Mota G Treatise 2009

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THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF MUSIC

THE SONGS FOR VOICE AND PIANO BY RONALDO MIRANDA:

MUSIC, POETRY, PERFORMANCE, AND PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION

By

GISELE PIRES DE OLIVEIRA MOTA

A Treatise submitted to theCollege of Music

in partial fulfillment of therequirements for the degree of

Doctor in Music

Degree Awarded:Spring Semester, 2010

Copyright 2009Gisele Pires de Oliveira Mota

All Rights Reserved


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The members of the committee approve the treatise of Gisele Pires de Oliveira Mota

defended on November 23, 2009.

__________________________________Carolyn BridgerProfessor Directing Treatise

__________________________________Matthew ShaftelUniversity Representative

__________________________________

Stanford OlsenCommittee Member

The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members.


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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to thank God for giving me His strength each day of this journey.

My gratitude to my adviser and piano professor Carolyn Bridger for her dedication,

guidance and support during my studies at Florida State University.My appreciation to the members of my committee, Dr. Matthew Shaftel, Dr. Timothy

Hoekman and Prof. Stanford Olsen, for sharing their knowledge and artistry with me.

To my dearest friend Deloise Lima who supported me with her friendship and inspired

me with her musical gift.

To my family and friends from Brazil and Orlando for their love and prayers.

To Ana Cludia Brito and Eurides Brito and for their incentive and support.

A special thanks to the Secretaria de Educao do Governo do Distrito Federal, for the

financial support and for granting me a leave of absence from the Escola de Msica de Braslia

in order to come to Florida State University to pursue this degree.

And finally, I would like to express my deepest thanks to my beloved husband, Marcus. I

could never have reached this dream without his love, support, understanding and patience. You

have always been there for everything and I am looking forward to sharing with you all the new

surprises life has prepared for us. I love you more than ever.


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Tables ............................................................................................. vList of Musical Examples .......................................................................... viAbstract ..................................................................................... xii

1. Chapter One: Introduction ...................................................................... 1

2. Chapter Two: Overview of Brazilian Art Song During the TwentiethCentury: Ronaldo Miranda in Context.................................................... 7

3. Chapter Three: General Rules for Brazilian Portuguese Lyric Diction . 13

4. Chapter Four: Songs for Voice and Piano by Ronaldo Miranda ........... 17Cantares ................................................................................................ 17Retrato ................................................................................................ 26

Soneto da separao.............................................................................. 40Segredo ................................................................................................ 55Trs canes simples............................................................................. 71

Vises........................................................................................... 73 Noite e dia ................................................................................... 88Cotidiano...................................................................................... 97

Desenho leve ........................................................................................ 111

5. Chapter Five: Conclusion ....................................................................... 127

APPENDICES ............................................................................................ 131A Brazilian Lyric Portuguese Phonetic Chart for Reference........... 131B Copyright Permission Letter ........................................................ 137C Musical Scores............................................................................. 139

Cantares ....................................................................................... 140Retrato .......................................................................................... 143Soneto da separao..................................................................... 147Segredo ........................................................................................ 150Vises .......................................................................................... 155 Noite e dia ................................................................................... 159Cotidiano...................................................................................... 162

Desenho leve ............................................................................... 169

BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................................................................... 179

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ..................................................................... 186


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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Cantares, form chart .............................................................................. 22

Table 2: Retrato, form chart ................................................................................ 33

Table 3: Soneto da separao, form chart ........................................................... 47

Table 4: Segredo.................................................................................................. 63

Table 5: Segredo.................................................................................................. 63

Table 6: Segredo ................................................................................................. 63

Table 7: Segredo, form chart............................................................................... 64

Table 8a: Vises, form chart section A ............................................................... 79

Table 8b: Vises, form chart section B ............................................................... 79

Table 9: Noite e dia, form chart ......................................................................... 92

Table 10a: Cotidiano, form chart section A ........................................................ 103

Table 10b: Cotidiano, form chart section B ........................................................ 103

Table 11: Desenho leve, form chart .................................................................... 118Table 12: Desenho leve, differences between parts A, B and C......................... 119


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LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES

Example 1: Cantares, mm. 1-3 ............................................................................ 23

Example 2: Cantares, mm. 4-7 ............................................................................ 23

Example 3a: Cantares, mm. 12-13 ...................................................................... 23

Example 3b: Cantares, mm. 12-13 ...................................................................... 23

Example 4a. Cantares, mm. 14-15 ...................................................................... 24

Example 4b. Cantares, mm. 14-15 ...................................................................... 24

Example 5: Cantares, m. 3................................................................................... 24

Example 6: Retrato, mm. 1-4 .............................................................................. 33

Example 7: Retrato, mm. 5-6 .............................................................................. 34

Example 8a: Retrato, mm. 7-9 ............................................................................ 34

Example 8b: Retrato, mm. 7-9 ............................................................................ 34

Example 9a: Retrato, mm. 12-14, initial ascending vocal line in section A ....... 34

Example 9b: Retrato, mm. 20-22, initial descending vocal line in section B ..... 35

Example 10a: Retrato, mm. 3-9, original score................................................... 35

Example 10b: Retrato, mm. 3-9, score with suggested phrasing slurs................ 35

Example 11a: Retrato, m. 1 ................................................................................. 36

Example 11b: Retrato, m. 3................................................................................. 36

Example 11c: Retrato, m. 10 ............................................................................... 36

Example 11d: Retrato, mm. 13-14 ...................................................................... 36

Example 12a: Retrato, mm. 15-20 ...................................................................... 37

Example 12b: Retrato, mm. 21-26 ...................................................................... 37

Example 12c: Retrato, mm. 12-28 ...................................................................... 37


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Example 12d: Retrato, mm. 35-40 ...................................................................... 38

Example 13: Retrato, mm. 13-14 ........................................................................ 38

Example 14: Retrato, mm. 11-12 ........................................................................ 39

Example 15a: Soneto da separao, mm. 5-6 ..................................................... 47

Example 15b: Soneto da separao, mm. 9-10 .................................................. 47

Example 15c: Soneto da separao, mm. 7-8 ..................................................... 47

Example 15d: Soneto da separao, mm. 11-13 ................................................ 47

Example 16a: Soneto da separao, mm. 21-22 ................................................. 48

Example 16b: Soneto da separao, mm. 23-24 ................................................ 48Example 17a: Soneto da separao, mm. 25-26 ................................................. 48

Example 17b: Soneto da separao, mm. 27-28 ................................................ 48

Example 17c: Soneto da separao, mm. 29-30 ................................................. 48

Example 18: Soneto da separao, basic rhythmic pattern ................................. 49

Example 19: Soneto da separao, mm. 6-8 and 18-20 ...................................... 49

Example 20: Soneto da separao, mm. 28-30 ................................................... 49

Example 21: Soneto da separao, m. 1.............................................................. 50

Example 22: Soneto da separao, mm. 4-7 ....................................................... 50

Example 23: Soneto da separao, mm. 4-7 ....................................................... 51

Example 24: Soneto da separao, mm. 13-16 .................................................. 52




Example 28: Soneto da separao, mm. 10 and 20 ............................................. 54


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Example 29a: Segredo, m. 1, whole-tone ........................................................... 65

Example 29b: Segredo, m. 24, whole tone ......................................................... 65

Example 29c: Segredo, m. 27, whole-tone ......................................................... 65

Example 30a: Segredo, m. 2, chromaticism ....................................................... 65

Example 30b: Segredo, m. 7, chromaticism ....................................................... 65

Example 30c: Segredo, mm. 29-30, chromaticism ............................................ 65

Example 31a: Segredo, m. 4, diatonicism .......................................................... 66

Example 31b: Segredo, m. 8, diatonicism .......................................................... 66

Example 32a: Segredo, mm. 7-8, phrase ending in thirds .................................. 66Example 32b: Segredo, mm. 10-11, phrase ending in thirds ............................. 66

Example 32c: Segredo, mm. 20-22, phrase ending in third range ...................... 67

Example 33a: Segredo, m. 5, mediant relationship ............................................ 67

Example 33b: Segredo, m. 10, mediant relationship .......................................... 67

Example 33c: Segredo, m. 12, mediant relationship .......................................... 67

Example 34a: Segredo, mm. 18-21, progression by fourth ................................ 67

Example 34b: Segredo, mm. 28-31, progression by fourth ................................ 68

Example 35a: Segredo, mm. 8-12, ascending movement of vocal line, part I ... 68

Example 35b: Segredo, m. 19, ascending movement of vocal line, part II ........ 68

Example 35c: Segredo, mm. 23-25, ascending movement of vocal line, part III 68

Example 36a: Vises, mm. 1-2 .......................................................................... 80

