Choro and Brazilian Musical Nationalism: from early days to

national recognition
A comparison between three choros of Viriato Figueira, Villa
Lobos and Camargo Guarnieri
Abstract: This research aims to explore the aesthetic evolution of choro, a
traditional Brazilian music style. The first part of the paper gives the historical
and social origins of choro, with references to Brazilian literature, impressions of
explorers from the 19th century and updated views on the issue by musicologists
and sociologists. It also explains how the Brazilian Modernist composers (with
emphasis on Villa Lobos) met the choro how it impacted our musical production.
Through the aesthetic comparison between the three pieces approached here, all
written in completely distinct moments of our history, it is possible to see the
evolution of the style from the suburban entertainment to the spotlight of the
concert halls.

Introduction: Brief history of choro

Choro is a Brazilian urban music style, originated by the middle of the 19 th

century. A more specific date and place of birth of choro is a question that
challenges scholars until today and well known Brazilian musicologists have
different theories even about the origin of its name. Jacques Raimundo, in his
book Negro Brasileiro

(The Brazilian Black) says that choro is the name of

certain parties also known as assustados e arrastapes, which consisted in

vocal concerts with dances, called xolo, and the name changed with time until
it became choro. Camara Cascudo quotes Raimundo's definition in his
Dicionario do Folclore Brasileiro (Dictionary of Brazilian Folklore). Mario de
Andrade, in his Dicionario Musical Brasileiro (Brazilian Musical Dictionary), says
that the name came from the Portuguese verb chorar (to cry), which would
metaphorically describe a kind of nocturnal music with choreographic features,
for small ensemble. For Ary Vasconcelos, the term derives from choromeleiros:

a certain kind of ensemble that played the charamela (shawm1), among other
instruments, which had its importance during the Brazilian colonial period.
According to him, choro would be an abbreviation of the word choromeleiro.

All the theories aforementioned are based on facts of Brazilian history. Although
no one can tell for sure what is the origin of the term choro, those theories
each one of them partially true help the researcher to understand the social
background of choro in its early days. Although the expression urban music
may sound too vague, when placed on the colonial part of Brazilian history, it
brings the researcher necessarily to the cities of Salvador and Rio de Janeiro; the
main Brazilian urban centres in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Concerning to the musicians that executed this kind of music, perhaps the
barber musicians are the most influential in choros history. The barber musicians
were mostly freed or by then slaves, brought to the cities by their owners, due
to the urbanization process that occurred during the middle of the 18 th century.
As it was "expensive" to maintain a slave in the city and they did not have many
duties there as they would have in a farm, many of them were put to work as
barbers; a profession that could give considerable free time and even some
money. This situation allowed them to purchase cheap musical instruments, as
well as the time for its practice. 3 They often played in informal ensembles with
other barbers, creating the tradition of the choro bands. Jean Baptiste Debret,

1 Shawm or charamela is a wind instrument that was quite popular during the
Middle Ages in Europe. Source:
https://www.music.iastate.edu/antiqua/mshawm.htm
2 Marcia Taborda. As Abordagens Estilisticas no Choro Brasileiro (1902-1950). Oct. 15th
2002. http://historia-actual.org/Publicaciones/index.php/haol/article/viewFile/504/431

3 Jose Ramos Tinhorao. Musica Popular: um tema em debate (Popular Music: a

theme on debate). Editora 34, 1997

during his stay in Brazil, noticed that they played waltzes and French dances,
arranged in their own way.

The musical profession was seen by the as just another manual work,
being despised by the elites of the 19 th century. Therefore, choro was mostly
performed by people from the lower classes, like Blacks and Mestizos, bringing
their African influence onto music of European fashion. It is important to remark
that the African slaves brought to Brazil during the colonization did not impose
their culture. Instead, they assimilated the local culture and also influenced on
it.5
In fact, choro absorbed a considerable part of the famous European
dances of the 19th century, to mention waltzes, mazurkas, polkas and schottisch,
among others. Gradually, choro became instrumentally virtuosistic, including a
variety of rhythms and all the musicians would play by ear. The soloist would try
to trick the accompanist with unexpected harmonies and the accompanist, on
the other hand, was expected to be alert and to follow the soloist instantly. 6
Memoirs of choro and the first choro in a minor key
It is thank to the memoirs of Alexandre Goncalves Pinto (The Choro Reminiscences of the old choroes), the researcher can trace the profile of around
400 musicians that were involved with the choro medium since 1870 until 1936,
when the book was edited. Nicknamed "Animal", Alexandre played guitar and
4Jean Baptiste Debret. Viagem pitoresca histrica atravs do Brasil (Picturesque travel through
Brazil). Apud CAIADO, NelsonFernando.

