The Music of Richard Wagner and its influence in Brazil
Harry Crowl
The relations between Brazil and Wagner’s music have
attracted a great deal of curiosity from the end of the 19th century
to our days. It’s a well known fact that both his intellectual and
artistic productions led to controversy, even in Brazil.
The first issue ever involving the composer’s name with Brazil to
draw attention is that the Emperor Pedro II of Brazil had
presumably had some connection with the Wagner’s music.
The Brazilian Emperor’s interest in the filed of arts is already a well
known and much admired aspect. He was a generous patron and
thanks to him many Brazilian composers and artists had the chance
to study in Europe, especially the nowadays famous Carlos Gomes.
Besides that, there have been many actions to promote both
Wagner’s music and ideas in Brazil throughout the 20th century.
Albeit, through the actual production of his operas and the
performances of his music in concerts as well as through Brazilian
composers’ music who took up the influence of his style.
The episode involving D. Pedro II’ interest in Wagner’s music has
lead to many interpretations and myths as can be seen on the
following Wikipedia (Portuguese) anonymous entry:
"Also in March 1857, the Brazilian ambassador in Leipzig appeared
unexpectedly in Zurich bringing a message to Wagner. His Imperial
Majesty Dom Pedro II, Emperor of Brazil, was very interested in the
work of Wagner, and wanted to invite him to Rio de Janeiro. Wagner
was so surprised that he could not believe it. He sent scores richly
bound and autographed of “The Flying Dutchman”, “Tannhäuser”
and “Lohengrin” to Brazil, and waited for a response. Several
months went by, and the answer did not come. Wagner thought he
had been played a hoax. Only many years later, when Pedro II
himself appeared to greet him in person at the first Bayreuth
Festival is that Wagner learned that the Emperor's interest in his
work was true. To the present date, one can read the guestbook of
the hotel in Bayreuth marked modestly: Name: Pedro II Occupation:
Emperor. It is speculated that Wagner was waiting for an answer
and got no, but it is more likely that, no matter what the interest of
Peter II in bringing Wagner to Brazil, his ministers have so
deterred. After all, we must not forget that Wagner was then
considered a revolutionary criminal, even wanted by police in
Germany "(1).
The episode was revealed in detail by Edgard Brito Chaves Junior, in
his book "Wagner and Brazil", in which he tells us:
"Undoubtedly, the greatest bond that Wagner had with Brazil
consisted of the exchange of letters between the composer and the
then Minister of Foreign Affairs of Brazil’s son, bearing the same
name as his father, Dr. Ernesto Ferreira França, in 1857. This
correspondence led Wagner to think about moving to Brazil and
present their works in Italian translation in the Lyric Theatre of Rio
de Janeiro. Those letters also prove Wagner’s intention to dedicate
to D.Pedro II his “Tristan and Isolde”, having earlier abandoned the
project for “The Ring of the Nibelungs”, to devote himself to that
lyrical drama. "(2)
Later, he continues:
"The first letter of Ferreira França, dated from Dresden, on March 9,
1857, which will find Wagner in a depressive mood, banned from
Germany, says in French:
"I am one of your talents admirers both of and your musical and
literary works, and knowing that you are in Zurich and perhaps now
with nothing to attach you to Europe at this moment, it occurred to
me the idea of a relationship between you and my country. I have in
mind associating the southern charming nature and the great talent
that no one can deny you. I thought you’d might decide to
undertake a leisure trip to Brazil, whose capital, Rio de Janeiro, as
you might know, has a very well established Italian opera house,
where your works could be presented and where you would
undoubtedly find support and protection in the person of the
Emperor, a zealous protector of arts and letters. "I take hereafter
the liberty to consult with you about it and, in case you authorize it,
I shall write within the next 24 hours to the present board of the
Rio de Janeiro Lyric Theatre to convey your wishes. I am not in
charge of taking any initiative in this regard, but I believe I’m
providing a service to my country, giving it the opportunity to
admire such a talent as yours.””
"It has come to my knowledge that you are finishing a great work,
whose title is worthy of its author, The Nibelungs. If you want to
dedicate this new opera, with pleasure I shall convey your wish to
His Majesty, whose qualities and skills are above any praise. In this
case, your application must be accompanied by a copy of all your
musical and poetic works. I hope you excuse the liberty I have
taken and accept the expression of high esteem with which I have
the honor to be your humble servant. " (3)
The article by Edgard Brito Chaves Junior Keys in its turn based on
an article written by Carlos H. Hunsche, published in the Humboldt
Magazine, no.23, Year 11, 1971. Due to the widespread interest not
only in Wagner’s music, but also in his ideas, speculation around
this episode was always intense, in Brazil. On the other hand, D.
Pedro II has traditionally been associated with the idea of a well
cultivated ruler interested in the arts and sciences with an open
mind to the innovations that took place during time his time.
Anyway, it was not only Dom Pedro II’s interest that made the
music and the ideas of Wagner come to Brazil when the composer
was still alive and fully productive.