Example 36b: Vises, mm. 19-20 ....................................................................... 80

Example 37a: Vises, rhythmic pattern ............................................................. 81

Example 37b: Vises, m. 3.................................................................................. 81


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Example 37c: Vises, m. 27................................................................................ 81

Example 38: Vises, mm. 8-11 ........................................................................... 81

Example 39: Vises, mm. 26-27 ......................................................................... 82

Example 40: Vises, mm. 28-30 ......................................................................... 82

Example 41a: Vises, m. 9.................................................................................. 82

Example 41b: Vises, m. 11................................................................................ 82

Example 41c: Vises, mm. 28-30 ...................................................................... 83

Example 42a: Vises, mm. 7-9 ........................................................................... 83

Example 42b: Vises, mm. 14-17 ....................................................................... 83Example 43a: Vises, m. 9.................................................................................. 84

Example 43b: Vises, m. 11................................................................................ 84

Example 43c: Vises, mm. 28-29 ...................................................................... 84

Example 44a: Vises, m. 2.................................................................................. 84


Example 45: Vises, mm. 17-18 ......................................................................... 85

Example 46a: Vises, mm. 28-31 ...................................................................... 86


Example 47a: Noite e dia, mm. 1-2 .................................................................... 93

Example 47b: Noite e dia, mm. 18-19 ................................................................ 93

Example 48: Noite e dia, mm. 2-9 ...................................................................... 93

Example 49: Noite e dia, mm. 8-13 .................................................................... 94

Example 50: Noite e dia, mm. 4-5 ...................................................................... 94

Example 51: Noite e dia, mm. 13-15 .................................................................. 95


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Example 52: Noite e dia, mm. 31-34 .................................................................. 95

Example 53: Cotidiano, m. 1............................................................................... 105

Example 54: Cotidiano, mm. 10-15 .................................................................... 105


Example 56: Cotidiano, mm. 5-6 ........................................................................ 106

Example 57: Cotidiano, mm. 26-28, set-class 4-23 ........................................... 106



Example 60: Cotidiano, mm. 32-33, set-class 5-35 ........................................... 106Example 61: Cotidiano, m. 9, set-class 3-5......................................................... 107

Example 62: Cotidiano, m. 34, set-class 3-5....................................................... 107

Example 63: Cotidiano, mm. 16-17, set-class 3-5 ............................................. 107

Example 64: Cotidiano, mm. 29-32, set-class 3-5 ............................................. 107

Example 65a: Vises, initial rhythmic pattern .................................................... 108

Example 65b: Vises, mm. 3-4 ........................................................................... 108

Example 65c: Cotidiano, mm. 16-17 .................................................................. 108

Example 66a: Vises, mm. 5-6 .......................................................................... 108

Example 66b: Cotidiano, mm. 16-17 .................................................................. 108

Example 67a: Vises, mm. 28-30 ...................................................................... 108

Example 67b: Cotidiano, mm. 38-40 .................................................................. 108


Example 69: Desenho leve, mm. 1-2 ................................................................. 119

Example 70: Desenho leve, mm. 1-4 ................................................................. 119


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Example 71: Desenho leve, mm. 13-21 ............................................................. 120



Example 74: Se esta rua fosse minha, Brazilian folksong ................................ 123


Example 76: Desenho leve, mm. 7-10 ............................................................... 124


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ABSTRACT

One of the heritages of Romanticism is the concept of song as Lied, a song in which

voice and piano have equal responsibility in conveying the deepest meaning of a poem. Brazilian

classical composers have a particular attraction for this instrumentation. Heitor Villa-Lobos,Francisco Mignone and Camargo Guarnieri have all demonstrated mastery in the art of song

writing. This tradition of excellence in song composition continues in the art songs of an

important living Brazilian composer, Ronaldo Miranda.

Ronaldo Miranda is one of the leading figures in contemporary Brazilian music. His

musical output includes compositions for piano (solo, piano four-hands and duo pianos),

instrumental solo (flute, cello, harpsichord, guitar, and clarinet), chamber ensemble, and

orchestra, besides numerous choral works, two operas, eight songs for voice and piano and three

pieces for voice with other instrumentation.

The present research focuses on the eight songs for voice and piano by the composer.

Using Jan LaRues guidelines for style analysis for an understanding of the music, this study

applies an interdisciplinary approach in a methodological attempt to join poetry and music. The

discussion about the relationship between music and words is based on the studies of Stein and

Spillman in their bookPoetry into Song: Performance and Analysis of Lieder. The literary

concept ofpersona (who is talking in a poem) is the one described by Edward T. Cone in The

Composers Voice.

The goals of this treatise are twofold: 1) to provide a performance guide for both the

singer and the pianist on the eight songs for voice and piano by Ronaldo Miranda with

suggestions for shaping interpretive ideas and emphasis on the dramatic role of the performers,

and 2) to promote Brazilian art song by facilitating access to the Portuguese language through

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcriptions. General guidelines to Brazilian lyric

Portuguese and a pronunciation chart for phonetic reference are also provided. Facsimiles of the

composers manuscript are included in an appendix.Through this study it was possible to capture essential information for both performers,

the singer and the pianist, as well as to shape interpretative decisions, offered as suggestions and

as an incentive for creative performance decisions.


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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background & SignificanceOne of the heritages of Romanticism is the concept of song as Lied. In a Lied,

as opposed to non-classical forms of song (such as popular and folk), voice and piano

have equal responsibility in conveying the deepest meaning of a poem. Following this

tradition, the great majority of Brazilian art songs are intended for piano and voice,

with equal importance reserved for each. Indeed, the pianist has an important role in the

performance of art song and Brazilian classical composers have a particular attraction

for this instrumentation. Heitor Villa-Lobos, Francisco Mignone and Camargo

Guarnieri have all demonstrated mastery in the art of song writing. This tradition of

masterful song composition continues in the art songs of an important living Brazilian

composer, Ronaldo Miranda. Although his songs are relatively unknown in the United

States, they are works of great beauty and power.

His works have been performed in many contemporary music festivals in

Brazil, the USA, Spain, Austria, Germany, and Hungary. In addition to teaching

composition at Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), he has also was vice-

director of National Foundation for the Arts (FUNARTE). Although the majority of his

works are instrumental, one of his most important works is vocal, the operaDom

Casmurro, which shows his profound interest in the vocal genre.

Miranda is turning out to be among the leading active figures in contemporary

Brazilian music. 1 He has gone beyond the nationalistic style of composition from the

beginning of the twentieth century, incorporating an eclectic style.2 Nevertheless, he

seems to capture the essence of Brazilian music without resorting to direct use of folk

1 Vitor Duarte, Ronaldo Mirandas Solo and Four-Hand Piano Works: The Evolution of Languagetowards Musical Eclecticism, (DMA diss., University of Arizona, 2002): 10.

2 Eclecticism was a phenomenon that occurred among composers during the final decades of thetwentieth century. Composers in Latin America broke the purely nationalistic trend and became moreeclectic in their use of form and language as a way to reach a higher level of quality in their music andgain international acceptance, Ibid., 11.


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material.3 This treatise will provide a closer examination of Mirandas works for voice

and piano, offering a guide to performance for both singer and pianist.

Ronaldo Miranda has written eight songs for voice and piano: Cantares

[Song]4 (also in a version for voice, harpsichord, flute and viola da gamba), Segredo

[Secret],Retrato [Picture], Soneto da separao[Separation Sonnet], Desenho leve

[Light Drawing] and the cycle Trs canes simples [Three Simple Songs] (Vises

[Visions] , Noite e dia [Night and Day], and Cotidiano [Daily Life]). In addition,

he has composed five songs with other instrumentations: Unterwegs, three lieder on

poems by Hermann Hesse for voice and orchestra; Trajetria [Trajectory] for

soprano, flute, clarinet, piano, violoncello and percussion; and Cal Vilma [Cal Vilma]

for piano, cello and voice.5

Purpose

The intention of this research is twofold: 1) to study the songs of Ronaldo

Miranda for voice and piano in order to provide a performance guide for both the

pianist and the singer, with emphasis on the dramatic role of the performers, and 2) to

promote Brazilian art song by facilitating access to the Portuguese language through

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcriptions.

Survey of Literature

Research concerning Brazilian art song is extremely limited and in-depth

musical studies about the piano parts are even scarcer. Thus, there is a surprising dearth

of material available to assist the performers in the process of preparing and performing

Brazilian art song.

Castro, Borghoff and Pdua note that

3 Ibid., 10.

4 All the translations in this paper are by the author (titles, quotes, word-for-word and idiomatictranslations of poems).