5 Marcelo G. M. Magalhaes. The Brazilian Choro: Its rhythm and structure.

University of Rochester. Source: http://aic.apsl.edu.pl/aicnr3/79_Ars%20nr
%203.pdf
6 Henrique Cazes. Choro: Do Quintal ao Municipal (Choro: From the backyard to
the concert hall). Sao Paulo: Editora 34.

cavaquinho7 with other choro musicians at dances and parties by the late 19th
century and early 20th century. Despite being coarse in grammar and style, this
book is one the "most legitimate testimonies in the history of Brazilian popular
music."8
The choro ensembles were mostly employed for live music entertainment.
The "ideal formation" of the choro ensembles, established by Antonio Joaquim da
Silva Callado was: one flute, two guitars and one cavaquinho, by the end of the
19th century. This formation and also became known as Choro Carioca (Rio's
Choro) and Callado's Choro, performing various European styles mixed with AfroBrazilian rhythms.9
One of the composers highlighted in Pinto's memoir is Viriato Figueira da
Silva. Viriato was flautist and also one of the first saxophone soloist to excel in
the choro scene. According to the flutist Pedro de Assis, Viriato "undertook with
great artistic and financial success a concert tour of the northern capitals a few
years after a similar tour by the world's greatest flutist, the famous Belgian

7 Cavaquinho: "plucked steel string instrument, original from the Portuguese

musical tradition. () Its shape resembles a small guitar and it is usually played
held against the chest, with a plectrum. It is an essential part of choro groups,
very important on the accompaniment and often sharing solos with a flute o a
mandolin." (Henrique Autran Dourado. Dicionario de termos e expressoes da
musica. (Dictionary of terms and expressions of music). Editora 34. 2004.
8 Mauricio Carrilho and Anna Paes. Principios do Choro vol.II - Cadernos de
Choro. Ed. UERJ. Rio de Janeiro, 2003.
9 Ana Paula Peters. Do Choro aos meios eletronicos e uma visao interartes. (From
Choro to electronic mediums and an inter-arts view). Anais do IV Forum de
Pesquisa Cientifica em Artes. Escola de Musica e Belas Artes do Parana. Curitiba,
2006. Source:
http://www.embap.pr.gov.br/arquivos/File/anais4/ana_paula_peters.pdf.

Andre Mateus Reichtert."10 He wrote the polka So para moer, the first choro
written in a minor key and the same will be presented in future recital.

Theme of So para Moer, edited by Mauricio Carrilho.11

Brazilian Modernism and the Week of Modern Art of 1922

"That is because we never had grammars or

collections
of old vegetable. And we never knew what was
urban,
suburban, frontier and continental. Lazy people
on the world map of Brazil."12
10 Mauricio Carrilho and Anna Paes. Principios do Choro vol.II - Cadernos de Choro. Ed.
UERJ. Rio de Janeiro, 2003. Page 12.

11 Viriato FIgueira da Silva. So para moer. Edited by Mauricio Carriho

12 Oswald de Andrade. Manifesto Antropofagico (Anthropophagic Manifesto).
Translated into English by Maria do Carmo Zanini in 2006.