The evolution of concert music in Brazil, as described in one of the
first serious books about that subject entitled "150 Years of Music
in Brazil", its author Luis Heitor Correa de Azevedo states that
Wagner's music began to appear in the opera seasons repertoire in
Rio de Janeiro, in 1883. (4) In that year, the opera "Lohengrin"
would have been received with coldness and boredom. This was
something that could be easily explained by the deep rooted habit
of nearly a century of Italian opera tradition in Brazil, at the time.
However, in 1892, still according to Luis Hector, the first audition of
"Tannhäuser" was received with much enthusiasm and was a major
social event.
Wagner's operas came to Brazil in a sequence thereafter. They were
"Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg" in 1905, "Tristan und Isolde" in
1910, "Parsifal" and "Die Walküre" in 1913, and in 1922, during the
celebrations for Brazil’s independence centennial, the complete foru
operas cycle "Der Ring des Nibelungen". As opera companies that
were active in Brazil at that time were always Italian until the time
of World War I, Wagner's operas were always staged in that
language. Only from the 1922 celebrations and on is that German
opera companies, or German language casts began to appear in
Brazil. From that time on, there has been no more news of any
production occurred in another language besides the original
German. The practice adopted in some countries to eventually
produce foreign operas in the local language has always been
vehemently rejected in Brazil. Between 1911 and 1959, over one
hundred performances of ten musical dramas by Wagner were
presented in Rio de Janeiro.
From the 1960s on, festivals in many different capital cities also
included Wagner’s music in their opera seasons and concert
programs. The Amazonas Opera Festival, held annually in Manaus,
in the historically famous Opera House has had almost all his operas
already staged. "Parsifal" was the one chosen in 2013, during the
celebrations of the composer's bicentennial. That’s to say, exactly
one hundred years after its premiere in Brazil. A very interesting
fact about the production of "Parsifal" at the Teatro Municipal in Rio
de Janeiro, on September 8, 1913 was that there was a legal
prohibition from Germany that the opera could not be presented
elsewhere before 1. January 1914. Premiered in Bayreuth in 1882, it
was to be heard again in the Metropolitan Theater, New York, on
December 24, 1903, with a subsequent ban on the basis of German
law. The premiere of the Paris Opera production took place only on
January 6, 1914. The fact is that Rio de Janeiro’s Theater had
obtained a special license to present the opera when Prince Albert,
Kaiser Wilhelm II’s brother, and his wife, Princess Irene of Prussia
visited Brazil in early 1913 with the purpose of expanding the
investments and trade with Germany. (5)
The influence of Wagner's music could already be felt in the
productions of Carlos Gomes (Campinas,1836 - Belém,1896), the
most famous Brazilian opera composer. His musical discourse lies
somewhere between the tradition of Verdi and Puccini, which places
him alongside with Amilcare Ponchielli (1834-1886). He gained
wide notoriety in Italy during his time. However, Italians flirtation
of with Wagner's music was to be strengthened through Arrigo
Boito (1842-1918), poet, composer and librettist, author of the
opera "Mefistofele" and also of Verdi's operas librettos "Otello" and
"Falstaff".
Despite the growing nationalist sentiment in Italy, which took place
around the time of the country’s unification, the enthusiasm for the
new German music grew considerably even under intense protest of
the critics on newspapers. The construction of a musical drama
through the continued use of leitmotifs, in the manner of Wagner,
exerted great attraction on Italian composers at that time. Carlos
Gomes was not immune to this. Not only he used such technique,
but also even eventual melodic motifs began to appear in some of
his works as well as in some Italians composers. In Gomes’ opera
"Lo Schiavo" (The Slave), dated of 1889, he makes a distant but
noticeable reference to the famous "Forest Murmurs" musical
episode, from Siegfried, at the beginning of the Fourth Act, through
the aria "Come è Splendido e bello il sol". The very heroic character
and descriptive orchestral prelude that precedes the aria, the
nowadays well-known (in Brazil) "Alvorada (Dawn)", were very
similar to the Wagnerian orchestral excerpts. In the opera "Mary
Tudor", the use of leitmotifs gives cohesion to a structure in which,
the composer was already looking away from the ordinary sequence
of arias, ensembles and choruses to create a solid drama. In his last
opera, "Condor" or "Odaléia", premiered at the Teatro Alla Scala in
Milan on February 21, 1891, Carlos Gomes makes explicit use of
leitmotifs. The subject was already somewhat out of fashion. A plot
that took place between Samarkand and Baghdad was imagined by
Mario Canti, the librettist. The opera was received coldly. Although
the Brazilian composer was trying to adapt to the new trends
through a mature and coherent drama having assimilated the most
important of Wagnerian technique, it is still belonged to the world
of exotic distant lands that made "Il Guarany" so famous. The
premiere of “Odaléia” took place one year after the that of the
opera "Cavalleria Rusticana", by Pietro Mascagni, in "Verista" style
in Italian opera, directly influenced by Realism, in literature.
Another aspect about Wagnerian operas in Italy at that time was
the constant use of harmonic modulations, which seemed very
annoying to some critics.
