Ernesto Nazareth : "Batuque" (Brazilian Tango)

Tonight's post contemplates the life, works and compositional style of great Brazilian composer Ernesto Nazareth – whose sesquicentennial we are celebrating this year. 
 

Ernesto Júlio de Nazareth (1863-1934) was a late XIX-century/early XX century pianist and composer, widely renowned for his invaluable contribution to Brazilian Tango[1] (a subgenre of the Brazilian “choro”[2]). With influences residing in European Romanticism (mainly in Chopin), Afro-Brazilian music (e.g. the “lundu”[3]) and American ragtime, Nazareth wrote over 200 pieces for piano - including  88 Brazilian Tangos,  41 waltzes, 28 polkas and  numerous morceaux in a variety of other genres (sambas, Schottisches and fox-trots, among others).   

Nazareth was the one composer  responsible by grasping the spirit of the so-called "old" Rio de Janeiro with its cafes, society meetings and balls, and   translating  it into classical piano music in a notably refined style. Considered a boundary between the popular and classical styles, his music comprises both popular and classical piano teaching programmes.

Ernesto Nazareth was born  in the Porto neighbourhood of  Rio de Janeiro, to Vasco Lourenço da Silva Nazareth and Carolina Augusta da Cunha Nazareth. He took his first piano lessons with his mother and continued his studies with Eduardo Rodolpho de Andrade Madeira and Charles Lucien Lambert (a close friend of Louis Moreau Gottschalk’s).

At fourteen Nazareth composed his first piece – a polka entitled “Você Bem Sabe”.  At that time, he started performing professionally in cafes, balls and  waiting rooms of movie theatres.  He started writing tangos in 1870, and in 1871 he wrote his first great success – the tango “Não Caio Noutra!!!”.  International recognition came with his tango “Brejeiro” – which was performed and  recorded by the band of the Garde républicaine in Paris, and later published both in France and the United States.

In 1886, the composer married Theodora Amália Leal de Meirelles, with whom he had four children - Eulina, Diniz, Maria de Lourdes and  Ernestinho.  

In 1904,  "Brejeiro" was recorded by singer Mário Pinheiro under the title "O sertanejo enamorado", with lyrics written by Catulo da Paixão Cearense. The following year saw Nazareth take part in a recital at the National Institute of Music (Instituto Nacional de Música) performing the gavotte “Corbeille de fleurs”. 

From 1909 to 1913, Nazareth worked as a pianist in the waiting room of the famous Odeon Movie Theatre in the old Rio de Janeiro – which  many notable names attended solely to watch him perform. It was at the Odeon that he got acquainted with pianist Arthur Rubinstein and composer Darius Milhaud  - who quoted many of Nazareth’s compositions in  works such as the ballet Le Boeuf sur le Toit and the suite Saudades do Brasil, and tapped Nazareth’s famous  “Brejeiro” in his piece Scaramouche[4].  

Paying homage to the famous movie theatre, Nazareth wrote the tango “Odeon” in 1909, dedicating the piece to “the distinct Zambelli & Cia."[5], owner of the Cinema Odeon.  

In 1926, Nazareth toured throughout the state of Sao Paulo for whole eleven months, performing at the Campinas Drama and Music Conservatory (Conservatório Dramático e Musical de Campinas) and  the Municipal Theatre of Sao Paulo (Teatro Municipal de São Paulo). In that same year, on the occasion of a conference on the composer at the Sao Paulo Society of Artistic Culture (Sociedade de Cultura Artística de São Paulo), Brazilian writer and musicologist Mario de Andrade would say: “(...) many of the compositions of this master of Brazilian dance are magistral creations, in which the conceptual force, the beauty of melodic invention, the quality of expression are dignified by a surprising perfection of form and balance”.

Returning to Rio de Janeiro in 1927, Nazareth was one of the first artists to perform at Rádio Sociedade (now Rádio MEC do Rio de Janeiro). That year saw the publication of his last composition – the waltz “Resignação”. 

In the late 1920’s the hearing problems that accompanied him since his childhood (due to an accidental fall) worsen, and he becomes deaf in 1933. This fact leads the composer to a mental health condition, and he is taken for treatment at a neuro-psychiatric hospital located at Praia Vermelha. Later, he is transferred to the Colonia Juliano Moreira in the neighbourhood of Jacarepagua.  

In February  1934 Nazareth  goes for  for a walk  in the alleys of the sanatorium and disappears.  After a few days of searching, the body of the composer is found in the waters of the  Cachoeira dos Ciganos ( Waterfall of Gypsies). 

The following piece - the "Batuque (Tango Característico)" - was published  in 1913 by Casa Arthur Napoleão (Sampaio, Araújo & Cia.) publishers and dedicated to the great Brazilian composer and pianist Henrique Oswald - whom he also met at the Odeon. Notice the rapid 2/4 time signature -  so typical of the Brazilian tango genre - , as well as the characteristic syncopated rhythm.

Performed by great Brazilian pianist and specialist in Nazareth,  Eudóxia de Barros.

Enjoy!

References:

1) Articles:

Pavan, Alexandre, "Chopin Carioca",  in Revista Textos do Brasil , no.12.  Itamaraty - Ministério das Relacoes Exteriores,  Departamento Cultural, pp. 60–61.

Daniella Thompson,  “As Crônicas Bovinas, Parte 29. A linha tênue entre o tributo e o roubo”. http://daniellathompson.com/Texts/Le_Boeuf/cron.pt.29.htm

2) Websites:

Cliquemusic: Artista: Ernesto Nazareth
http://cliquemusic.uol.com.br/artistas/ver/ernesto-nazareth

Ernesto Nazareth
http://www.ernestonazareth.com.br/

Ernesto Nazareth - 150 anos 

http://www.ernestonazareth150anos.com.br 

Ernesto Nazareth. Dicionário Cravo Albin da Música Popular Brasileira http://www.dicionariompb.com.br/ernesto-nazareth/critica

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[1] The Brazilian Tango (also known as “maxixe”) is a dance originated in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro in the 1860’s.  It developed from Afro-Brazilian dances  and the European polka. The style is  also considered a highly syncopated variant of the Cuban habanera.

[2] The “choro” is a Brazilian popular music style typical of late XIX century Rio de Janeiro, characterized by  abundant use of syncopation and counterpoint, happy and fast rhythm, and virtuosic improvisation. The original choro  was played by a trio of guitar, flute and cavaquinho (a small chordophone with four strings). This type of composition is usually written in  three parts, played in a rondo form, with each section in a different key (usually the tonal sequence is: principal key-relative mode-sub-dominant key).

[3] The “lundu” is a hybrid Brazilian musical genre, derived from the drumming beat brought by the bantu slaves from Angola and from the melodical and harmonic characteristics of Portuguese dances.  

[4]  “As Crônicas Bovinas, Parte 29. A linha tênue entre o tributo e o roubo”, Daniella Thompson   http://daniellathompson.com/Texts/Le_Boeuf/cron.pt.29.htm

[5] Ernesto Nazareth – 150 anos /obra/ Odeon http://www.ernestonazareth150anos.com.br/Works/view/136