

Brasileiras by Villani-Côrtes, we can safely assert that there is a considerable amount of

cultural Brazilian references in those pieces. This brings us to an important question: is

Villani-Côrtes a nationalist composer?

As we will find out, the answer is complex and ambiguous. From a romantic

standpoint, based on the origins of nationalism as an aesthetic movement, of course

Villani could be considered a nationalist composer, since he adapted dances and folk

elements from his homeland into his music, like the aforementioned composers Chopin,

Liszt, Albéniz and Granados.

It is also worth mentioning that these Brazilian references are not only found in

those works; other works, such as the Série Brasileira for flute and piano, also share

nationalistic influences. And this is just to mention a cycle that have the nationality

“Brazilian” attached to its title. It is possible to find Brazilian connections abundantly in

his varied output, even in pieces with more generic titles. Why would the composer then

distance himself from the nationalist movement?

There may be many reasons for that, as for him nationalism is only one tool to

compose, it is a means and not an end. As we observed above, he also borrows influence

from other sources such as the European concert music, American jazz, and even

sometimes alludes to specific composers (like Gershwin and Rachmaninoff in the

Chôro). But those extra inspirations don’t simply erase the nationalism out of his music,

the nationalism is still there regardless of any foreign trends.

However, comparing that to the Brazilian Nationalist School, where usually

 106

composers conduct extensive research in folk music to properly adapt its materials into

their own language (and are very careful about how much foreign influences they will

allow into it), we can perceive an acute systematic difference in their approach. Villani,

much like Villa-Lobos, composes from his personal experiences, from his musical

practice, from whatever comes his way naturally, and it “doesn’t make sense” for him to

work otherwise.175 So, from a twentieth-century Brazilian cultural standpoint, it is not

possible to classify Villani among Brazilian nationalist composers such as Camargo

Guarnieri, José Siqueira and Guerra-Peixe, since their compositional approach are

radically different. In conclusion, even though Villani serves himself of nationalistic

practices, he certainly doesn’t conform to the Brazilian Nationalist School. Like Chopin,

his music is not a phonographic representation of the culture in loco, but rather music to

be heard and enjoyed aesthetically, regardless of its origins. The comment of the pianist

Acchile Picchi certainly summarizes those reflections very well: “Villani-Côrtes uses the

national with intelligence, but without too much green and yellow.”176

Yet, prior knowledge of those cultural references are indispensable for the

performer, in the same way that it is necessary for a performer to know how to properly

play a sarabande, or how to play in the romantic style hungrois: by experiencing their

folk characteristic elements, it will inform the player how to properly color their

performance.

According to the classifications discussed in chapter 1, we can definitely position

Villani-Côrtes in the category of “defending nationalism,” since he is a Brazilian writing

in his own homeland language (but due to our “global neo-cosmopolitan” world ruled by

175 Perpetuo, 21.

176 Mariz, 384. Green and yellow are references to the Brazilian flag’s colors.
 107

technologic advancements, not free from external influences either). We also can safely

remove his music out of the “aggressive” zone of nationalism, since his writing – as

exemplified by his Série Brasileira Op. 8 and the Cinco Miniaturas Brasileiras –

attempts to accommodate the most disparate influences harmoniously: from the rural

ponteios to the urban bossa-nova, or from the worldly lullaby to the African-inspired

samba. Those unrelated elements don’t overcome each other, there is no political agenda,

they peacefully coexist together.

And with the idea of coexistence in mind, I feel inclined to conclude this

document the same way it started: with another Chopin anecdote regarding this subject.

The Polish physician Ferdynand Dworzaczeck recalls an experience he had: while lying

in the sofa listening to Chopin improvise, “…all of a sudden his music rang out with a

song which went to the heart of my soul… a well-known song… a song from the

homeland… beloved… from the family home… from childhood years.” Calling the

composer, Ferdynand declared surprised that Chopin had just played a melody that his

mother used to sing to him as a child, to which Chopin, shocked, first retorted that

Ferdynand couldn’t possibly have heard that tune before. As he realized what the

situation was, Chopin then rose to embrace his friend in tears, saying: “you have just

made me indescribably happy; there are not words for it! You never knew this song…

only its spirit: the spirit of Polish melody! And I am so happy to have been able to grasp

and reveal it!”177

Nationalism, unfortunately, is a sensitive topic nowadays. And as Taruskin points

177 Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger. Chopin: Pianist and Teacher as Seen by His Pupils (3rd English ed.
Cambridge [Cambridgeshire]; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986), quoted in Jonathan
Bellman, Chopin’s Polish Ballade: Op. 38 as Narrative of National Martyrdom (Oxford, New York:
Oxford University Press, 2010), 134.
 108

out, it can be used as a weapon to exclude, isolate, and degrade people and other cultures.

