The guitar in the Brazilian choro: Analyses of traditional, solo, and art music (Heitor Villa-Lobos, Radames Gnattali, Cesar Guerra-Peixe)

This study examines the role of the guitar in choro in three expressions of the genre: the traditional choro, the popular choros for solo guitar, and the academic choros of Heitor Villa-Lobos, Radames Gnattali, and Cesar Guerra-Peixe. This examination is done primarily through analyses of transcriptions of the guitar part for the traditional choro and of published scores for solo and academic choros.; As an accompanying instrument, the guitar is found to be fundamental in the introduction of African rhythms into choro and in defining the dances of choro. Questions about the musical differences between the maxixe, tango-brasileiro, polka-lundu, lundu, and the early samba have plagued researchers who did not have access to or ignored the guitar accompaniment parts of the music. In this study an attempt is made to present a coherent definition of these early dances based on the guitar accompanimental patterns. Analytical tools are also used to describe the harmonic characteristics of choro based on guitar accompaniments. Certain harmonic cliches that have heretofore not been described were found to be essential to the sonority of the traditional choro. Likewise, reductions of melodies and the contrapuntal baixaria of choro reveal the underlying structure of the music and illuminate the genius of choro guitarists such as Dino 7 Cordas.; The literature for solo guitar is used to confirm the conclusions drawn from the traditional choro, to show the link between the popular choro and the academic or art music based on choro, and to answer questions such as "What elements of the traditional choro are retained in the more limited means of a solo instrument?" The solo literature is shown to have a strong relation to both the traditional and academic choros, as exemplified in the works of Joao Pernambuco.; Composers Villa-Lobos, Gnattali, and Guerra-Peixe used the characteristics of choro to write complex and appealing works of art for the guitar in the musical language of the twentieth century. Analyses of selected works by these composers reveal both the variety of their compositional styles and their shared background in choro.