5 The songs with instrumentation other than piano and voice will not be studied in this research.


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recent scholarly publications about Brazilian art song are scarce andmany times hard to reach because the databases are often deficient anddifficult to access. Besides that, specialized graduate programs arelimited in the country and there are few performers, singers and pianistswho are experts in Brazilian music.6

One of the first studies in this area explores several of Villa-Loboss songs.7

Recent studies of songs by Dinor de Carvalho, religious songs by Almeida Prado,

Camargo GuarnierisPoemas da negra [Poems on Black Woman], and Armando

Albuquerques songs investigate only a small part of this vast subject called Brazilian

art song.8

Fortunately, Ronaldo Miranda himself is a scholar. He has written a paper about

hisPiano Concerto and a treatise about his compositional process in the operaDom

Casmurro.9 Besides these significant studies, there are a small number of additional

academic investigations, the majority of which focus on his piano pieces. Vitor Duarte

explores Mirandas solo and four-hand piano pieces and has identified and described

6 Luciana Castro, Margarida Borghoff, and Mnica Padua, Em defesa da cano de cmara brasileira[In Defense of Brazilian Art Song]PER MUSI: Revista de Performance Musical 8 (2003): 75. Originalquotation: ... publicaes acadmicas mais recentes sobre cano da cmara brasileira so escassas emuitas vezes de difcil acesso, sendo os bancos de dados disponveis ainda deficientes. Alm disto, soainda restritos os cursos de ps-graduao em msica no pas e poucos os intrpretes, cantores epianistas, que se especializam em msica brasileira.

7 Stela Brando, The Brazilian Art Song: A Performance Guide Utilizing Selected Works by HeitorVilla-Lobos (PhD diss., Columbia University, 1999).

8 Flvio Carvalho, Canes de Dinor de Carvalho: Uma abordagem interpretativa [Songs by Dinor deCarvalho: A Performance Approach] (Campinas, Editora da Unicamp, 2001); Mnica Farid, A relaotexto-msica nas canes religiosas de Almeida Prado [Text-Music Relationship in the Religious Songsby Almeida Prado] (masters diss., Campinas, Unicamp, 1996); Marina Gonalves, A influncia doEnsaio sobre a msica brasileira de Mrio de Andrade no cicloPoemas da Negra de CamargoGuarnieri [The Influence of theEnsaio sobre a msica brasileira by Mrio de Andrade on the SongCyclePoemas da Negra by Camargo Guarnieri] (masters diss., Goinia, Escola de Msica e ArtesCnicas da UFG, 2004); Celso Chaves and Leonardo Nunes, Armando Albuquerque e os poetas

[Armando Albuquerque and the Poets] PER MUSI: Revista de Performance Musical 8, (2003): 66-73.

9 Ronaldo Miranda, O Aproveitamento das formas tradicionais em linguagem musical contemporneana composio de um concerto para piano e orquestra [Use of Traditional Forms in ContemporaryMusical Language on the Composition of a Concerto for Piano and Orchestra] (masters lecture recital,Escola de Msica da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, 1987); Ronaldo Miranda, Dom Casmurro,uma pera. A msica no processo de teatralizao do romance machadiano [Dom Casmurro, an Opera.Music in the Dramatic Design of a Machado de Assiss Novel] (Doctoral Treatise, Escola deComunicaes e Artes da Universidade de So Paulo, 1997).


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interdisciplinary approach will be used in a methodological attempt to join poetry and

music. The discussion about the relationship between music and text will be based on

the detailed studies by Stein and Spillman in their bookPoetry Into Song: Performance

and Analysis of Lieder.15 The literary concepts ofpersona and mode of address are the

ones described by Edward T. Cone in the bookThe Composers Voice.16 For a more

accurate understanding of musical data, Jan LaRues guidelines for style analysis will

be used.17

In most of the songs, Ronaldo Miranda set poems by very well-known Brazilian

poets, such as Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Ceclia Meireles, and Vincius de

Moraes. Poetic devices and style will be addressed in order to understand the meaning

of the poems and therefore provide a basis for describing their interaction with the

music.Also in Chapter Four, before the discussion of each song, there will be a

datasheet, following the sample from the Federal University of Minas Gerais UFMG

(Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais)18. The English translations and a phonetic

transcription19 of the poems will be presented in the following format:

[International phonetic alphabet transcription in brackets]

Portuguese text in bold

Word-for-word translation in italics20

15 Deborah Stein and Robert Spillman, Poetry into Song: Performance and Analysis of Lieder, (NewYork, Oxford University Press, 1996).

16 Edward T. Cone, The Composers Voice, (Berkeley, University of California Press, 1974).

17 LaRue proposes the investigation of music into five contributing elements: sound, harmony, melody,rhythm and what he calls growth, which is the sum of all these elements, a broader term for form. Withthis approach, a better view of each piece and its specific musical features will be achieved since all thedimensions of each song will be studied. The goal of musical analysis of the songs is to gather data inorder to better understand the interaction between text and music.

18

The UFMG, through the research group Resgate da cano brasileira (Rescue of Brazilian Song),provides a guide for cano de cmara (Brazilian art song) at the addresshttp://barbela.grude.ufmg.br/musica/cancaoBrasileira.nsf/oguia?openform. For this purpose, there is adatasheet sample for basic information about each song on the website. That is the format used in thisinvestigation.

19 All the phonetic transcriptions are by the author.

20 The word-for-word translations will be in lower case and without any punctuation since, in most of thecases, the words do not make sense as a sentence.


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Idiomatic translation

Subsequently, musical and poetic information will be discussed. Persona, mode

of address, and the relationship between music and text will be explained as well. Since

one of the purposes of this research is to clarify the role of the piano in the songs, there

will be a deeper explanation of the songs in which the piano plays a more important

role. Following the discussion of each song there will be performance possibilities

based on the musical, poetic and phonetic data gathered.

The final chapter provides the compositional and performance characteristics of

Ronaldo Miranda in his eight songs for voice and piano. There are also

recommendations for additional research on the composers works.


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CHAPTER TWO

BRAZILIAN ART SONG IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY:

RONALDO MIRANDA IN CONTEXT

At the end of the nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth century, the

search for national identity generated a musical movement called nationalism in

countries such as Russia (Group of Five), Hungary (Franz Liszt), Bohemia (Bedrich

Smetana and Antonn Dvok), Finland (Jean Sibelius), Spain (Isaac Albeniz and

Enrique Granados), and Brazil. Composers such as Heitor Villa-Lobos, Francisco

Mignone and Mozart Camargo Guarnieri searched melodies and rhythms in Brazilian

folk music in order to identify a national musical voice. Basically, through three

generations of composers, the aim was to give characteristic musical expression to the

cultural traits of the countryas Villa-Lobos used to say, the search for the Brazilian

soul.21

In the beginning of the twentieth century, Alberto Nepomuceno (1864-1920)

was the first to encourage and compose art song in Portuguese. As the director of the

National Institute of Music (Rio de Janeiro), he made singing in Portuguese obligatory

in voice lessons. From then on, composers started, with more or less interest, to

compose to Portuguese texts. At that time, it was very common to find Brazilian

composers setting Italian, French, or Spanish poetry, since most of them went to

Europe in order to further their musical education.

According to Vasco Mariz, We can distinguish two currents in chamber vocal

repertoire [art song] in Brazil: universalist and nationalist . . . The modernist movement

established nationalism in Brazilian music and the choice of poetic texts suffered a

radical change, overshadowing the dominant Romanticism and Parnassianism.22 Villa-

Lobos was considered the musical speaker of Modernism and the catalyst of the21 Denis Stevens,A History of Song(New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1960), 307.

22 Vasco Mariz,A cano brasileira: erudita, folcrica e popular[The Brazilian Song: Classical, Folkand Popular] (Rio de janeiro: Editora Civilizao Brasileira S.A., 1977), 23. Original quotation:Podemos distinguir, no repertrio vocal de cmara no Brasil, duas correntes: a universalista e anacionalista. O nacionalismo na msica brasileira fixou-se com o movimento modernista e a escolha dostextos poticos sofreu radical mudana, obumbrados o romantismo e o parnasianismo imperantes.


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movement known as musical nationalism. According to Mariz, Francisco Mignone and

Lorenzo Fernandez (among others) are considered to be the second nationalist

generation, and Camargo Guarnieri, Radams Gnatalli, and Waldemar Henrique, part

of the third generation23. These composers had four stylistic elements in common: 1)

the use of folk tunes or melodies inspired by them, 2) the employment of characteristic

rhythms of afro or Brazilian Indian origin, 3) a preference for modes, such as

Mixolydian, Dorian or other scales with a lowered seventh, and 4) the utilization of

typical counterpoint from the Choro style.24

The German composer and professor Hans-Joachim Koellreutter (b. 1915) and

the group Msica Viva (Living Music), who supported the second Viennese school,

represented the universalist trend in Brazil. However, the twelve-tone compositional

style would not have a long life in Brazilian classical music. Brazilian composers suchas Cludio Santoro (1919-1989) and Cesr Guerra-Peixe (1914-1993) ultimately

abandoned dodecaphonism, starting the post-nationalistic generation of composers,

including Marlos Nobre (b. 1939), Ernest Mahle (b. 1929), Gilberto Mendes (b. 1922),

Lindemberg Cardoso (1939-1989), Jorge Antunes (b. 1942), and Edino Krieger (b.