The Italian violinist and musical memorialist, Vincenzo Cernicchiaro,
who lived many years in Brazil in the second half of the 19th
century, spared no criticism to some Brazilian composers he
considered to use harmonic modulations abusively. The author
describes anyway, the premiere of "Condor" in Brazil, as a major
event. It took place in 1892, the same year "Tannhäuser" was
premiered in Rio de Janeiro attracting a lot more interest than
Carlos Gomes’ opera. (6)
The most distinguished of all admirers and supporters of
Richard Wagner’s music in Brazil was Leopoldo Miguéz (Rio de
Janeiro, 1850-1902), whose education had been fully realized in
Europe. His father, a successful Spanish merchant moved to Porto,
when Leopold was still a boy. There, he studied violin, piano and
harmony. For a long time, Miguéz served as a musician in his spare
time, as he followed his father in the trade business. However, the
attraction for both conducting and composition made him gradually
move away from trade to devote himself exclusively to music. In
1882, the composer put all his efforts on the Symphony in E flat,
introducing choirs and a fanfare in the final movement. The work
was written especially for the Marquis of Pombal’s death centennial
celebrations and it was premiered at the Dom Pedro II Imperial
Theater. The composer invested a large sum in the production of
this symphony that took after Beethoven’s 9the Symphony
grandiloquent model. His financial loss was huge, but the success of
the work was worth the effort. Besides being a composer, Miguéz
was an important reformer of music education and the Conservatory
organizer, which was renamed National Institute of Music, after the
Republic’s proclamation. For some years, he worked as a merchant
and developed his artistic activities in parallel.
Miguez’ talent, combined with a severe training in a traditional so-
called Portuguese Trade School for business administration helped
him considerably. His thoroughness with ledgers was transposed
into the scores he prepared and copied very accurately. After the
success of the Symphony in E flat, the composer went to Europe to
improve his composing skills. He brought with him an autograph
letter of the Emperor Pedro II addressed to the French composer
Ambroise Thomas, who taught at the Paris Conservatoire. He
eventually settled in Brussels, the city where as a child he dreamed
of studying. Miguéz arrived in Europe in 1882, the year of Wagner's
death, which caused an enormous repercussion in the press. It was
something similar to the death of a great head of state. That year
was also when Wagner’s last opera, "Parsifal" made it to the scene
in Bayreuth. In his return to Brazil in 1884, his advocacy on
Wagner’s aesthetic ideals took him together with Coelho Neto,
writer and several young intellectuals, and the composer Alberto
Nepomuceno, to found the "Centro Artístico" that would be
responsible for Wagner’s ideas dissemination in Brazil. The
programmatic use of music fascinated Miguéz so that his attempts
in the field of pure music, such as in the Symphony in E-flat and the
Sonata in A major for violin and piano, were not as successful as in
his symphonic poems.
Miguéz’ tone poems represent the first large-scale symphonic works
ever written by a Brazilian composer. Each one of these large
orchestral frescos lasts about 20 minutes comprising full
development sections with formal coherence. The model of Franz
Liszt is quite evident, but these compositions present a less
rhapsodic structure than those by the Hungarian composer. In all
three symphonic poems, he uses two alternating themes. There is a
remarkable tone-color work associated with a refined orchestration.
There are many contrasts between solos and ensembles reinforced
by the brass section with the strings support.
It is important to stress out that the orchestral excerpts from
Wagner operas became independent well known musical works. All
preludes, interludes and overtures were introduced in the
symphonic repertoire and inspired many concert pieces. As the
operas concepts for the theater themselves taken after Wagner
required material resources often unattainable, either in Brazil, or in
most European and New World countries at that time.
"Parisina" (1888), the first of the symphonic poems of Miguéz, is a
major work inspired by a poem by Lord Byron. It was written
between 1812 and 1815 based on a sixteenth century narrative. In
Byron’s poem, Hugo and Parisina were engaged before Azo decide
to marry Parisina. Hugo was the bastard son of Azo, Duke of Naples.
In the end, Azo orders Hugo to be executed before Parisina who
runs screaming in horror as if she were mad. In the original story,
however, the fate of Parisina is unknown. Miguéz sought a model
similar to Wagner’s idea of redemption. According to Guilherme de
Melo, "he was looking for a transcendent idealism, excluding any of
the original poem’s sensuality, to treat love in its purest and most
elevated form." (7) In this work, Miguéz introduces a fugue that is
probably the first written according to scholastic canons as all the
fugues indicated in the works of Brazilian composers from the
colonial period are just simple “fugatti” without further
elaborations. "Ave Libertas" (1890) is a tribute to Marshal Deodoro
da Fonseca (1827-1892) to commemorate the Republic’s
Proclamation’s first anniversary. Miguéz represents in this piece the
triumph of the Republic over the Empire as an apotheosis. The time
control is rigorous and dramatic and effective use of orchestration is
perhaps the most well finished example within the Brazilian musical
romanticism. The plot here is not as detailed as it would be
expected in a typical symphonic poem.
"Prometheus" (1891), the last symphonic poem by Miguéz is based
on Greek mythology. Prometheus stole fire from Olympus and
delivered it to men, teaching them how to use it. Zeus punished him
for that chained him to a cliff on top of the Caucasus. The work
begins in the Dorian mode depicting the Theogony, or the origin of
the gods in Greek mythology, which develops the symbolism of
Prometheus, the son of the Titan Iapetus by Clymene, one of the
Oceanids. According to Hesiod’s classic work, Prometheus, which
means "Forethinker", was one of the Titans who supported Zeus
against Chronos. Men Creator and giver of fire to mankind, he was
sentenced to be chained for 30,000 years, with an eagle who fed on
his ever-regenerating liver every day. However, he was freed by
Heracles, who replaced the prisoner by Chiron, the centaur.
