In the beginning of the 19th century, the dances and musical genres that were typical in Europe were already part of the entertainment of Brazil’s elite. These were reproduced, via oral tradition, by the lower classes. The waltz (alongside other saloon dances, such as the quadrille, polka, mazurka, and schottisch) was a regular dance in the social events of the Portuguese aristocracy. As a status symbol, these genres gained popularity among the emergent middle class of Brazil, and were also influenced by the acculturation of the elite that sought to reproduce European culture.[1] While the upper classes of colonial Brazil gathered around the piano, Rio’s bohemians, known as chorões, played the same repertoire on guitar, flute, and cavaquinho in the streets, creating a new musical expression that reflected the social context of the country, which would eventually give Brazilian vernacular music its identity.

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The waltz genre was established in Brazil after 1816 with the arrival of the famous Austrian musician Sigismund von Neukomm, who came to Brazil as a member of a French diplomatic mission. Neukomm was invited to work as a music teacher in the court and remained in the country until 1821. He popularized the work of European classical composers, in particular Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Joseph Haydn, the latter his teacher. He organized operas, concerts, and social events and is considered responsible for the popularization of the waltz at aristocratic events.[2] 

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In contact with established popular musical genres, such as modinha, a sentimental song with lyrics adapted from Italian arias and musical forms typical to Portuguese music, Brazilian waltzes evolved into romantic songs addressing sentimental and sensual topics, ideal for the intimacy of a dance by couples.[3] Mário Sève, a Brazilian scholar, highlights that the lyrics created by Brazilian composers for waltzes were one of the main factors that disseminated the genre. By the first half of the 20th century, the Brazilian waltz was one of the most recorded genres in the country. Its prominence attracted classical composers, such as Carlos Gomes, Camargo Guarnieri, Francisco Mignone, and most notably, Ernesto Nazareth. However, it was the popular composers, such as Chiquinha Gonzaga, Patapio Silva, and Anacleto de Medeiros, who made the genre accessible to a broad audience. In addition, the composers used many designations to name their compositions such as Valsas de Esquina, Valsas Chôro, Valsa Suburbana, Valsinha, and Valsa Brasileira, to name a few. [4] This was a direct consequence of the regionalization of the genre in different parts of Brazil and a desire of composers to give value to national characteristics.

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The researcher Fernando Reis, in his analysis of Francisco Mignone’s 12 Valsas de Esquina and 12 Valsas-Choro, points out the importance of pianeiros, musicians with little formal musical training, for the dissemination of the European waltz in Brazil. These musicians worked professionally in events organized by the middle and lower classes, such as weddings, birthday parties, and theater performances. Besides classical music, the repertoire included dances common to social events of the time. In their performance, the pianeiros had greater interpretive freedom and often added melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic embellishments to the musical score, an interpretation characterized by humor and freedom of improvisation.[5] These musicians transited between the middle and lower classes and brought with them a musical interpretation embedded in multiple influences of both social environments.

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If the pianeiros were most responsible for popularizing the waltz in Brazil, the chorões were undoubtedly decisive in developing a musical language that depicted the influences of Brazilian culture into the genre. In the analysis of Theodoro Nogueira’s Valsa Chorô N.1, the researchers Neil Yonamine and Paulo Martelli highlight the contributions of the chorões to creating a distinctive sound for Brazilian music, characterized by the use of guitar, cavaquinho, pandeiro, and a solo instrument (usually a wind instrument). They were also responsible for developing a musical language marked by virtuosity and freedom of improvisation. These traits are particularly evident in waltz accompaniment, which transformed into elaborated and virtuosic counterpoints (known as baixaria), replacing the waltz's ostinato.[6]

 

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Notes:

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[1] Mário Sève, “Quatro Rosas: mudanças interpretativas no fraseado de uma valsa-brasileira,” Debates UNIRIO, no. 14 (Junho 2015): 88.

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[2] Paulo Castagna, “A música urbana de salão no século XIX.” In Apostilas do curso de História da Música Brasileira (São Paulo: Instituto de Artes da Unesp, 2003), 13.

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[3] Mário Sève, “Quatro Rosas,” 13.

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[4] Ibid., 15.

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[5] Fernando Cunha Vilela dos Reis, “O idiomático de Francisco Mignone nas 12 Valsas de Esquina e 12 Valsas-Choro” (master's thesis, Universidade de São Paulo, 2010), 37.

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[6] Neil Yonamine and Paulo Martelli, “Theodoro Nogueira e as Valsas Chôro: contextualização e análise da Valsa Chôro n.1” (paper presented at 6º Nas Nuvens... Congresso de Música, Belo Horizonte, 2020), 3.