1928). Their compositional styles are the result of personal empathies combined with

the juxtaposition of two or more of the following: nationalistic elements, modalism and

tonalism, serialism, free atonalism, eletroacoustic, minimalism, and/or aleatoric music.

In order to fully understand Brazilian classical vocal music in the twentieth

century (and in this research, specifically the vocal music of Ronaldo Miranda), it is

very important to comprehend Brazilian popular music, in particular, modinha, choro,

seresta, and bossa nova.

In virtually all song traditions, folksong acts as a predecessor to and inspiration

for art song. Just as mlodie was preceded by chanson andLiedwas preceded by

Volkslied, in Brazil, cano de cmara was preceded by modinha. Modinha was

originated in Portugal in the eighteenth century, there named moda, and had a lyric text

as well as popular character. Brazilian modinha was greatly influenced by Italian arias.

23 Vasco Mariz,A cano brasileira: erudita, folcrica e popular(Rio de janeiro: Editora CivilizaoBrasileira S.A., 1977), 23.

24 For an explanation ofchoro, see next page.


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Even so, it is considered one of the first genuine Brazilian musical since it had

European, African, and Amerindian influence, and for this reason, considered a hybrid

form.25Modinha has a predominance of descending melodic lines, melodramatic text

about love and longing, and simple accompaniment (usually on the guitar). This was

the main musical style in all classes in nineteenth-century Brazil. Modinha was the

basis for two other important popular musical genres that influenced Brazilian art song

composers: choro andseresta,both of them extremely similar.

Choro arose around 1870, in Rio de Janeiro. Joaquim Antnio da Silva Calado

(1848-1880), a virtuoso flautist and popular composer, is considered the most important

figure of the style. The origin of the term choro is still a point of debate among

scholars. Literally, the word means to cry or to weep. A common explanation is that it

came from the nostalgic, sentimental style of interpretation. European styles performedin upper-class balls and salons in the nineteenth century including polka, waltz and

scottisch were accompanied by percussion instruments, as if playing the African dance

lundu. The chores, which designated choro musicians, were considered bohemians

and they could be seen serenading and playing on the streets at night. The urban

serenade ensemble generally included the following basic instrumentation: flute

(soloist), cavaquinho (harmony and rhythm), and guitars (melodic and contrapuntal

bass, called baixaria).26 Improvisation was the basic condition of a good choro.27 It

was in the 1930s and 1940s that Alfredo da Rocha Viana Filho, known as Pixinguinha

(1898-1973), established once and for all the most recognizable traits of the style, such

as its instrumental quality (as opposed to vocal); individual virtuosity; the ability to

improvise a melody, either as a soloist or in counterpoint, even within unexpected

harmonic shifts; and sinuous and constant melodic line.

25 Ana Reily Suzel, "Brazilian Musics, Brazilian Identities,"British Journal of Ethnomusicology 9, no. 1(2000): 6.

26 Flute, clarinet, ophicleide, trombone, cavaquinho (a small Brazilian guitar), guitar and a fewpercussion instruments (particularly the tambourine) could also be played, given that the maincharacteristic was the improvisation.

27 Choro in Zuza Homen de Mello,Enciclopdia da msica brasileira: Samba e choro. (BrazilianMusic Encyclopedia: Samba and Choro)(So Paulo: Art Editora, 2000): 68.


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Seresta carries essencially the same characteristics ofchoro, though the main

differences are its vocal quality and a slower tempo. Especially in the nineteenth

century, the terms chores andseresteiros were used for the musicians who serenaded

throughout the city.

Bossa nova, probably the most well-known Brazilian style, entered on the

Brazilian popular music scene by the end of the 1950s and the beginning of the 1960s,

also in Rio de Janeiro. The word bossa was a carioca28 slang meaning a new special

ability, shrewdness, astuteness, or even a new flair or a new trend. But a new

trend compared to which style? In this case, compared tosamba, with its strong

syncopation and rhythmic stresses by the numerous percussion instruments and guitars

(orcavaquinho), highly exuberant vocal delivery (especially in samba-cano), and

tonal clarity.Bossanova brought a new role to the singer, since his/her voice wasdeprived of strongly contrasting effects, loudness of voice, fermatas or scream-like

high pitches because the singing should flow in a subdued tone almost like the

normal spoken language.29

Tom Jobim (1927-1994) is considered the father ofbossa nova, along with the

singer Joo Gilberto (b. 1931). Although he had classical training, Jobim was greatly

influenced by the harmony of North American jazz style. Jos Estevam Gava sees the

following as bossa novas main harmonic characteristics:

. . . descending chromatic movements in the high voice; descending chromaticmovements in the bass; chromatic notes between the chords of the same root andfunction; chromatic parallelism; high notes as a pedal; individual dominant substitutes;major seventh chords; alternative harmonic paths creating clichs and chromaticismalways between one or more voices; clichs built on the chromatic notes added: ninth minor ninth and thirteenth minor thirteenth.30

28 Something or someone from Rio de Janeiro city.

29 Gerard Bhague. Bossa nova. In Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online,

http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/subscriber/article/grove/music/03663 (accessedSeptember 15, 2009).

30 Jos Estevam Gava,A linguagem harmnica da bossa nova [Bossa novas Harmonic Language] (SoPaulo: Editora UNESP, 2002), 238. Original quotation: movimentos cromticos descendentes na vozaguda; movimentos cromticos descendentes do baixo; cromatismos entre notas de acordes de mesmoradical e funo; cromatismos paralelos; notas pedais agudas; dominantes individuais substitutas; acordescom stimas maiores; caminhos harmnicos alternativos sempre propiciando clichs e cromatismos entreuma voz ou mais vozes; clichs construdos sobre o cromatismo de notas acrescentadas: nona nonamenor e dcima terceira dcima terceira menor.


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Melodically, the vocal range was reduced, bringing it closer to speech, since the

major attention was to be drawn to the sophisticated harmonic progressions and

rhythmic patterns.

As a student of composition in the late 1960s and early 70s, Ronaldo Miranda

composed some vocal music: Soneto da Separao (1969), Retrato (1969), the

popular song Cantares (1969/1984), and Segredo (1973). He also wrote the Suite n

3 for piano (1973) andPreldio e Fuga for flute, oboe, clarinet, and bassoon (1973).

Always in attendance at concerts of contemporary music in the Teatro Municipal do

Rio de Janeiro (Municipal Theatre of Rio de Janeiro), Miranda used to think: How

could I compare my small pieces for voice and piano and timid pieces for solo piano

with the language of the avant-garde that was on stage? That reality, for me, wasunattainable, a world I wanted to belong to, but from which I was light-years away.31

In 1969, during his formal instruction in classical music, Miranda entered a popular

music competition, sponsored by TV Tupi, with the song Cantares. The song was not

selected for the contest but, curiously, is now his most famous and most performed

song, as cano de cmara (art song). From this, Mirandas close relationship with

popular music can be seen.

His frequent attendance at classical music concerts made him realize how to

find his own compositional voice; as he reasons, I had to get out of myself and win the

world, finding a language that would effectively house a new idiom in contact with

deep convictions already established.32 After graduating from college, already twenty-

eight years old, he perceived the II Biennual of Contemporary Brazilian Music as a

great opportunity to start his career as a composer. Miranda won the first prize at the II

Biennial of Brazilian Contemporary Music, with Trajetria, a piece for soprano, flute,

31 Ronaldo Miranda, Msica e palavra: uma trajetria de quatro dcadas, (Music and Word: ATrajectory of Four Decades).Poesia sempre no. 29 (Rio de Janeiro: Fundao Biblioteca Nacional,2008): 199. Original quotation: Como comparar minhas pequenas obras para canto e piano e as tmidaspeas para piano solo com a linguagem de vanguarda que estava no palco? Aquela realidade, para mim,era inatingvel; um mundo ao qual eu queria pertencer, mas do qual estava a anos-luz de distncia.

32 Ibid. Original quotation: Era preciso sair de mim mesmo e ganhar o mundo, encontrando umalinguagem que pudesse efetivamente abrigar uma expresso nova em convvio com profundasconvices j estabelecidas.