All three symphonic poems were published in Leipzig by J.Rieter-
Biedermann. The composer traveled to Europe in 1895 with the
purpose of visiting conservatories in France, Italy and Germany. For
that prupose, he requested financial assistance to the newly sworn
republican government that only allowed him to keep his wages
during the trip. Besides getting the publication of his symphonic
poems, as well as works by other his contemporary Brazilian
composers in Leipzig, he acquired a large number of instruments for
the National Institute of Music’s symphony orchestra. In a report
presented to the Minister of the Interior, in 1896, Miguéz hails what
he had seen in German conservatories opposed to French and
Italian counterparts.
Some authors, such as Vincenzo Cernicchiaro and Renato Almeida,
tried to diminish the importance of Miguéz’ works. The first one
considered him unimaginative and overestimated, while the other
one, too subservient to Wagner’s music. It is a fact that Cernichiaro
did not see with good eyes the growing interest in German opera in
a milieu where he thought to be Italian opera’s exclusive territory.
Renato Almeida was on the other hand, totally committed to Mário
de Andrade’s nationalist movement’s cause and wanted to diminish
the importance all romantic composers who did not make use of
Brazilian folk themes according to the modernists beliefs. In his
book "Compêndio de História da Música Brasileira " (8), he even
states untruly that symphonic poems appeared in Brazil only in
1897 (!) with Leopoldo Miguéz. This was at a time when Claude
Debussy had already premiered "L'Aprés-midi d'one faune ", first
presented in 1894, Paul Dukas, his "L'Apprenti Sorcier ", premiered
in 1897, and Jean Sibelius, "Finland", premiered in 1899.
Cernicchiaro even states, what in our today’s current understanding
is very shallow, that the symphonic poems by Miguéz lack stylistic
unity, originality and a more rigorous orchestration making him a
second-rate composer .... (!) (9).
From that time to the present, one could say exactly the opposite,
as Miguéz was very thoroughly composer and an exceptional
orchestrator. Such quality was improved in its vast experience as a
conductor. He was therefore an artist in pace with his time and his
programmatic symphonic works were pointing towards the same
direction of the most updated trends in Europe in the late
nineteenth century. This was something Cernicchiaro could not
admit. It is no exaggeration to approximate these symphonic
poems to the early ones composed by Richard Strauss.
There were two productions for the theater by Miguéz. The first one
was the incidental music for the drama, "Pelo Amor!” (For Love!),
on a libretto by Coelho Neto, which was performed at the Casino
Fluminense in 1897. It is, therefore, a drama with musical numbers
and not exactly an opera, as some authors suggest. His only opera,
"I Salduni", was premiered at the Teatro Lirico Fluminense in 1901.
Those performances took place under excellent conditions provided
by Giovanni Sanzone’s opera company. However, they did not take
place on the occasion for which they were planned, the Fourth
Centennial of Brazil’s celebrations. Despite of being a devoted
follower of Wagner aesthetics, Miguéz introduced some
Mediterranean colors into his music. And although the plot had
nothing to do with a Brazilian theme, he was looking somehow for
southern European roots. In the case of "I Salduni", he used a story
taken the times of the Roman Empire. In this opera, the composer
explicitly appropriated themes from "The Ring of the Nibelungs". On
a libretto by Coelho Neto, translated into Italian by Ettore Malaguti,
the opera is set during the time of Caesar's wars against the Gauls,
covering their Druidic rites and customs. The plot describes the vow
of the “Salduni” fraternal friendship while going to war chained
together to one another and destined to die together. It still deals
with them both love for the same woman and the final destruction
of the Gallic armies, crushed by the Roman strategy.
Miguéz was also the author of "Hymn to the Proclamation of the
Republic", with lyrics by Medeiros de Albuquerque. Despite having
benefited from Dom Pedro II generosity, Miguéz was a staunch
Republican and that political view of his much benefited him after
the Republic’s proclamation in 1889. He died on September 6, 1902.
Another composer who also was influenced by the music of Wagner
was Alexandre Levy (São Paulo, 1864-1892), as can be heard on his
symphonic poem "Werther", of 1888. In fact, this composition still
follows the structural form of an overture. Levy was the son of a
French merchant of music of Jewish origin, Louis Levy, who was
also a clarinet player. Although he died very young, his musical
output was very significant. Despite of most authors attaching him
to the nationalist movement, he was a romantic composer mostly
trained in the European tradition, directly influenced by the mid-
nineteenth century French, which followed the earlier German
models of Schumann and Mendelssohn. Such influences can be
noted in works like his Symphony in E minor, chamber and piano
music. However, in "Werther", the composer is already closer to the
more elaborated overtures such as those in the operas "Rienzi" and
"Tannhäuser", by Wagner.
Alberto Nepomuceno was another composer who lived through this
time of great conflict on both aesthetic and political ideas. Born in
Fortaleza, in 1865, he was educated in Rio de Janeiro and in 1890
went to Berlin, where he improved his fluency in German language
and joined the Academy Meisterschule, becoming a composition
student of Heinrich von Herzogenberg, a great friend of Brahms.