Sadly, many scholars fail to see the other side: how it brings people together, as in the

case of the Polish physician and musician; how it can be used to revive memories of

family, country, childhood; and most of all, how it can easily communicate to people

regardless of national roots and grant a sense of belonging somewhere in this gigantic

planet. Those were my feelings the first time I heard Villani-Côrtes’s music, and to me he

is indeed a nationalist composer, but not because of his use of Brazilian folklore, or

because of the tradition of Brazilian composers and musicians which he reverently

assimilates, or not because of his bravery in reconciling disparate trends in a time where

an artist usually had to take sides to survive in the musical world; but, as I paraphrase the

physician’s words, because “his music rang out with a song which went to the heart of

my soul.”
 109

APPENDIX A

MANIFESTO DE 1946 BY HANS-JOACHIM KOELLREUTTER

This Appendix includes the original document text and my own translation.

Grupo Música Viva

Manifesto 1946
Declaração de princípios

A música, traduzindo idéias e sentimentos na linguagem dos sons, é um meio de

expressão; portanto, produto da vida social.

A arte musical – como todas as outras artes – aparece como super-estrutura de um regime
cuja estrutura é de natureza puramente material. A arte musical é o reflexo do essencial
na realidade.

A produção intelectual, servindo-se dos meios de expressão artística, é função da

produção material e sujeita, portanto, como esta, a uma constante transformação, à lei da
evolução.

Música é movimento. Música é vida.

“MÚSICA VIVA”, compreendendo este fato combate pela música que revela o
eternamente novo, isto é: por uma arte musical que seja a expressão real da época e da
sociedade.

“MÚSICA VIVA” refuta a assim chamada arte acadêmica, negação da própria arte.

“MÚSICA VIVA”, baseada nesse princípio fundamental, apoia tudo o que favorece o
nascimento e crescimento do novo, escolhendo a revolução e repelindo a reação.

“MÚSICA VIVA”, compreendendo que o artista é o produto do meio e que a arte só

pode florescer quando as forças produtivas tiverem atingido um certo nível de
desenvolvimento, apoiará qualquer iniciativa em prol de uma educação não somente
artística, como também ideológica; pois, não há arte sem ideologia.

“MÚSICA VIVA”, compreendendo que a técnica da música e da construção musical

depende da técnica da produção material, propõe a substituição do ensino teórico-musical
baseado em preconceitos estéticos tidos como dogmas, por um ensino científico baseado
em estudos e pesquisas das leis acústicas, e apoiará as iniciativas que favoreçam a
utilização artística dos instrumentos rádio-elétricos.

“MÚSICA VIVA” estimulará a criação de novas formas musicais que correspondam às

idéias novas, expressas numa linguagem musical contrapontístico-harmônica e baseada
num cromatismo diatônico.
 110

“MÚSICA VIVA” repele, entretanto, o formalismo, isto é: a arte na qual a forma se

converte em autônoma; pois, a forma da obra de arte autêntica corresponde ao conteúdo
nela representado.

“MÚSICA VIVA”, compreendendo que a tendência “arte pela arte” surge num terreno de
desacordo insolúvel com o meio social, bate-se pela concepção utilitária da arte, isto é, a
tendência de conceder às obras artísticas a significação que lhes compete em relação ao
desenvolvimento social e a super-estrutura dela.

“MÚSICA VIVA”, adotando os princípios de arte-ação, abandona como ideal a

preocupação exclusiva de beleza; pois, toda a arte de nossa época não organizada
diretamente sobre o princípio da utilidade será desligada do real.