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clarinet, piano, cello and xylophone/vibraphone, written in a free-atonal and post-

expressionist style in which the singer and the instrumentalists had to both sing and

speak. Since that time, Miranda has composed a variety of vocal music, including two

operas,Dom Casmurro andA Tempestade (The Tempest); works for voice and

chamber ensemble; and numerous choral pieces.

Ronaldo Mirandas compositional style fluctuates between atonalism and

nationalism, often employing tonal centers with expanded harmonies and ecclesiastic

modes. In his vocal works for voice and piano, he combines all of the above with

elements from Brazilian popular music, borrowing harmony from bossa nova, melodies

and rhythms from modinhas, and contrapuntal lines from choro andseresta.


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CHAPTER THREE

GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR BRAZILIAN LYRIC

PORTUGUESE DICTION

Until the end of the nineteenth century, to sing in Portuguese in Brazil was

regarded as unrefined. The Brazilian composer Alberto Nepomuceno was the first one

to promote and compose Brazilian art song in the Portuguese language. In 1937, Mrio

de Andrade33 led thePrimeiro Congresso da Lngua Nacional Cantada (First Congress

of the National Language as Sung)34, resulting in theNormas para a boa pronncia da

lingual nacional no canto erudito (Norms for the Proper Pronunciation of the National

Language for Classical Singing), which in reality was never embraced by voice

teachers and students.

A later attempt to standardize Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation was in 1956, at

thePrimeiro Congresso Brasileiro de Lngua Falada no Teatro (First Brazilian

Congress of Spoken Language for Theatre). Marlia lvares observes that the concern

about the standardized diction for Brazilian Portuguese has been, since that time, more

of a theoretical matter than a practical reality. Schools of singing ignored theNormas

established in the 1937 and 1956 events.35 Even though there are other important

documents,36 voice teachers, singers and coaches base their practice on personal taste or

on the application of foreign language diction, such as Italian and French, to the sung

Portuguese.

Almost seventy years after the first effort to establish ground rules for Brazilian

sung Portuguese, a group of voice teachers and singers published the article PB

cantado: normas para a pronncia do portugus brasileiro no canto erudito in the

33 Brazilian poet, novelist, art critic, folklorist, and musicologist, also known as the most important figureof the Brazilian modernist and nationalist movement.

34 This conference intended to define rules on how to sing properly in Portuguese as spoken in Brazil.

35 Marlia lvares, Diction and Pronunciation of Brazilian Portuguese in Lyric Singing as Applied toSelected Songs of Francisco Mignone (DMA diss., University of Nebraska, 2008): 40.

36 One of these documents is the doctoral dissertation The Brazilian Art Song A Performance GuideUtilizing Selected Works by Heitor Villa-Lobos by Stela Maria S. Brando.


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periodical OPUS37and its English version Brazilian Portuguese: Norms for Lyric

Diction in the Journal of Singing of the National Association of Teachers of Singing

(NATS)38. The document was the result of contributions from a variety of experts, such

as national and international singers, voice pedagogues, phoneticians, linguists, and

other specialists in voice. In this document I will use the phonetic chart proposed in the

article Brazilian Portuguese: Norms for Lyric Diction as the basis for phonetic

transcription. 39

Since the phonology of Portuguese is not the main goal of this treatise, this

chapter does not intend to be a comprehensive exposition of every detail on the topic.

Moreover, the goal is to serve as a concise reference for a singer or pianist who wants

to pronounce Ronaldo Mirandas or any other Brazilian composers songs with a basic

knowledge of the language. As in any language, intermediary and advanced level ofdiction can only be achieved by an in-depth study of grammar, a prolonged period of

time spent in Brazil, and much practice speaking, reading and singing in the idiom.

Brazilian Portuguese has consonants, vowels, glides and diacritical marks. In

appendix A (p.126), there is a phonetic chart as reference for Brazilian Portuguese

Lyric pronunciation. The chart is presented in four columns: 1) IPA symbol, 2)

Portuguese word as an example, 3) IPA transcription of the given Portuguese word and,

4) an approximate English or other language equivalent, if there is any. If not, the space

will be left blank.

37 Adriana Kayama and others, PB cantado: normas para a pronncia do portugus brasileiro no cantoerudito. OPUS13, no. 2 (December 2007): 16-38.

38 Martha Herr, Adriana Kayama, and Wladimir Mattos, Brazilian Portuguese: Norms for LyricDictionJournal of Singing65, no. 2 (Nov/Dec. 2008): 195-211.

39 There has been some controversy surrounding the 2007 Norms. lvares (2008) detected somedeficiencies of a practical nature in the 2007 Norms, especially regarding the phonetic transcription ofnasal vowels and nasal diphthongs.


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Diacritical Marks

In Portuguese, whenever a syllable has a diacritical mark it becomes the stressed

syllable of the word.

Grave accent: [a]

Acute accent opens a vowel sound, lils [lilas] (lilac), caf[kaf] (coffe), vov

[vv] (grandmother) or indicates a hiatus,sade [sau.] (health),sada

[sai.d] (exit)

Circumflex accent closes vowel sound:gnero [ e.ne.r] (genre), vov [vovo]

(grandfather)

Tilde adds nasal quality to the vowel: irm[irm] (sister),pe [p:]

In addition, cedilla transforms c before a, o and u in [s]: calada [kasa.d] (sidewalk),

lao [la.s].

IPA Additional Symbols:

[.]: indicates division of a word into syllables

[]: indicates that the following syllable is stressed

[]: indicates the prolongation of the first vowel of a diphthong

General Rules for Word Linking in Brazilian Lyric Portuguese:

1. When a word ends ins and the following word starts with a vowel, thesbecomes [z].

estes olhos [es.t.z .s]

paradas e frias e mortas [paa.d.zi fi:.zimr.ts]

braos abertos[ba.s.za br.ts]

as aves imigrantes [aza.v.zi.mig.ts]


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2. When a word ends with rand the following word starts with a vowel, the rbecomes

[].

amor assim [amo.as]

por esta [pos.t]

arremessar o [a.xe.mesa. u ]

renascer outra [xe.nase.o:.t]

3. When a word ends on the vowel or sound ofo oru (as in final l) and the following

word starts on a vowel, the o oru becomes the glide [w].

silencioso e branco [si.le.sio.zwi b.k]

menino ou dois [meni.nwow do:s]

carro amassado [ka.xwa.masa.d]

espuma azul andava[es pu.mazu:w da.v]

4. When a word ends with e ori and the following word also starts on a vowel, the e or

i becomes the glide [j].

me arrancar [mja.x kar] (as in the Italian word aria)

maldade aos [ma:da.ja:s]

me arremessar [mja.xe.mesar]

me embrulha [mje bu.]

A phonetic transcription cannot represent perfectly the sound of any language.

Although people from different geographical regions in Brazil have different accents, it

cannot be stressed enough that anyone who wants to sing in Portuguese should hear the

inflection of the spoken language and listen to Brazilian art songs performed by native

singers as much as possible. A number of websites offer videos as an option for

practicing and becoming acquainted with a foreign language. One suggestion is the site

http://g1.globo.com, in which one can find journalistic videos with a neutral (accent-

free) Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation.


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CHAPTER FOUR

SONGS FOR VOICE AND PIANO

Cantares (Canticles)Datasheet

Date: 1969 and rewritten in 1984

Dedication/Commission: Dedicated to La Freitag

Poet: Walter Mariani (n.d.)

Tempo: Moderatoq = 88Meter: 2/2

Number of measures: 36

Key: G Aeolian G major

Vocal range: C#4 F5 (middle C: C4)

Timing: 3 mins 27 s

Edition: Manuscript at the National Library (Biblioteca Nacional), Rio de Janeiro

Recordings:

1. Msica coral brasileira contempornea. Choir Canto em canto conducted by

Elza Lakschevitz, compact disc, RioArte Digital, RD 001

2. Liberdade: A msica coral de Ronaldo Miranda. Choir Canto em canto

conducted by Elza Lakschevitz, compact disc, Oficina Coral do Rio de Janeiro,

CEC 001

3. Todo Tom/UFRJ. ChoirTodo Tom from UFRJ conducted by Maria Jos

Chevitarese, compact disc, Tons e Sons/UFRJ, 108.208

4. Canes brasileiras. Sandra Flix (voice) and Scheilla Glaser (piano), compact

disc, Paulus, 005328

5. Trovas e cantares. Carol McDavit (voice) and Maria Teresa Madeira (piano),

compact disc

Additional information: Versions for flute, harpsichord, viola da gamba, and voice, by

the composer, and for voice and guitar, by Sidney Molina


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International Phonetic Alphabet Transcription, Portuguese Text,

Word-for-Word and Idiomatic Translations

[k ta.s]

Cantares

canticles

[va:.ter ma.i..n]

Walter Mariani

[ki ve. si tivr i vi.e.sjamo.as as]

1. Que venha se tiver de vir esse amor assim, assim.

may it come if should come this love like this like this

[ki ve. b.d co.mwa bi.z.ma.te.ja: da ma.duga.d]

2. Que venha brando como a brisa imaterial da madrugada,

may it come softly as the breeze immaterial of dawn

[ka.mwi s perno.ts]

3. calmo e sem pernoites.

calm and free of nights.