During his vacations, he attended the concerts of Brahms and Hans
von Bülow, in Vienna. Later he transferred to the Stern
Conservatory in Berlin, where for two years he had organ and
composition lessons with Arnó Kleffel, and piano with H. Ehrlich.
Nepomuceno also had lessons with Theodor Lechetitzky. In his class
he met his future wife the Norwegian pianist, Walborg Bang whom
he married in 1893. She was a student of Edvard Grieg, the most
important Norwegian composer of the time. After his marriage, he
spent a season at Grieg’s home in Bergen. Nepomuceno’s friendship
with Grieg was essential for the development of a nationalistic
ideal, especially through the awareness of Brazilian culture’s
richness. After making the finals at the Stern Conservatory, in 1894,
conducting the Berlin Philharmonic with two of his works (Scherzo
für grosses Orcherter e Suíte Antiga), he enrolled at the Schola
Cantorum in Paris in order to improve his organ studies under
Alexandre Guilmant. At that time, he met Camille Saint-Saëns,
Charles Bordes, Vincent D'Indy and others. He attended the world
premiere of “Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune”, by Claude Debussy,
Nepomuceno was the first to conduct that piece in Brazil, in 1908,
during the Opening of Ports Centenary celebrations. He was also
invited by Charles Chabault, Greek Professor at the Sorbonne to
write the incidental music for the tragedy “Electra”. Funded by the
Brazilian government, in 1910, he held several concerts with music
by Brazilian composers in Brussels, Geneva and Paris. During that
tour, he visited Debussy at his home in Neuilly-sur-Seine, having
received as a gift the score of “Pelléas et Mélisande”, with an
autograph. (10)
In 1913, he conducted the great Wagner Festival at the Municipal
Theatre of Rio de Janeiro, having as soloist the dramatic tenor Karl
Jorn, from both the Metropolitan Theater in New York and the
Royal Opera of Berlin’s casts, in addition to being a singer at the
German Imperial House. It was the first time ever Rio de Janeiro
heard of a Festival fully dedicated to the works of Wagner. The
repertoire presented was of excerpts from the opera "Die
Meistersinger von Nürnberg", "Der Fliegende Holländer",
"Tannhäuser", "Die Walküre" and "Lohengrin" (11). Nepomuceno
wrote two operas, “Ártemis”, in 1898, on a libretto by Coelho Neto
and “Abul”, in 1913, on a libretto of his own, based on a novel by
Herbert Ward.
Artemis was premiered at the Teatro São Pedro de Alcântara.
Nepomuceno used an orchestra of Wagnerian proportions,
something still little known to Brazilian audiences. It is a one act
opera with a non interrupted action, faithfully following the model
of Wagner. There are purely instrumental passages in the opera, but
the music fits beautifully with the dramatic action. The plot of the
opera presents Helios, a Greek sculptor, Hestia, his wife and Delia,
their daughter. It takes place in ancient Greece, where the scene
shows the sculptor before his greatest creation, the sculpture of
Ártemis. All the drama revolves around the artist's fascination about
his work and the madness that is taking over him. He forgets
everything, while his wife, Hestia, desperately attempts to bring
him back to reality. He hears voices saying that if he sacrifices his
own daughter the image of Artemis will come to life. He does it. A
piercing scream is heard and in sequence, Helium appears with the
heart of the little one in his hands to offer it to the statue.
He embraces the pedestal of the statue and when Hestia approaches
in panic, he gets scared and drops the image of Artemis, smashing it
to the ground. Completely out of his mind, the artist tries to
reconstruct the shards, kissing them wildly. Hestia, annihilated by
the pain goes away in the opposite direction while the mysterious
voices are becoming increasingly present. The use of only three
characters and an invisible choir, backed by a large orchestra,
brings to mind the solution found by Wagner in Siegfried, but with
an action far more succinct, since Artemis lasts less than one hour
and Siegfried, around four hours! At the time of the premiere, the
first two performances were conducted by the composer himself
and the following four ones, by Leopoldo Miguéz.
In 1900, he made an appointment with the then director of
the Vienna Opera, Gustav Mahler, in order to negotiate the staging
of Artemis there, but he fell heavily ill, retiring to Bergen for
recovering, at the house of his friend Edvard Grieg.
In recent times, in the 1980s and 90s, some performances
of this opera took place at the Municipal Theater of Rio de Janeiro,
conducted by Isaac Karabitchevsky and at the Winter Music Festival
of Campos dos Goytacazes, RJ, conducted by Sergio Dias .
Nepomuceno´s second opera , Abul is a legendary action in three
acts. The opera was premiered on June 30, 1913 at the Teatro
Coliseo in Buenos Aires. In Brazil it was premiered on September
10, 1913 at the Municipal Theater in Rio de Janeiro, followed by the
Municipal Theatre of São Paulo, in October the same year. The
European premiere was held in Rome at the Teatro Constanze on
April 15, 1915. This opera is one of the composer‘s most significant
works. It was very well received by critics both in Brazil and abroad.