“MÚSICA VIVA” acredita no poder da música como linguagem substancial, como

estágio na evolução artística de um povo, combate, por outro lado, o falso nacionalismo
em música, isto é: aquele que exalta sentimentos de superioridade nacionalista na sua
essência e estimula tendências egocêntricas e individualistas que separam os homens,
originando forças disruptivas.

“MÚSICA VIVA” acredita na função socializadora da música que é a de unir os homens,

humanizando-os e universalizando-os.

“MÚSICA VIVA”, compreendendo a importância social e artística da música popular,

apoiará qualquer iniciativa no sentido de desenvolver e estimular a criação e divulgação
da boa música popular, combatendo a produção de obras prejudiciais à educação
artístico-social do povo.

“MÚSICA VIVA”, compreendendo que o desenvolvimento das artes depende também da

cooperação entre os artistas e das organizações profissionais, e compreendendo que a arte
somente poderá florescer quando o nível artístico coletivo tiver atingido um determinado
grau de evolução, apoiará todas as iniciativas tendentes a estimular a colaboração
artístico-profissional e a favorecer o desenvolvimento do nível artístico coletivo; pois a
arte reflete o estado de sensibilidade e a capacidade de coordenação do meio.

Consciente da missão da arte contemporânea em face da sociedade humana, o grupo

“MÚSICA VIVA” acompanha o presente no seu caminho de descoberta e conquista,
lutando pelas idéias novas de um mundo novo, crendo na força criadora do espírito
humano e na arte do futuro.

Rio de Janeiro, 1o. de novembro de 1946.

Heitor Alimonda, Egídio de Castro e Silva, Guerra Peixe, Eunice Katunda, Hans-Joachim
Koellreutter, Edino Krieger, Gení Marcondes, Santino Parpinelli, Cláudio Santoro.178

178
Mariz, 298-9.
 111

Grupo Música Viva

1946 Manifesto
Declaration of principles

Music, translating ideas and feelings into the language of sounds, is a means of
expression; therefore, product of social life.

The musical art – as any other art – appears as super-structure of a regimen which its
structure is of purely material nature. The musical art is the reflex of the essential in
reality.

The intellectual production, serving itself from artistic means of expression, is tied to
material production and subjugated, consequently, as the latter, to constant
transformation, to the laws of evolution.

Music is movement. Music is life.

“MÚSICA VIVA”, understanding this fact fights for music that reveals the eternally new,
that is: for a musical art that is the real expression of its time and society.

“MÚSICA VIVA” repudiates the so called academic art, negation of art itself.

“MÚSICA VIVA”, based on this fundamental principle, supports everything that favors
the birth and growth of the new, choosing revolution and repelling reaction.

“MÚSICA VIVA”, understanding that the artist is locally influenced and that art can
only flourish once the productive forces have met a certain degree of development, will
support any endeavor favoring not only an artistic education, but also ideological; since
there is no art without ideology.

“MÚSICA VIVA”, understanding that the technique of music and musical construction
depends on the technique of material production, proposes the change of the theoretical-
musical teaching based on aesthetical prejudices pre-established as dogmas, into a
scientific teaching based on studies and research of acoustic laws, and will support efforts
that favor the artistic use of radio-electric instruments.

“MÚSICA VIVA” encourages the creation of new musical forms that match new ideas,
expressed in a contrapuntist-harmonic musical language and based in a diatonic
chromaticism.

“MÚSICA VIVA” resists, however, against formalism, that is: the art in which form
becomes autonomic; since the authentic artwork’s form matches its content.
 112

“MÚSICA VIVA”, understanding that the trend “art for art’s sake” ensues in a terrain of
unsolvable discord with the social, strives for the utilitarian concept of art, that is, the
tendency of conceding to artworks their own signification related to its social
development and super-structure.

“MÚSICA VIVA”, adopting the principles of art-action, abandons the exclusive

preoccupation with beauty; because any contemporary work not directly organized upon
the principle of utility will be disconnected from reality.

“MÚSICA VIVA” believes in the power of music as a substantial language, as a step in

the population's artistic evolution, but fights against the fake nationalism in music, that is:
the one that exalts feelings of nationalist superiority in its essence and promotes
egocentric and individualist tendencies which separates mankind, originating disruptive
forces.

“MÚSICA VIVA” believes in music’s social function which is to unite mankind,

humanizing and universalizing them.