[ma:s fe.t i a.s ki i no.ts]

4. Mais feito de auroras que de noites.more made of sunrises than of nights


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[ve.ae sile.sj ko.mu bar.k des.liz.d na koxe.t]

6. Venha em silncio como um barco deslizando na corrente,

come in silence like a boat gliding on the flow

[swa.v k xeka.t]

7. suave e com recato.

smoothly and with modesty

[mas fe.t i oar ki i kta.t]

8. Mais feito de olhar que de contato.

more made of sight than of touch




[ki ve. p.b co.mwaza.vzi.mig.ts s poza.d]

10. Que venha pobre como as aves imigrantes sem pousada,

may it come poor like the birds immigrant without lodging

[f.k i kte.t]

11. franco e contente.

sincere and happy


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[mas fe.t i futu. ki peze.t]

12. Mais feito de futuro que presente.

more made of future than present




[ki ve.as e.sjamo.a m]

14. Que venha assim esse amor a mim,

may it come like this this love to me

[si vr por si si vir por t]

15. se vier por si, se vier por ti.

if it comes by itself if it comes through you

1. May this love come, if it should come, like this.

2.

May it come softly as the immaterial breeze of the dawn,3. calm and free of nights.

4. Made more of sunrises than nights.


6. May it come in silence, like a boat gliding in the flow,

7. smoothly and with modesty.

8. Made more of sight than of touch.


10.May it come poor like immigrant birds without lodging,

11.sincere and happy.

12.Made more of future than present.


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13.May this love come, if it should come, like this.

14.May it come to me like this,

15.as long as it comes by itself, as long as it comes through you.

Poetry and Music40

This was one of Mirandas first songs, and unlike the other two from 1969,

Soneto da Separao and Retrato, it was intended as a popular song. Walter

Mariani, a poet from Bahia who also worked in advertising, showed Miranda some of

his poems; Miranda chose to set the Cano do amor puro (Song of Pure Love).

Years later, in the 80s, the chamber group Quadro Cervantes asked the composer for a

simple and short piece for voice, viola da gamba, flute, and harpsichord. Miranda

recalled this song and arranged it for them. In his own words: I noticed that the piece

had a chorus of a neo-Renaissance character and modinheiras stanzas, very Brazilian.

It was perfect for the group. I changed the title to Cantares and the piece has been

firmly in their repertoire since 1984.41 Soon after this chamber version, the composer

created a version for voice and piano (the one discussed below) and another for chorus

(SATB).

The poem talks about a person who wants love, but not just any kind of love.

The singer persona wants a love with specific characteristics: soft, calm, shiny, modest,true, happy, and enduring. It is both idealized and nave. At first, it seems that this

person is speaking in generalizations, if it has to come, may it come like this. At the

very end, however, the speaker reveals his/her feelings, and the audience knows that

he/she has a specific person in mind: May it come to me like this / As long as it comes

by itself, as long as it comes through you. The persona takes off the mask and declares

himself/herself to the beloved one.

40 The facsimile of the manuscript of Cantares is found on pages 140-142.

41 Original quotation: Verifiquei que a pea tinha um refro de carter no-renascentista e estrofesmodinheiras, bem brasileiras. Ficou perfeita para o grupo. Troquei o ttulo para Cantares e a peaentrou firme no repertrio a partir de 1984. Interview with the author.


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The poem is full of smooth imageries such as the immaterial breeze of the

morning, and a boat gliding in the flow. The idealized inspiration, almost nave or

childlike, is depicted by the desire of a love made more of looking than of touching,

made more of sunrises than nights, and made more of future than present.

Cantares is set in strophic form with introduction, recurring refrains and

postlude (Table 1).

TABLE 1. Cantares, form chart

Miranda sets this poem by mixing older and contemporary musical styles. Hischoice of using the modal G Aeolian for the introduction and the refrain (mm. 1-11)

evokes a neo-Renaissance ambiance, a flavor from another time when love was

somewhat purer and more innocent. In the strophe, for the description of the speakers

desired love, Miranda chooses tonal sonorities: G major in the first half of the stanza

(mm. 12-15) and E minor in the second part (mm. 6-19). This minor key later connects

the melodic minor scale to the natural minor (Aeolian), especially during the repetition

of the line (mm. 18-19).

One of the musical characteristics of this song is its modinha influence,

particularly in its descending and undulating melodic lines. The structural downward

melodic movement, embellished by neighbor tones, occurs in the introduction (Ex. 1),

the refrain (Ex. 2), strophe (Ex. 3 and 4), and postlude (like mm. 8-11 of the refrain).

Introduction Refrain Strophes

(lines 1-3)

Refrain Postlude

Measures 1-3 4-11 12-20 21-32 32-36

Subsection Link to refrain:

19-20

Refrain

extension:

29-32

Phrase

lenght

3 4+4 4 (2+2) +

4 (2+2)

4+4+

4 (2+2)

4


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EXAMPLE 1. Cantares, mm. 1-3

EXAMPLE 2. Cantares, mm. 4-7

EXAMPLE 3a. "Cantares," mm. 12-13

EXAMPLE 3b. Cantares, mm. 12-13


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EXAMPLE 4a. Cantares, mm. 14-15 EXAMPLE 4b. "Cantares,"mm. 14-15

It is interesting that both of the primary musical characteristics of Cantares

are present in the introduction: the descending line (as shown in Ex.1), and the G

Aeolian/G Major change between refrain and strophe. The important change of

modal/tonal palette is anticipated through a Picardy third (Ex. 5).

EXAMPLE 5. Cantares, m. 3

In the strophe, the natural anacrustic tendency of spoken Portuguese corroborates thepopular nature ofmodinha42.

Performance Suggestions

One characteristic of this song is the significant use of neighbor tones, which, in

this piece, usually functions chromatically. This chromaticism functions as a decoration

of the diatonic descending movement of the lines. This embellishment, typical of

Baroque style, can sometimes obscure the primary lines. For this reason, if the singer isable, it might be better to sing the first phrase in one breath (mm. 4-7), and the second

one in another breath (mm. 8-11). If it is not possible to sing the phrase in one breath,

42 Martha Tupinamba de Ulhoa, Musica romantica in Montes Claros: Inter-Gender Relations inBrazilian Popular Song , inBritish Journal of Ethnomusicology 9 (2000): 27.


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the singer might breathe after the comma in m. 6: assim, assim. These breath

marks will certainly help to build the sense of direction and line during the refrain,

especially for the periodic construction of the phrases (antecedent, mm. 4-7, and

consequent, mm. 8-11).

As Jane P. Clendinning and Elizabeth Marvin write, In strophic settings, the

performers need to consider how to create a sense of the storys development despite

the literal repetition of music.43 Therefore, in Cantares, each strophe may have its

own subtle character.

The pianist may play the introduction like an announcement, following the

dynamic markmf, and timing the arpeggiated chord well in order to keep the melodic

line connected and with direction. The pianist can experiment with different kinds of

dynamic shapes in these measures, such as starting at mfand then decrescendoing orcrescendoing to the second measure, since this is the central chord in this progression,

and then descrescendoing.

In the first strophe, both pianist and singer may keep the same mffrom the

beginning. The performers might be aware that now the voice and the piano are almost

constantly in contrary motion, just the opposite from the refrain. The pianist can

provide clarity to the harmonic progression by underlining the bass line. In m. 14,

Calm and free of nights, the singer might maintain a legato line even with the large

melodic leaps, holding the vowel during the full length of each pitch. In the verse

Made more of sunrises than nights, the performers, especially the singer, may want to

experiment with a brighter color in mm. 16-17, portraying the sunrise, and a slightly

darker sound in mm. 18-19, depicting the night.

In the second stanza, since the text describes the boat gliding, a delicate sound

can be achieved by playingp, with a slower attack in the piano. From m.14 to m. 19,

the pianist may want to bring out the upper notes, in order to keep a lighter color. The

refrain following the second stanza could have dynamic contrast, with the first phrase

in mfand the second inp.

43 Jane P. Clendinning and Elizabeth West Marvin, The Musicians Guide to Theory and Analysis (NewYork: W.W. Norton & Company, 2005): 528.