The Brazilian Modernist movement had an ambitious goal: to define what

would be the aesthetics of a purely Brazilian work of art. It is a movement that
has its roots in Brazilian's literary Romanticism of the 19 th century, which
incorporated "native music idioms" in its works. 13
The pinnacle of the Brazilian Modernist movement was the Week of
Modern Art, in Sao Paulo, 1922. The date of the Week of Modern Art bears a
strong symbolism: 1922 is the centenary of the Brazilian Independence, being
the Week of Modern Art the mark zero of Brazilian cultural independence.
Unlike

the

other

modernists/nationalists

movements,

the

Brazilian

Modernism is less political than artistic. Although some artists sought to engage
with the country's social disparities through the immersion in its own folklore, the
main idea was to fight foreign influences in Brazilian art - particularly in music - ,
and to create a genuine Brazilian aesthetic: an aesthetic that would not be
corrupted by pastiches of the European fashion.
In fact, Menotti del Picchia, Brazilian poet, journalist, painter and the
official orator of the Week of Modern Art, published the article called "Matemos
Peri" (Kill Peri), in a reference to the hero of Carlos Gomes' opera "Il Guarany".
Del Picchia criticized the fact that the opera was intended to tell a Brazilian story,
but the libretto was in Italian, the music was as well written in the Italian fashion
(Verdi said, by the occasion of a performance of Il Guarany in the Theatro alla
Scala, that "This youth begins where I finished!" 14) and and Peri was too similar
to an European cavalier. Besides, by the time the opera was written, the Native
13 Marcio Bezerra. A Unique Brazilian Composer. Alain van Kerckhoven Editeur,
Brussels. 2000. Page 6.

Indians were already far away from the cities, being confined on the most remote
corners of country, hence the Romantization of the Native Indian as a national
hero was somehow anachronical.
Del Picchia's article provoked the reaction of Mario de Andrade 15, who said:
"I've read and reread, between fright and dread,
your planned assassination. I rush though, as a
good and sincere friend, to come and take the
butcher axe from your hands. () The
homicides, my friend, almost always imply the
death of the of killer. A moral death of the most
embarrassing and nullifying. () It was certainly
in a moment of neurasthenic mayhem that your
fruitful and beautiful feather spelled that cruel
sentence: 'Kill Peri!"16

This discussion reveals a diametric opposition of ideas between two of the

most important artists of the Brazilian Modernism.

Mario de Andrade, who

became the most influential leader of the Brazilian Modernism did not intend by
any means, to erase the achievements of past Brazilian composers, but instead
to create a new aesthetic. He believed that "national music" could not be made
from a discretionary selection of musical elements, but from a mixture of them
all. While Carlos Gomes could not be judged by not writing "national music" in a
moment this question was not yet in vogue, the Modernist composers should be
aware of their responsibility of giving to "the existing elements the erudite
14 Marcello Conati. Verdi, Interviste e Incontri. Edizioni Il Formichiere, 1980.Page
172
15 Mario de Andrade (October 9, 1893 February 25, 1945), was one of the most
influential artists of the Modernist movement. He was a writer, poet, musicologist
and one of the first Brazilian intellectuals to research about Brazilian folklore and
to collect traditional songs from the peasantry throughout Brazil.
16 Jonas de Mello Carvalho e Silva and Ana Claudia Veiga de Castro. Inventar o
passado, construir o futuro: Sao Paulo entre Nacionalismos e Cosmopolitismos
nas Primeiras Decadas do Seculo 20. (Inventing the past, building the future: Sao
Paulo between Nationalisms, Cosmopolitism on the First Decades of the 20th
century. Page 37. Translated by Luiz Mello

transposition that would turn popular music into artistic music, meaning:
immediately disinterested."17
In his book Ensaio sobre a musica brasileira (Essay about Brazilian Music),
Mario analyses aspects of popular music that could be elaborated in a classical
fashion such as: rhythm, melody, polyphony and form. He states that the
creation of a national music would necessarily pass trough three phases:

The National theses: the composers would employ folkloric material on

their composition, accepting that it could sound artificial, at first;

The National sentiment: this phase represents the personal development
of the composer, who would be more comfortable with the use of folkloric

elements;
The National inconscience: the phase when the composer naturally writes
pieces of recognizable Brazilian aesthetic, when the composer is
completely comfortable with the folkloric elements and can write them
guided by his own personality. 18
Mario's conception of national music guided composers, not only

modernists, but also of his subsequent generations.