“MÚSICA VIVA”, understanding the social and artistic relevance of folk music, will
support any efforts to develop and foster the creation and advertising of the good folk
music, opposing the production of works that are harmful to the artistic-social education
of the people.

“MÚSICA VIVA”, understanding that arts development also depends on the cooperation
between artist and professional organizations, and understanding that art will flourish
only when the collective artistic level raises to a certain evolutionary degree, will support
any efforts promoting artistic-professional collaboration and favoring the development of
the collective artistic level; because art reflects the state of sensitivity and coordination
capacity of its local.

Conscious of the contemporary art’s mission in face of human society, the group
“MÚSICA VIVA” follows the present in its own path of discovery and conquest, fighting
for new ideas of a new world, believing in the creative power of the human spirit and in
the art of the future.

Rio de Janeiro, November 1st, 1946.

Heitor Alimonda, Egídio de Castro e Silva, Guerra Peixe, Eunice Katunda, Hans-Joachim
Koellreutter, Edino Krieger, Gení Marcondes, Santino Parpinelli, Cláudio Santoro.
 113

APPENDIX B

CARTA ABERTA AOS MÚSICOS E CRÍTICOS DO BRASIL

This Appendix includes the original document text and my own translation.

Mozart Camargo Guarnieri

Carta Aberta aos Músicos e Críticos do Brasil (1950)

Considerando as minhas grandes responsabilidades, como compositor brasileiro,

diante de meu povo e das novas gerações de criadores na arte musical, e profundamente

preocupado com a orientação atual da música dos jovens compositores que, influenciados

por idéias errôneas, se filiam ao dodecafonismo – corrente formalista que leva à

degenerescência do caráter nacional de nossa música – tomei a resolução de escrever esta

carta aberta aos músicos e críticos do Brasil.

Através deste documento, quero alertá-los sobre os enormes perigos que, neste

momento, ameaçam profundamente toda a cultura musical brasileira, a que estamos

estreitamente vinculados.

Esses perigos provêm do fato de muitos dos nossos jovens compositores, por

inadvertência ou ignorância, estarem se deixando seduzir por falsas teorias progressistas

da música, orientando a sua obra nascente num sentido contrário ao dos verdadeiros

interesses da música brasileira.

Introduzido no Brasil há poucos anos, por elementos oriundos de países onde se

empobrece o folclore musical, o dodecafonismo encontrou aqui ardorosa acolhida por

parte de alguns espíritos desprevenidos.

À sombra de seu maléfico prestígio se abrigaram alguns compositores moços de

valor e grande talento, como Cláudio Santoro e Guerra-Peixe que, felizmente, após

seguirem essa orientação errada, puderam se libertar dela e retomar o caminho da música
 114

baseada no estudo e no aproveitamento artístico-científico do nosso folclore. Outros

jovens compositores, entretanto, ainda dominados pela corrente dodecafonista (que

desgraçadamente recebe o apoio e simpatia de muitas pessoas desorientadas), estão

sufocando o seu talento, perdendo contato com a realidade e cultura brasileiras, e criando

uma música cerebrina e falaciosa, inteiramente divorciada de nossas características

nacionais.

Diante dessa situação que tende a se agravar dia a dia, comprometendo

basilarmente o destino de nossa música, é tempo de erguer um grito de alerta para deter a

nefasta infiltração formalista e antibrasileira que, recebida com tolerância e complacência

hoje, virá trazer, no futuro, graves e insanáveis prejuízos ao desenvolvimento da música

nacional do Brasil.

É preciso que se diga a esses jovens que o dodecafonismo, em música,

corresponde ao abstracionismo em pintura; ao hermetismo, em literatura; ao

existencialismo, em filosofia; ao charlatanismo, em ciência.

Assim, pois, o dodecafonismo (como aqueles e outros contrabandos que estamos

importando e assimilando servilmente) é uma expressão característica de uma política de

degenerescência cultural, um ramo adventício da figueira-brava do cosmopolitismo que

nos ameaça com suas sombras deformantes e tem por objetivo oculto um lento e

pernicioso trabalho de destruição do nosso caráter nacional.