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Since the last strophe brings a sincere and merry character, it could sound

warmer, with a round bass sound and an additional importance given to the two-note

groups to produce some bouncing. Just a reminder for the pianist: in all strophes, when

doubling the voice, try to play it softly, offering space for the vocal line.

The last refrain (mm. 21-28) is confident and calm since it is the last statement

of the speakers desire. The performers can try to sing the refrain extension, mm. 29-32,

in a slower tempo, emphasizing the revealing moment when the persona uncovers that

he/she is singing to a specific person, his/her beloved. In this case, the pianist might go

immediately back to tempo in m. 32 and build to the final climax, reaching aforte with

a rallentando in the last two measures.

Regarding the prosody, there is only one potential problem. In m. 11, the singer

should be aware and prepared to sing this anacrusis with the right stress, ve-nha em si-ln-cio, instead of ve-nha em si-ln-cio. This is a reminder that the performers have

to make choices. The suggestions regarding prosody take into account that, in order to

deliver an understandable text, sometimes the singer has the option to honor the natural

inflection of spoken language instead of following the composers text setting.

Retrato (Portrait)

Datasheet

Date: 1969

Dedication/Commission: none

Poet: Ceclia Meireles

Tempo: Moderato q = 72

Meter: 4/4

Number of measures: 40

Key: A Aeolian

Vocal range: C#4 F#5

Timing:2 mins 40 s

Edition: Manuscript at the National Library (Biblioteca Nacional), Rio de Janeiro


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Recordings:

1. Futuros mestres em msica. Volume 1. Cilene Fadigas (voice) and Judith

Cardoso (piano), long-play, EM-UFRJ-001

2. XX Compositores brasileiros. Lenine Santos (voice) and Nancy Bueno (piano)

compact disc

3. Trovas e cantares. Carol McDavit (voice) and Maria Teresa Madeira (piano),

compact disc

Additional information: Also set for voice and piano by Osvaldo Lacerda

International Phonetic Alphabet Transcription, Portuguese Text,

Word-for-Word and Idiomatic Translations

[xeta.t]

Retrato

Portrait

[sesi.lj mej.ls]

Ceclia Meireles

[e n ti. es.t xos.t o.]

1. Eu no tinha este rosto hoje,

I not had this face today

[as ka.m as tis. t as ma.g]

2. Assim calmo, assim triste, assim magro,

this calm this sad this thin

Original line: Eu no tinha esse rosto de hoje (I did not have this face of today).


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28

[n es.t.z.s t vazis]

3. Nem estes olhos to vazios,

nor these eyes so empty

[n la.bjwamar.g]

4. Nem lbio amargo.

nor lip bitter

[e n ti. s.ts m s for.ss]

5. Eu no tinha estas mos sem foras,

I not had these hands without strength

[t paa.d.zi fi.zi mr.ts]

6. To paradas e frias e mortas;

so inert and cold and dead

[e n ti. es.t ko.as ]

7. Eu no tinha este corao

I not had this heart

[k n si ms.t]

8. Que nem se mostra.

that not even itself show

[e n de pos.t mud.s]

9. Eu no dei por esta mudana

I not was aware of this change


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[t si.pls t sr.t t fa.s]

10. To simples, to certa, to fcil:

so simple so inevitable so easy

[ kjespe. fiko peri.d]

11. Em que espelho ficou perdida

in which mirror remained lost

[a mi. fa.s]

12. A minha face?

the my face?

1. I did not have this face I have today,

2. So calm, so sad, so thin,

3. Nor these so empty eyes,

4. Nor this bitter lip.

5.

I did not have these weak hands,6. So inert and cold and dead;

7. I did not have this heart

8. That no one sees.

9. I was not aware of this change

10.So simple, so inevitable, so easy:

11.In which mirror did I lose

12.My face?


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30

Poetry and Music44

I sing because the moment exists

and my life is complete

and I know one day I shall be mute

that is all.

45

Like Cantares, Ronaldo Miranda composed Retrato in 1969 as an exercise

for advanced harmony and analysis class. Retrato uses a poem by Ceclia Meireles

(1901-1964), widely considered to be the most important female poet in the Portuguese

language.

Loss and solitude characterize Meireless life. Three months before she was

born, her father died; her mother died before she was three years old, so her

grandmother raised her. Meireless first husband killed himself, leaving her with their

three children. In her own words, This and other deaths in the family resulted in many

financial setbacks, but at the same time it gave me, from a young age, such an intimacy

with death that I smoothly learned this relationship between the ephemeral and the

eternalThe notion or feeling of the transience of all is the foundation of mypersonality.46 That is how she learned the notion of transitivity, and why the passage of

time became a consistent theme in her poetry.

The main influence on Meireless poetic style is the symbolist aesthetic, using

penumbrism and spiritualism, along with an intimate point of view. Another importantcharacteristic of her work is the use of poetic devices such as assonance, alliteration,

anaphora47, and parallel repetition to generate rich images. These poetic musical devices

44 The facsimile of the manuscript of Retrato is found on pages 143-146.

45 This is a quote from the poem Motivo (Motive) in the bookViagem (Voyage) by Ceclia Meireles.

46 Original quotation: Essas e outras mortes ocorridas na famlia acarretaram muitos contratemposmateriais, mas ao mesmo tempo me deram, desde pequenina, uma tal intimidade com a morte quedocemente aprendi essas relaes entre o Efmero e o Eterno A noo ou sentimento da

transitoriedade de tudo o fundamento da minha personalidade. Ceclia Meireles in Leila V. B. Gouva,Pensamento e "lirismo puro" na poesia de Ceclia Meireles [Thought and "Pure Lyricism" in the Poetryof Cecilia Meireles] (So Paulo: Editora da Universidade de So Paulo, 2008): 127.

47 Anaphora: A rhetorical figure of repetition in which the same word or phrase is repeated in (andusually at the beginning of) successive lines, clauses, or sentences. Found very often in both verse andprose. In Anaphora The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. Chris Baldick. Oxford University Press,2008. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. Florida State University. 31 August 2009


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31

make her one of the most frequently set Brazilian poets. Her poems often make

reference to music, whether obvious or subtle, in titles such as Cano do caminho

(Song of the Way), Cano do Deserto (Song of the Desert), Cano do mundo

acabado (Song of the Ended World), Guitarra (Guitar), Som da ndia (Sound of

India), and the bookVaga Msica (Vague Music). Due to her musicality and favorite

themes her poems . . . often sing or reflect on a place that is neither public, nor

private, neither rural nor urban, neither bourgeois nor proletarian, it is rather ideal and

imaginative.48 Manuel Bandeira declares that she is a distinctive voice49 in Brazilian

poetry, even though some considered her an old fashioned poet who looked back to the

past (symbolism), instead of to the future (modernism).

Retrato, one of her most famous poems, is part ofViagem (1939), a book that

launched her into the Brazilian and, ultimately, the global literary scene. It is anexistentialist poem that uses symbols such as the mirror and the portrait. In fact, the

mirror appears and reappears in her verses as an image that gains the status of a

symbol by repetitiona symbol that represents the passage of time.50 The lyric

narrative uses the first person to denote its intimate character. One of the central themes

of her poetry, the transitivity of time, is totally concentrated in this poem [Retrato].51

It shows a melancholic approach to the passage of time, and delicately and tenderly

depicts the transitivity of life.

Retrato features the poetic image of a mirror that exposes the difference

between the image one has of oneself and the actual image reflected in the mirror.

Perhaps this persona is already advanced in age, or maybe this person was just someone

not aware of the changes in the aging process. The poet uncovers the movement of time

by means of a static object, the mirror. The frequent use of verbs such as to be, to

exist and to have depicts ones concern with existence. The poem reveals external

48 Original quotation: . . . canta ou reflete de um lugar que no pblico nem privado, nem rural nemurbano, nem burgus nem proletrio, que , antes, ideal ou imaginrio. Ibid., 67.

49 Manuel Bandeira,Andorinha, Andorinha. (Rio de Janeiro: Editora Jos Olympio, 1966): 209.

50 Leodegrio A. de Azevedo Filho,Poesia e estilo de Ceclia Meireles [Poetry and Style in CecliaMeireles] (Rio de Janeiro: Livraria Jos Olympio Editora, 1970): 35-36.

