Heitor Villa-Lobos: por uma narrativa musical da nação

Abstract

The aim of the dissertation is to understand how Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959) elaborated a musical narrative of the nation through his compositions. Therefore, were selected some works that we consider representative and which are, respectively, part of the Chôros series from the 1920s and the Brazilian Bachian-pieces elaborated between the 1930s and 1940s, besides the material organized by the composer for the teaching of orpheonic singing. Our research problem lies in investigate the ways how the several intellectual, artistic and historiographical contexts from the first half of the 20th century acted on the composer‘s sound thinking. Therefore, some dialogues will be established with the field of musicological research with the intent of formulating a methodological orientation of a dialogical and propositional character that will allows us to evaluate Villa-Lobos‘ work beyond its textual content, although it is not ignored. In this regard, a notion of ―musical texture‖ comes into play. Starting from it, will be possible to demonstrate how the composer sought to represent the ―imagined‖ nation according to its ―soundscapes‖, revealing, at the same time, a one and diverse perspective about the Brazilian identity. The work of Villa-Lobos is equivalent to the sense given by Gilberto Freyre in the expression ―balanced antagonism‖: a permeable, miscegenated music, in which contrasting elements of Brazilian musical culture are superimposed in harmony. At last, include Villa-Lobos in the list of interpreters of Brazil is fundamental to evaluate the scope and the outspread of identity narratives from the intellectual scenario of the first half of 20th century.