O dodecafonismo é assim, de um ponto de vista mais geral, produto de culturas

superadas, que se decompõem de maneira inevitável; é um artifício cerebralista,

antinacional, antipopular, levado ao extremo; é química, é arquitetura, é matemática na

música – é tudo o que quiserem – mas não é música! É um requinte de inteligências

 115

saturadas, de almas secas, descrentes da vida; é um vício de semimortos, um refúgio de

compositores medíocres, de seres sem pátria, incapazes de compreender, de sentir, de

amar e revelar tudo o que há de novo, dinâmico e saudável no espírito de nosso povo.

Que essa pretensa música encontre adeptos no seio de civilizações e culturas

decadentes, onde se exaurem as fontes originais do folclore (como é o caso de alguns

países da Europa); que essa tendência deformadora deite as suas raízes envenenadas no

solo cansado de sociedades em decomposição, vá lá! Mas que não encontre acolhida

aqui, na América nativa e especialmente em nosso Brasil, onde um povo novo e rico de

poder criador tem todo um grandioso porvir nacional a construir com suas próprias mãos!

Importar e tentar adaptar no Brasil essa caricatura de música, esse método de

contorcionismo cerebral antiartístico, que nada tem de comum com as características

específicas de nosso temperamento nacional, e que se destina apenas a nutrir o gosto

pervertido de pequenas elites de requintados e paranoicos, reputo um crime de lesa-

pátria! Isso constitui, além do mais, uma afronta à capacidade criadora, ao patriotismo e à

inteligência dos músicos brasileiros.

O nosso país possui um folclore musical dos mais ricos do mundo, quase que

totalmente ignorado por muitos compositores brasileiros que, inexplicavelmente,

preferem carbonizar o cérebro para produzir música segundo os princípios aparentemente

inovadores de uma estética esdrúxula e falsa.

Como macacos, como imitadores vulgares, como criaturas sem princípios,

preferem importar e copiar nocivas novidades estrangeiras, simulando, assim, que são

“originais”, “modernos” e “avançados”, e esquecem, deliberada e criminosamente, que

temos todo um Amazonas de música folclórica – expressão viva de nosso caráter

 116

nacional – à espera de que venham também estudá-lo e divulgá-lo para engrandecimento

da cultura brasileira. Eles não sabem ou fingem não saber que somente representaremos

um autêntico valor, no conjunto dos valores internacionais, na medida em que soubermos

preservar e aperfeiçoar os traços fundamentais de nossa fisionomia nacional em todos os

sentidos.

Os nossos compositores dodecafonistas adotam e defendem essa tendência

formalista e degenerada de música porque não se deram ao cuidado elementar de estudar

os tesouros da herança clássica, o desenvolvimento autônomo da música brasileira e suas

raízes populares e folclóricas. Eles, certamente, não leram estas sábias palavras de Glinka

“... a música, cria-a o povo, e nós, os artistas, somente a arranjamos...” que valem para

nós também – e muito menos meditaram nesta opinião do grande mestre Honegger sobre

o dodecafonismo: “... as suas regras são por demais ingenuamente escolásticas. Permitem

ao NÃO MÚSICO escrever a mesma música que escreveria um indivíduo altamente

dotado...”

Mas o que pretende, afinal, essa corrente anti-artística que procura conquistar

principalmente os nossos jovens músicos, deformando a sua obra nascente?

Pretende, aqui no Brasil, o mesmo que tem pretendido em quase todos os países

do mundo: atribuir valor preponderante à forma; despojar a música de seus elementos

essenciais de comunicabilidade; arrancar-lhe o conteúdo emocional; desfigurar-lhe o

caráter nacional; isolar o músico (transformando-o num monstro de individualismo) e

atingir o seu objetivo principal que é justificar uma música sem pátria e inteiramente

incompreensível para o povo.

Como todas as tendências da arte degenerada e decadente, o dodecafonismo, com

 117

suas facilidades, truques e receitas de fabricar música atemática, procura menosprezar o

trabalho criador do artista, instituindo a improvisação, o charlatanismo, a meia-ciência

como substitutos da pesquisa, do talento, da cultura, do aproveitamento racional das

experiências do passado, que são as bases para a realização da obra de arte verdadeira.