According to the

philosopher Eduardo Jardim de Moraes, the modernist perspective affirmed to be

adapted to a new time. Not a moment of rupture; Modernism should mean
evolution instead.19 Through the Klaxon, the first Modernist magazine, edited in
Sao Paulo, the Modernist thinkers broadcasted their philosophy on arts.

The

17 Mario de Andrade. Ensaio sobre a musica brasileira (Essay about Brazilian

Music). Livraria Martins Editora. Page 16.
18 Paulo Srgio Malheiros dos Santos and Leandro Garcia Soares. Mario de Andrade and
the Brazilian Musical Nationalism. State University of Minas Gerais.
http://www.uemg.br/openjournal/index.php/modus/article/view/771

19 Eduardo Jardim de Moraes. Modernismo Revisitado. (Modernism Revisited).

Estudos Historicos. Rio de Janeiro. Vol. 1 n.2, 1988. Page 224.

editorial line defended a view on modernity that mandatorily included "the new,
the progress, science, the technical and the engeneered." 20 The urban life was
the main source of inspiration for the Modernist artists and that is exactly when
Brazilian classical composers, such as Villa Lobos met the choro. It would not
take long until the informal rodas de choro, by then only seen in small parties of
the suburbia, would reach the stage of the main Brazilian concert halls.

Heitor Villa-Lobos: Modernism and choro

The contact with the choroes choro musicians impacted the
classical composers deeply. Choro fulfilled the aspirations of Modernists like
Mario de Andrade and his followers: it was a genuinely urban music, its
syncretism of European dances and Afro-Brazilian rhythms represented the
syncretism of the Brazilian people, it is very reach melodically and its form is
easily adaptable to formal structures. Still in 1912, Heitor Villa Lobos composed
the Suite Populaire Brasilienne, for solo guitar. All its

movements 21, with the

exception of the last one, are choros mixed with dances like mazurka, gavotte
and waltz.

It is important to notice that choros were commonly organized as

cycles or suites by traditional choro composers. This suite reflects Villa Lobos'
impression of the rodas de choro that he visited during his early years of
composer, adapted to his formal musical training.
In his concert during the Week of Modern Art, Villa Lobos performed the
three African Danses, bringing the Afro-Brazilian rhythms into the concert halls
for the first time. Its orchestration consisted in flute, clarinet (Bb), piano, two
20 Eduardo Jardim Moraes. Opus cit. Page 224.
21 Heitor Villa Lobos. Suite Popular Brasileira. Movements: I - Mazurka Choro; II Schottisch Choro; III -Valsa Choro; IV - Gavota Choro; V - Chorinho.

violins, viola, cello and double-bass 22, sparking outrage among the critics of his
time.
Another important addition from Villa Lobos to the choro repertoire for
guitar is the Choros n.1, composed in 1920.

Choros n.1 is written in the

traditional choro form (A - B - A - C - A) and its melody is integrant part of the

harmony and it is cut in certain moments, as surprising effects.

It is the second

piece of a cycle of sixteen choros - and the only one for solo guitar - with varied
orchestrations plus a Choros bis, for violin and cello and an Introduction aux
Choros. The most interesting orchestrations are perhaps of the Choros n.13, for
two orchestras and band and Choros n.14, for orchestra, band and choir23. The
whole cycle was composed between 1920 and 1929 and other formations of this
work include piano and orchestra, a septet for flute, clarinet, saxophone,
bassoon, violin, cello and tam-tam24. This work depicts the choro in extravagant
proportions and with completely unusual instrumentation. It surely is one of the
finest musical expressions of Brazilian Modernism.
As the example of the Suite Populaire Brasilienne, Choros n1 encapsulates
the choro aesthetic in the solo guitar, although in a different manner that
composers like Viriato FIgueira would do. Choros are traditionally played in
ensembles, as described in the beginning of this paper. Besides, the guitar was
expected to provide the harmonic base for a soloist and rarely to carry the main
theme.
22 Vasco Mariz. Historia da Musica no Brasil. Editora Civilizacao Brasileira. Rio de Janeiro,
1964. Page 185.

