This section of our site will function as a source of scholarly information on several aspects of Brazilian art music, folk music, and culture. It will be updated regularly, and the featured topics will provide insights into the composers, their works, and their position in the context of Brazilian music. This first issue contains a brief introduction to Brazilian art music and its historical context. We invite you to check periodically for new postings.

I. Historical background

Brazilian art music constitutes a rich and wonderfully diverse repertoire that, to this day, remains to be discovered. This body of works merits serious consideration, particularly because there seems to be a misperception that Brazilian art music is characterized by a naive exoticism whose essence is solely dependent on folk elements. This misperception has a long history. For example, in 1947, during his trip to Brazil on a cultural exchange program sponsored by the United States government, Aaron Copland was much surprised with the vital and creative environment that he found there, and was particularly impressed with the music of Camargo Guarnieri, among others. It is clear from his reports that he expected a quite different artistic context, probably one that displayed a variety of local styles but without much significance beyond the boundaries of the country.

It would be reassuring if Copland could give the same account regarding the situation of Brazilian music abroad, as he gave in regard to the presence of American music in Brazil at that time. After being exposed to several of the popular traditions of Brazil, he went on to say:

My main concern, however, was with concert life as it exists today in Rio and São Paulo, particularly as it relates to American music. The situation as regards our music seemed somewhat better than it was six years ago, when I first visited Latin America. People in the know are familiar, at least with the names, if not the music, of our composers... Gershwin’s music is universally known and liked. Among living Americans the names of Samuel Barber, Roy Harris, Walter Piston and William Schuman are most familiar ("Composer’s Report on Music in South America", The New York Times, 21 December 1947).

Unfortunately, the same could not be said about the reception of Brazilian music in the United States at the time, and the situation has not changed much. Today, the lack of recognition of Brazilian musical heritage is the result of several concurrent factors, including the lack of governmental and other institutional support. As recent as 1996, Gerard Béhague observed, in his introduction to the program book for Sonidos de las Américas: Brasil, a festival of Brazilian and American music held in New York:

Traditionally art-music activities and institutions have been patronized by the federal and local governments [in Brazil], but since the 1970s this type of support has diminished considerably, especially regarding support for new music. Numerous composers have had to seek institutional assistance and financial aid from universities and the private sector. Major daily newspapers no longer carry on a regular basis critical columns on contemporary music concerts and festivals. Despite this current discouraging situation, art-music creation and experimental composition have been thriving in Brazil during the last two decades.

The significance and diversity of this compositional activity can no longer be ignored. The musical tradition of Brazil, to which a significant group of young composers continue to contribute, is well summarized by Béhague in the same essay:

Their music conveys a sense of the singular and prodigious diversity of aesthetics and styles that animate contemporary music in Brazil. Within this multiplicity and heterogeneity, one discovers an intense inventiveness that is manifested without preconceptions. Whatever specific stylistic attachment or preference they may reflect, these composers avail themselves of everything that interests them in an attempt to maintain authenticity and boldness of expression in a rather sui generis inventive intuition.

Musicological activity in Brazil has focused on the Colonial period, leading to important projects of recovery and dissemination of this repertory as an increasing number of archives in churches, institutions, and private residences are investigated. By comparison, the works of the nationalist schools and those produced by young composers are often neglected. Ponteio Publishing was founded with the purpose of redressing this situation and bringing the vast repertoire of Brazilian art music to the attention of a larger audience, with special emphasis on works for chamber ensembles. In order to accomplish this, Ponteio Publishing has made an initial selection of composers from different phases of the history of Brazilian music, which will constitute the first phase of our activities. These composers and their works scheduled for publication can be found in our catalogue page.

COMING SOON: A survey of some common genres used in Brazilian art music and their relationship to folk and popular music.