Desejando, absurdamente, pairar acima e além da influência dos fatores de ordem

social e histórica, tais como o meio, a tradição, os costumes e a herança clássica;

pretendendo ignorar ou desprezar a índole do povo brasileiro e as condições particulares

do seu desenvolvimento, o dodecafonismo procura, sorrateiramente, realizar a destruição

das características especificamente nacionais da nossa música, disseminando entre os

jovens a “teoria” da música de laboratório, criada apenas com o concurso de algumas

regras especiosas, sem ligação com as fontes populares.

O nosso povo, entretanto, com aguda intuição e sabedoria, tem sabido desprezar

essa falsificação e o arremedo de música que consegue produzir. Para tentar explicar a

sua nenhuma aceitação por parte do público, alegam alguns dos seus mais fervorosos

adeptos que “o nosso país é muito atrasado”; que estão “escrevendo música para o

futuro” ou que “o dodecafonismo não é ainda compreendido pelo povo porque a sua obra

não ė suficientemente divulgada...”

É necessário que se diga, de uma vez por todas, que tudo isso não passa de

desculpa dos que pretendem ocultar aos nossos olhos os motivos mais profundos daquele

divórcio.

Afirmo, sem medo de errar, que o dodecafonismo jamais será compreendido pelo

grande público porque ele é essencialmente cerebral, antipopular, antinacional, e não tem

nenhuma afinidade com a alma do povo.

 118

Muita coisa ainda precisaria ser dita a respeito do dodecafonismo e do pernicioso

trabalho que seus adeptos vêm desenvolvendo no Brasil, mas urge terminar esta carta que

já se torna longa demais.

E ela não estaria concluída, se eu não me penitenciasse publicamente perante o

povo brasileiro por ter demorado tanto em publicá-la. Esperei que se criassem condições

mais favoráveis para um pronunciamento coletivo dos responsáveis pela nossa música a

respeito desse importante problema que envolve intenções bem mais graves do que,

superficialmente, se imagina. Essas condições não se criaram e o que se nota é um

silêncio constrangido e comprometedor. Pessoalmente, acho que o nosso silêncio, nesse

momento, é conivência com a contrafação dodecafonista. É esse o motivo porque este

documento tem um caráter tão pessoal.

Espero, entretanto, que os meus colegas compositores, intérpretes, regentes e

críticos manifestem, agora, sinceramente, a sua autorizada opinião a propósito do

assunto. Aqui fica, pois, o meu apelo patriótico.

São Paulo, 7 de novembro de 1950

Camargo Guarnieri179

179
Neves, 121-4.
 119

Mozart Camargo Guarnieri

Open letter to Brazilian musicians and critics (1950)

Considering my great responsibilities, as a Brazilian composer, before my people

and the new generations of musical art creators, and deeply concerned about the current

direction of the music by young composers who, influenced by erroneous ideas, affiliate

themselves with dodecaphonism – formalist trend that induces to degeneration of our

music’s national character – I decided to write this open letter to Brazilian musicians and

critics.

Throughout this document, I want to alert you about the enormous dangers that, at

this very moment, profoundly threaten all Brazilian musical culture, to which we are all

tightly tied.

Those dangers arise because many of our young composers, by negligence or

ignorance, are letting themselves be seduced by fake musical progressive theories,

guiding their new works in a direction against the true interests of Brazilian music.

Introduced in Brazil not too many years ago, by citizens native to countries where

they impoverish musical folklore, dodecaphonism found here a warm welcome from

some unsuspecting souls.

At the shadow of its maleficent prestige some valued and very talented young

composers found shelter, like Cláudio Santoro and Guerra-Peixe who, fortunately, after

following this wrong direction, could free themselves and return to the ways of music

based on studies and artistic-scientific application of our folklore. However, other young

composers, still dominated by the dodecaphonist trend (which unfortunately receives

support and sympathy from many misguided people), are suffocating their talent, losing

touch with Brazilian reality and culture, and creating brainy and fallacious music, entirely
 120

divorced from our national characteristics.

Since this situation tends to aggravate day by day, compromising the foundations

and destiny of our music, it is time to raise a warning shout to stop the formalist and anti-

Brazilian nefarious infiltration that, today greeted with tolerance and compliance, will

bring, in the future, severe and irreversible damage to the development of Brazilian

national music.

We must tell the young that dodecaphonism, in music, equals abstractionism in

painting; hermeticism, in literature; existentialism, in philosophy; quackery

[ciarlatanism], in science.