Initiated in 1899, shortly after Artemis, and finished in 1905. The
work, according to Luiz Paulo Sampaio and Bruno Furlanetto,
highlights the best features of the composer´s style: the proper
balance between the vocal and instrumental parts, and especially
the refined and advanced orchestration for its time. The original
libretto in Portuguese, also written by the composer, has an Italian
version as well, used for presentations outside Brazil (12)
Although it describes a well elaborated Naturalistic short story, the
libretto´s text is very uneven. Certainly Nepomuceno did not have
the same skills as a playwright as he had as a composer. References
to a Wagnerian world are well evident, especially to the "Ring of the
Nibelung" and maybe "Parsifal". Just like in "Artemis" the action of
"Abul" happens in ancient times, this time in the city of Ur, in
Chaldea.
The opera follows the grand opera tradition divided into three acts,
as follows.
Act one
At dawn, Terak´s home and workshop can be seen. A statue of the
idol Hurki can also be seen. Terak and his wife Shinah anxiously
wait the return of their son Abul, coming from a long pilgrimage.
Abul is warmly welcomed, but when his father leads him to worship
the idol, Abul refuses. Terak warns his son that King Amraphel
punishes with the death sentence anyone who refuses to worship
the god Hurki. Shinah informs her son that on that day Iskah, the
new priestess, will sacrifice an innocent child. Abul, as he hears the
name of the new priestess remembers the pure girl, who now
commits a cruel crime. The father hardened by Abul´s accusations,
expels him from home.
Act Two
In a garden, we hear the song of the priestesses entering following
Iskah; she shows herself in distress for having to make the
sacrifice she abhors. At some point she remembers Abul, he comes
into play and they sing a duet together talking of their disgust for
Hurki. Iskah gets fascinated by the intensity of their words, but
continues with the service and does not want to break her sacred
vows. The time for the sacrifice approaches and the priestess goes
to the temple, where the statue of Hurki is sculpted by Terak.
Third act
At his camp, Abul is greeted by his followers as an icon of holiness
when the cry of a group of women is heard, for a soldier of the king
has kidnapped a child for a new sacrifice to the god Hurki. Abul´s
companions besiege the soldier, wanting to do justice, but being
prevented by Abul who asks for the release of the soldier and allows
him to take the child. All find Abul´s decision strange. He comforts
the mother of the child saying that heaven will protect the child. The
final scene takes us to the temple of Hurki where the sacrifice cult
happens with prayers and dances. It comes the moment for the
sacrifice. When Iskah is about to begin the terrible act, Abul and his
companions invade the temple and prevent the cruel act, and Iskah
is amazed by his attitude. The king and his guards flee. The opera
ends with Iskah in the arms of Abul and everyone, including the
priests singing in chorus to the glory of Abul.
On the occasion of Alberto Nepomuceno first centenary, the
then called National University of Brazil Music School, now the
School of Music of UFRJ, published the opera’s libretto and
promoted a concert version of Abul, on July 5, 1964 . (13)
The last Brazilian composers who perhaps have been most
influenced by the ideas of Wagner were Francisco Braga (Rio de
Janeiro, 1868-1945) and Joaquim Manuel de Macedo (Cantagalo, RJ,
1847 - Cataguazes, MG, 1925).
Antônio Francisco Braga began his musical studies in 1876 and
graduated in clarinet with Antônio Luís de Moura in 1886 and was
also a student of Carlos Mesquita (harmony and counterpoint). In
1890, he participated in the official contest to choose the new
Brazilian National Anthem. As he ranked among the top four places
and, therefore, he was granted a two-year scholarship to study in
Europe. He then went to Paris, where he studied composition with
Jules Massenet and later settled in Dresden, Germany. Braga was
the composer who closest lived the music of Wagner, in Germany,
and was also the first to try to use a theme of a Brazilian nationalist
character associated with the Wagnerian aesthetics.
In his opera "Jupyra", of 1899, on a libretto by Luiz Gaston
Escragnolle Doria (Italian version of A.Menotti-Buja), based on a
novel by Bernardo Guimarães (Ouro Preto, MG, 1825-1884), the
composer makes use of a dense orchestration for a short opera in
one act, to create a drama very close also to the verismo / realism
so trendy at that time in Italian opera. Back in Brazil, in 1900, he
conducted the opera for the first time in the Lyric Theatre of Rio de
Janeiro, during the 4th. Centennial of Brazil’s celebrations. While in
Europe, he wrote symphonic pieces very close in character to Franz
Liszt's symphonic poems and the orchestral works of Wagner's
operas. The symphonic poem Cauchemar (Nightmare), composed in
1895, brings direct allusions to "Der Fliegende Holländer"’s
overtrure. The opera’s title is often translated into Portuguese as
"The Ghost Ship", as a loan from the French title, "Le Bateau
Fantôme". In this work, Braga quotes as an epigraph on the score, a
verse from “Midsummer Night’s Dream” by William Shakespeare: “I
have had a dream, past the wit of man to
say what dream it was” (14). Francisco Braga’s symphonic poems
are often brief and concise, in contrast to those of Leopoldo Miguéz.