23 Lol Henderson and Lee Stacey, Encylopedia of Music in the 20th century.
Routledge, 27 January 2014.
24 Vasco Mariz. Historia da Musica no Brasil. Editora Civilizacao Brasileira. Rio de
Janeiro, 1964.

Choros n.1, by Heitor Villa Lobos.25

Interlude
The musical Modernism in Brazil evolved more or less in the way that
Mario de Andrade predicted. The first and second phases of national music
happened still within the Modernist period. The subsequent periods are called by
the historian and musicologist Vasco Mariz as the second and third "nationalist
generations", that include several composers that achieved public recognition
after the Week of Modern Art, writing music based on popular material. According
to Mariz, after the third generation there is still what he called "post-nationalist
generation", until there finally came the "first independent generation", which
would be the first generation of composers writing according to their own will
and not anymore serving to any project of national art. 26
The third part of this research focus on Camargo Guarnieri, a composer of
third nationalist generation who kept close contact with Mario de Andrade and

25 Heitor Villa Lobos. Choros n.1. Max Eschig. Paris, 1959.

26 Idem.

has a guitar repertoire that, although small, explores popular materials in a

completely different way of his precursors, including Villa Lobos.

Camargo Guarnieri (1907 - 1993)

Mozart Camargo Guarnieri was born in Sao Paulo and since his early years
musician, he developed a friendship with Mario de Andrade, who was impressed
with his first works. More than a friend, Mario de Andrade became his mentor
and had a deep influence on his works. Despite being a prolific composer since
his young ages, Camargo Guarnieri would not achieve wide public recognition
until after his fifties. Although still b
eing engaged in the nationalist cause, his compositions differ from those
of his peers in the subtle way that Camargo Guarnieri employs popular
materials27. He did not use literal transpositions of folkloric melodies and other
accessories of style, as his predecessors. He was instead, freely inspired by
certain styles from Rio de Janeiro and from the Northeast.
Mario de Andrade wrote about Camargo Guarnieri's music on the Diario de
Sao Paulo

(Sao Paulo's Diary), by occasion of his concert during the Week of

Modern Art in 1935:

"His nationalism is no longer that first and necessary
nationalism
of research, which is the characteristic of Villa Lobos'
(). It is a nationalism of continuation, () which no
longer feeds itself from directly from the popular music
but it is just based on it. His work is, by this feature,
exclusively classical music, not only functionally but
fundamentally. And Brazil recognizes itself in it. less
with the violent objectivity of the body than by the
precision of the soul." 28

27 Vasco Mariz. Opus cit. Page 275.

His works include seven symphonies, solo piano and concertos for piano
and orchestra, six pieces for solo guitar and several songs for piano and voice.
The piece Valsa Choro n.1 for solo guitar, composed in 1954 is radically different
from Villa Lobos' interpretation of choro and the difference is even more
accentuated if compared with the early choros. The texture consists on an
accompanied melody and the form is ABA - C - ABA, following the choro tradition,
although its harmony is much more complex.

Valsa Choro, Camargo Guarnieri.29

28 Marion Verhaalen. Camargo Guarnieri: Expressoes de uma vida (Camargo

Guarnieri: Expressions of a Life). EdUSP. Sao Paulo, 2001. Page 31.
29 Camargo Guarnieri. Valsa Choro. Ricordi Sao Paulo. 1954.

Part before the end of C. Bars 50 to 57, demonstrating the harmonic

complexity.30

Viriato Figueira, Heitor Villa Lobos, Camargo Guarnieri

The three pieces chosen for this research, show the stylistic evolution of
choro. The first piece, So para moer, is an important piece of the early choro
repertoire, being first known piece written in a minor key. Choros n.1 is one of the
first choros written for solo guitar by a classical composer, who was led by his
time to write national music. Valsa Choro n.1, by Camargo Guarnieri shows a
composer who, although still nationalist, was less committed with the truthful
use of popular material than with his own influences and inspirations.
For the performance assessment, So para moer and Choros n.1 will be
played by a small ensemble (guitar, cello, double-bass and percussion)
Valsa Choro n.1 will be performed on solo guitar.

30 Idem.

and

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