Therefore, dodecaphonism (like other imported smuggles that we are slavishly

embracing) is an expression characteristic to politics of cultural degeneration, an

adventitious branch of the cosmopolitan sycamore fig tree that threatens us with its

deformed shadows and have the concealed objective to slowly and mischievously destroy

our national character.

Dodecaphonism is, from a general standpoint, a product of vanquished cultures,

that inevitably decompose; a cerebral artifice, antinational, anti-popular, taken to its

extremes; it is chemistry, architecture, mathematics in music – it is anything they want –

but it is not music! It is a refinement from bloated intelligences, from dry souls, that

disbelief life; it is a half-dead addiction, a refuge for mediocre composers, of beings

without homeland, incapable to understand, feel, love and reveal all that is new, dynamic

and nourishing in our people’s spirit.

It is believable that this pretentious music would find allies in the hearts of

decadent civilizations and cultures, where the original sources of folklore wither (as is the
 121

case in some European countries); that this deforming tendency would lay its poisonous

roots at the weary soil of decomposing societies. But it may not be welcome here, in

native America and especially in our Brazil, where a new society full of creative power

has a grandiose future to be built with their own hands! I regard it as a crime against the

motherland to import and try to adapt this musical caricature in Brazil, this method of

anti-artistic cerebral contortionism, that has nothing to do with the specific characteristics

of our national temperament, and that only quenches the perverse taste of small elites of

snobs and paranoids. Furthermore, that constitutes offense against the creative capacity,

patriotism, and intelligence of Brazilian musicians.

Our country has one of the richest musical folklores in the world, yet almost

entirely ignored by many Brazilian composers who, inexplicably, prefer to carbonize

their brains producing music after the principles from an apparently innovative but

ridiculous and false aesthetic.

Like monkeys, like vulgar imitators, like unprincipled creatures, they would rather

import and copy harmful foreign novelties, pretending to be “original,” “modern” and

“advanced,” and forget, deliberately and criminally, that we have an Amazonas [huge

source] of folkloric music – alive expression of our national character – waiting to be also

studied and promoted for the growth of Brazilian culture. They do not know, or pretend

not to, that we will only have authentic value, in an international conjecture, as much as

we preserve and perfect the fundamental traits of our national physiognomy in every way

possible.

Our dodecaphonic composers adopt and defend this formalist and degenerated

musical trend because they did not take the basic precaution of studying the treasures of
 122

classical inheritance, the autonomous development of Brazilian music and its popular and

folkloric roots. They certainly did not read those wise words by Glinka “… music is

created by the people, and us, artists, only rearrange it…” that also serve us well – and

moreover missed meditating in this opinion by the great master Honegger about

dodecaphonism: “… its rules are too naïvely scholastic. They allow the NON-

MUSICIAN to write the same music that a highly gifted individual would…”

But what intends, after all, this anti-artistic trend that seeks to capture mostly our

young musicians, distorting their incipient work?

It aims, here in Brazil, the same that it has aimed almost elsewhere in the world:

to give prevailing value to form; to strip music out of its essential elements of

communicability; to rip its emotional content out; disfiguring its national character;

isolating the musician (transforming him in an individualist monster) and achieve its

main objective which is to validate homeless music, totally unintelligible to people.

As any trend from degenerated and decadent art, dodecaphonism, with its

facilities, tricks and recipes to fabricate athematic music, seeks to despise the artist’s

creative work, instituting the improvisation, ciarlatanism, and half-science as substitutes

to research, talent, culture, and rational employment of past experiences, that are the

grounds to make any true artwork.

Desiring, absurdly, to hover above and beyond the influence from social and

historical facts, as the location, tradition, practices and classic inheritance; intending to

ignore or disdain the Brazilian people’s nature and the particular conditions of their

development, dodecaphonism seeks, deviously, to destroy the specific national

characteristics of our music, diffusing among the young the music “theory” from a
 123

laboratory, created just with the use of some specious rules, without any connections to

folk sources.