Other works of that kind by Braga are Paysage (1892), Symphonic
Episode (1898), inspired by devotional verses of Gonçalves Dias,
Marabá (1898) and Insomnia (1908). In "Marabá", he introduces
for the first time a theme of folk origin in an attempt to approximate
the Wagnerian musical fantasy world with the aims of a national
identity that began to be discussed in the aesthetic movements of
the time. During his stay in Dresden, both "Paysage" and
"Cauchemar" were presented at the Theater Gewerbehaus in 1897.
The enthusiasm of Braga with Wagner's music can be perceived
through his letters to some Brazilian friends, during his trips to
Bayreuth. The composer undertook two trips to Dresden, one in
1896 and another in 1897 with the specific purpose of attending the
performance of Parsifal (15). After his stay in Germany, he left for
the Isle of Capri, Italy, and remained there until 1899, where he
practically concluded "Jupyra". The composer also wrote many
orchestral small works, such as fantasies, preludes and variation
cycles, always in a consistent style balancing the orchestral forces
available to him in Brazil. His latest and most ambitious composition
with evident Wagnerian influence was the cantata "The Peace -
Parade," for chorus and orchestra, on a poem by Escaragnole Doria ,
composed in 1919 in honor of the then President of the Republic,
Epitácio Pessoa, who returned from Paris after his participation in
the Peace Conference. On the occasion, a concert under the
thematic trilogy "War-Victory-Peace" took place. It was left to the
young Villa-Lobos to write "The War", his 3rd. Symphony, to J.
Octaviano Gonçalves, today a completely forgotten composer, to
write a work for "Victory" and Francisco Braga created this cantata,
"Peace." The composer was inspired directly by the weak peace
exaltation occasion verses by Dória, which, incidentally, were the
inspiration for all the works in the concert. (16) The cantata "Peace
- Parade" goes back, even if distantly, to the chorus of the Guest
Greetings from Tannhäuser. Despite the admiration and advocacy
throughout his life of Wagner’s music, Braga’s music never failed to
have a certain French taste, as if he wanted to make a transition
between a more conservative taste that was dominant within his
milieu for something more modern and transformative. Two years
after his return to Brazil, he was appointed professor at the National
Institute of Music in Rio. In 1905 he composed the Hymn to the
Flag, whose verses are by Olavo Bilac. His compositions always
show a formal rigor that reflects his French academic background.
In 1908 he composed from original folk and popular music themes,
the incidental music for the play "The Diamonds Contractor," by
Afonso Arinos. And in 1909, at the inauguration of the Municipal
Theater in Rio de Janeiro, his symphonic poem "Insomnia" was
given its premiere. In 1912 he took part in the founding of the
Symphonic Concert Society, of which he became the artistic director
and conductor, staying ahead of the orchestra for twenty years. He
was the perpetual president of Pro-Musica Society and founder of
the Musicians Union. His activity as both a conductor and concert
promoter was essential for the final settling of symphonic music in
Brazil, which was by then heavily dominated by opera and practices
of sacred music which still prevailed in an essentially Catholic
nation.
The opera "Jupyra" is based on a novel by Bernardo Guimarães, and
to enable it to be transformed into an opera, it was transcribed into
a libretto by Gaston D'Escragnolle Doria –a prominent figure in Rio
de Janeiro’s cultural life of at the time. The brief and tragic plot is
set in the nineteenth century, the region of the “Vila de Campanha
do Rio Verde” in the center-south state of Minas Gerais. The plot
unfolds as follows: - The initial chorus announces that love is
voluble; it changes like the moon and the wind. Jupyra a humble
Indian girl is in love with Carlito, with whom she has an affair.
However, Quirino declares himself to Jupyra, and for her love he
would be capable of anything. But Jupyra does not correspond to
Quirino’s wishes and feels happy for loving Carlito, imagining that
her love is corresponded. Carlito, however, is already sick of
Jupyra´s love and wants to get rid of her, but he does not want to
embarrass her. And so he disguises her. Asked by Jupyra if he still
loves her, Carlito replies dryly: "Ask my friends." Carlito meets
Rosalia, a very pretty girl, and there's a whole love scene between
the two, with romantic vows. The encounter is witnessed by Jupyra
who panics and asks Quirino to kill Carlito. Seeing Carlito's body
floating in the Rio Verde, she throws herself off a bridge to her
death.
Quoting Rubens Ricciardi, "Just as in the libretto there is a
confrontation between characters of different ethnic origins that
made up Brazilian identity, so Braga’s music also evokes songs that
recall the phrasing of Brazilian popular songs, the unmistakable
“dolce” in the theme of the overture later repeated in the final coda.
But that typical late 19th century discussion about the national
character of Brazilian music was not yet solidified, this was
something to be left to the following generations. Braga’s style
therefore is a synthesis of several contemporary European romantic
musical trends that go back to the direct influence of his teacher
Massenet. There are also elements of Italian operatic verismo as
well as traces of Wagnerian symphonic counterpoint. "(17)
Braga also wrote, from 1912 to 1922 the opera Anita Garibaldi, about which there is so far, no further information available.