51 Ibid.


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32

changes, empty eyes, weak hands, bitter lips, and sad face, as well as inner

modification, a heart that no one sees. In the first two strophes, tension is created

through the intercalation of verses with ideas of negationI did not have this face

today, and I did not have these weak hands,52and descriptions of how the speaker

appears now: calm, sad, and thin face; static, cold, and dead hands. The audience knows

more about the negative attributes the persona has now than the positive ones the

persona thinks it used to have. 53

Gouva points out that the triple adjectivization is a recurrent device in

Meireless poems54, such as in lines 2, 6, and 10, creating an insistent poetic tension.55

The commas in lines 2 and 10 and the insertion of the conjunction and in line 6,

besides creating a poetic tension, interrupt the flow of thoughts, depicting an instant of

self-discovery, or even sighs between thoughts.A poetic progression starts in the first strophe, with the image of the face that

zooms into the hands and finally to the heart in the second strophe. This progression

starts with outer signs of the change and ends with an inner representation. In the last

strophe, the persona describes how the change has proceeded: simple, right, easy. As

a final thought, the speaker asks herself when she lost the person she used to be. From

the penultimate to the last line of Retrato, the caesura leaving the word lost at

the end of the verse, adds more significance to the word. Often, Ceclia Meireles uses

this technical device in her poems, dividing long verses into smaller ones in order to

enhance the poetic word at the end of each verse.56 This word, lost, is the essence of

the poem.

52 Half of the lines start with negation (lines 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, and 9).

53 This is different from Sonnet of Separation, where Vincius de Moraes tells the audience how happyand passionate the lovers were and then contrasts it with the sad, dramatic break-up.

54 Leila V. B. Gouva,Pensamento e "lirismo puro" na poesia de Ceclia Meireles [Thought and "PureLyricism" in the Poetry of Cecilia Meireles] (So Paulo: Editora da Universidade de So Paulo, 2008):87.

55 Ibid.

56 Original quotation: deixando o vocbuloperdida no fim do verso, valoriza a palavra. No raro,Ceclia de Meireles recorre a esse artifcio tcnico em seus poemas, partindo versos longos em versosmenores, para valorizar o vocbulo potico que fica no fim de cada verso. Leodegrio A. de AzevedoFilho,Poesia e estilo de Ceclia Meireles (Rio de Janeiro: Livraria Jos Olympio Editora, 1970): 35-36.


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Ronaldo Mirandas musical answer to this poem came through the combination

of ternary form with the modal/tonal palette (Table 2).

TABLE 2. Retrato, Form Chart

Section Measures Sub-section

Phraselength

Poemsection

Poetic content

Intro-duction

1-12 10-12:cadential

1+1+2+3+2 +3

A 13-20 2+2+2+2

Firststrophe

Awareness of physicalsigns of passage of time

B 21-28 2+2+2+1+1

Secondstrophe

Awareness of physicaland psychological signs ofpassage of time

A 29-36 2+2+

2+1+1

Third

strophe

Consciousness of past

oblivion and lastremembrance of ideal(mirror as symbol)

Postlude 36-40 1+3 Sad truth becomes reality

The introduction is built on the expansion of the main melodic theme, an

upward octave leap in eighth notes in the right hand, which creates the feeling of

incompleteness and of searching for something (Ex. 6). Miranda multiplies the motive

by transposing it a fourth, then breaks this pattern in preparation for the climax in m. 7

(Ex. 7), concluding the section with a descending stepwise idea until the arrival of the

tonic (Ex. 8).

EXAMPLE 6. Retrato, mm. 1-4


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EXAMPLE 7. Retrato, mm. 5-6

EXAMPLE 8a. "Retrato," mm. 7-9

EXAMPLE 8b. Retrato,mm. 7-9

The defining vocal gesture in the A and A sections is an ascending octave leap

followed by a descending melodic line. The vocal line in section B inverts the order of

this motive by using a descending melody followed by an upward motion, staying

within the range of an octave (Ex. 9).

EXAMPLE 9a. "Retrato," mm. 12-14, initial ascending vocal line in section A


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EXAMPLE 9b. Retrato,mm. 20-22, initial descending vocal line in section B

The harmony is based on the opposition between A Aeolian and

C-sharp minor. This duality is present in the introduction (m. 1 and m. 7), at the end of

section A (m. 17) which prepares the harmonic progression for section B, and in section

A (m. 33). It may represent the poetic duality between real and ideal, the exterior and

interior self-image in the poem.

Performance Suggestions

In the introduction, from mm. 4 to 9, there are no slurs. For this reason, this

researcher provides suggested phrasing slurs based on the anacrustic nature of the

rhythmic and melodic motives (Ex. 10).

EXAMPLE 10a. "Retrato," mm. 3-9, original score

EXAMPLE 10b. Retrato,mm. 3-9, score with suggested phrasing slurs


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Symbolically, the piano may represent the vocal persona seeking his/her

memories, searching unconsciously for an identity until it becomes real, palpable, and

consciousness. Adding notes to the initial melodic motive depicts the gradual

emergence of conscience. In m. 10, the initial motive is now modified, and expanded,

as if the persona was finally recalling everything he/she was seeking (Ex. 11). The

abandoning of the initial melodic motive and the arrival of a new melody (mm. 5-9)

suggests an aspect of negation, as if the persona were trying to forget the verified event,

that is, the passage of time.

Section B has faster harmonic rhythm, although this harmonic march

(representing perhaps the march of time) already starts in section A (m. 17). From there

foward, Miranda builds a harmonic progression based on the circle of fifths: C#m (m.

16), F#m (m. 18), Bm (m. 21), Em (m. 24), and finally returning to tonic (Am) in m.

26. This harmonic progression is related to the anaphora Eu no tinha (I did not have)

appearing once in the first strophe and repeated twice in the second, which represents a

faster perception of the changes in the vocal personas identity. This section also brings

a change of rhythm, from straight eighth notes to syncopation (m. 23), in preparation

for the highest note of the song, F#4, at the keyword dead (m. 24).

EXAMPLE 11a. Retrato, m. 1 EXAMPLE 11b. Retrato, m. 3 EXAMPLE 11c. Retrato, m. 10

EXAMPLE 11d. Retrato,mm. 13-14


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The pianist has the opportunity to delineate all the contrapuntal melodic lines,

like dancing around the vocal line. As an aid to ensemble synchronization, the pianist

may mentally sing words referring to the melodic lines in the left hand, written below

the piano staff in Example 12.

EXAMPLE 12a. Retrato, mm. 15-20

EXAMPLE 12b. Retrato, mm. 21-26

EXAMPLE 12c. Retrato, mm. 12-28


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EXAMPLE 12d. Retrato, mm. 35-40

Since the poem is a lyrical self-evaluation, the singer should be aware that

although he/she is singing in front of an audience, the song is not addressed to them; the

audience should feel almost embarrassed to be there, party to such personal revelation,

such psychological exposition. With this in mind, the last verse, the question In which

mirror did I lose my face? is a self-question, more as a reflection than with a wish for

an outside answer.

The decrescendi at the end of the vocal lines show exactly the stress of the word

in each phrase through the unaccented ending. Since the melody has two-measure

phrases, one could feel the line as one big pulse per measure in order to maintain thelegato and to have a better sense of the poem (Ex. 13)57.

EXAMPLE 13. Retrato,mm. 13-14

57 The signs and are used in poetry to mark strong and weak syllables.


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Measures 22-23 and 31-32 are an exception: here, the anaphora demands more

emphasis through the stress of the third beat as well (Ex. 14).

EXAMPLE 14. Retrato,mm. 11-12, two big pulses per measure poetic enumeration

Since one of the characteristics of this song is the ascending octave leap, one

challenge for the singer is to prepare at the bottom note to ascend to the higher one,

maintaining the legato and the same timbre. One can think about stretching the vowel

in order to maintain the melodic line and start the lower note by using the inner space in

the palate needed for the higher one. In the verse nem lbio amargo (nor bitter lip), a

different vocal color may emerge since multiple musical events occur: the phrase goes

to the lowest note in the song, there is a rhythmic augmentation, the key word amargo

asks for a dramatic approach, and a decrescendo andpouco ralentando are marked. All

these events indicate the end of a section. Another important place for the singer is m.33, in which the word mirror is highlighted by a high pitch and longer note value.

The suggestion would be to take your time and enjoy such an important keyword. The

same goes for the pianist, but with one reminder: fitting the sixteenth notes to the

singers vibrato will result in a tighter ensemble.

Regarding the prosody, there are only two places in which the singer should be

aware of the syllabic stress and especially the shape of the phrase: 1) in m. 17, the word

estes has the correct stress; nevertheless, within the verse, the stress could be onnem es-tes o-lhos to va-zi-os or nem es-tes o-lhos to va-zi-os58; and 2) in m. 29,

almost the same issue occurs: es-ta has the right rhythmic stress, but due to the

58 This choice is recommended for two reasons: 1) the poetic importance of the progression eyes-hands-heart and 2) the lyrical and introspective character of the poem, wherein the speaker is not showinghis/her eyes to anyone, i

Documents

Mota G Treatise 2009