Our people, however, with its acute intuition and wisdom, have been rejecting this

falsification and the scornful music it is able to produce. In order to explain the public’s

lack of reception, some of its most eager followers claim that “our country is too

immature;” that they are “writing music for the future” or that “dodecaphonism is not yet

understood by the people because its works are not promoted enough…”

We must say, once and for all, that those are only excuses by the ones trying to

divert our eyes from the deeper causes of that divorce.

I declare, not afraid to be mistaken, that dodecaphonism will never be understood

by the wide public because it is essentially cerebral, anti-popular, antinational, and has no

affinities with the people’s soul.

Much still has to be said regarding dodecaphonism and its followers’ pernicious

work developed in Brazil, but this letter, already too lengthy, must end.

And it would not be concluded, if I did not penalize myself publicly before the

Brazilian people for having taken so long to publish it. I waited for favorable conditions

to a collective pronouncement from our music authorities about this important issue that

includes graver intentions than, superficially, we can imagine. Those conditions never

happened and there is only an embarrassing and condemning silence. Personally, I think

that our silence, right now, is conniving with the dodecaphonist counterfeit. This is why

this document has such a personal style.

I hope, however, that my colleagues who are composers, performers, conductors

and critics declare, now, sincerely, their official judgement regarding this subject. Here
 124

is, then, my patriotic call.

São Paulo, November 7th, 1950

Camargo Guarnieri
 125

APPENDIX C

IMPROVISATION FOR THE CHÔRO OP. 8 NR. 4

BY EDMUNDO VILLANI-CÔRTES

This Appendix contains a printed version of a manuscript cadenza written and published by

Edmundo Villani-Côrtes for the improvisation of his Chôro em forma de Rondó from the

Série Brasileira Op. 8.

The first two pages are the cadenza per se. It is possible to argue that the

composer did not follow necessarily the graphic notation included in the score (see ex.

38), noticeable especially because it lacks the trillo at the end.

The third page includes a rewritten version by the composer for the measures

following the cadenza. It includes one extra measure, since in the original score section

c3 starts at m. 129 and in this version it starts at m. 130. Besides, a few melodic

fragments are added to the end of section c2 (mm. 123-4), plus a concluding gesture in

the lower register (mm. 128-9, possibly to replace the missing trillo at the end of the

cadenza). The following measures of section c3 (mm. 130-6) in this example, are mostly

rewritten harmonically, and given a more active left hand (in the original, the left hand

plays only sustained low octaves on each measure).

 126

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--- - - '

.. f
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tJ

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 127

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 128

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 129

APPENDIX D

IMPROVISATION FOR THE CHÔRO OP. 8 NR. 4

BY EDNALDO BORBA

This Appendix contains a printed version of my own cadenza for the improvisation of the

Chôro em forma de Rondó from the Série Brasileira Op. 8 by Edmundo Villani-Côrtes.

The composer himself listened to this cadenza in a recital in 2009.

I tried to portray a faithful interpretation of the graphic notation provided by the

composer (ex. 38), but without losing the feeling of an improvisation. For that reason, I

kept the pattern provided by the composer throughout until the last measures leading to

the final trill, using a batuque rhythm in the lower register of the instrument (mm. 13-5).

Since the graph occupied a small portion of the score (only about ten percent of the

page), I decided it should not be a long cadenza.

I interpreted the wiggly lines as an indication of a dynamic melodic contour, and

readily adopted the glissandos, which also prepares the listener for the final glissando of

the piece.

Lastly, I envisioned the dots and lines inside the box as polarizing centers

(positive and negative), and therefore adopted the closest relationship we find in music,

the tense attraction between dominant and tonic. In my cadenza, I transposed the

rhythmic pattern to the leading tone (C#, part of the dominant harmonic spectrum, mm.

5-8) in order to show that contrast. Since the final trill has an arrow pointing to it, it

seemed clear to me that the cadenza should consequentially end in the center pitch D, in a

very low register, since the trill is the lowest written symbol.
 130

8"'- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Piano

(8"")- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - •
> >
gliss.

Pno.

>

8ve. gliss.
~\ > > >_ ~ ~
12
l - -- >- (trill)

Bl . _,, . __.. ...., ·~ - -..., • •

~ ~
__....,
-. mf mf > ' 111
Pno. ff
! :; ~
. - l
.. .. .. ..
7- ll . ll . ll ll . ll . 11 11 11 ll 11
>>> >>>;;..
 131

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