Joaquim Manuel de Macedo was a prominent figure of
the Brazilian musical life active in Europe. Born in Cantagalo, he was
the nephew of the writer Joaquim Manuel de Macedo, an important
figure in Rio de Janeiro in the 19th century. His family was wealthy
and could send him to Europe to study. He spent much time in
Brussels, where he studied at the Royal Conservatory. Later, he
perfected his skills with Joseph Joachim (1831-1907) and Charles
Auguste de Bériot (1802-1870). Through a recommendation of
Vieuxtemps, he became the Covent Garden Theatre Orchestra’s
concertmaster, in London. Upon his return to Brazil in 1871, he was
appointed Professor at the already moribund Imperial Chapel. Even
so, he was very active in the musical life of the Rio de Janeiro. In
1883, he settled permanently in the then “province” of Minas
Gerais, and began dedicating himself exclusively to composition. His
output was immense and has not been properly evaluated, yet.
Reportedly he wrote more than 200 works from piano pieces,
chamber works with the most diverse backgrounds, including eight
concertos for violin and orchestra, and a symphonic poem originally
titled "Floriano Peixoto," with the indication of "Opus 160" for an
orchestra of Wagnerian proportions, which includes effects of
cannon fire. A version for two pianos of this work was published by
Casa Bevilacqua, in Rio de Janeiro and later by M. Dreissig in
Hamburg, entitled simply "Poema Symphonico". The whereabouts of
the original version for orchestra is unknown, but through the
reduced version for two pianos it is possible to evaluate the
grandiloquence of this work, very close to the tone poems of
Leopold Miguéz. The work has three movements: 1.Allegro
maestoso; 2.Marche Funeral; 3.Apotheose.
Macedo’s most important project was, however, the opera
"Tiradentes". He started composing it in 1897, on a libretto by
Augusto de Lima. It is a drama in four acts, which it is undoubtedly
the largest project undertaken by a Brazilian composer for the
theater. This opera was never staged its total conception. Only in
1992, on the occasion of the Minas Gerais Conspiracy’s
(Inconfidência Mineira) Bi-centennial that a joint effort took place
among the State of Minas Gerais cultural institutions, in Belo
Horizonte. It was performed in an abridged version like an oratorio,
at “Palácio das Artes”, that state’s largest concert hall. The work of
bringing that opera back to light was carried out by Prof. and
Musicologist Sandra Loureiro de Freitas Reis, who located the score,
reported missing for many years, in 1986, while she was Head of
the Federal University of Minas Gerais Music Department. Attracted
by the republican cause and the nationalist uprising that occurred in
Vila Rica (now Ouro Preto), at the end of the 18th century, and its
main character, Tiradentes, Macedo wrote an opera on a libretto
constructed on dense iambic verses by Augusto de Lima. The total
duration of the opera is approximately 4 hours. The composer
finished the orchestration work in Belgium, with the support of the
Brazilian government at the time, with the intention of seeing it
possibly staged at "La Monnaie" Theater, in Brussels.
On the occasion of the International Exhibition of Brussels, Alberto
Nepomuceno conducted some parts of the opera before a selected
audience, which included King Albert of Belgium. The local critics
were very about the new work. According to some chroniclers of the
time, Macedo had received proposals from various European
theaters to produce the complete opera in the following years.
However, it all happened soon after the First World War. All
European economies were exhausted and such proposals could only
guarantee the assignment of spaces. All production costs should be
run by either the composer or the Brazilian government. As that
was not a possibility, as the composer was already in serious
financial trouble, Macedo returned to Brazil already ill, in 1925,
dying soon thereafter. The opera "Tiradentes" is very similar to
Wagner’s first operas, Lohengrin and Tannhäuser and, like those it
included several choral numbers. The oratorio version presented in
in Belo Horizonte, conducted by Roberto Duarte, was prepared by
the Italian conductor Sergio Magnani, who spent most of his life in
the state capital city(18). He was educated within the Italian
"Risorgimento" movement, Magnani was a pupil of Alfredo Casella
(1883-1947). To him, interfering on other composers’ works was
something very natural, especially the Brazilians ones. Therefore, it
is difficult to have a deeper understanding of how the opera would
sound really, as we do not know how much changed from the
original score for that occasion was done.
Finally, we must remember that the musical environment
that fostered the emergence of Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959) was
quite marked by the cult of Wagner's music with respect to the
world of concert music of the time. The idea that the early Villa-
Lobos would have been influenced by Wagner is a thesis defended
by musicologists and historians. However, such influence was very
quickly dismissed by Villa-Lobos personal multicultural, which
enabled him to create later on an absolutely original music.
English version:
Harry Crowl and
Rosemari Enns Crowl
Notes
(unless otherwise indicated, all in Portuguese)
(1) – Richard Wagner – Wikipedia, português. Consultada em
11/05/2013, às 14h09.
(2) – Brito Chaves Junior, Edgard – Wagner e o Brasil (Rio de
Janeiro). Emebê Editora Ltda, Rio de Janeiro. 1976. Pág.1.
(3) – Idem. Pág.2.
(4) - Correia de Oliveira, Luiz Heitor – 150 Anos de Música no Brasil
(1800 – 1950). Livraria José Olympio Editora, Rio de Janeiro. 1956.
Pág.97.
(5) - Brito Chaves Junior, Edgard – Obra citada. Pág.24.
(6) - Cernicchiaro, Vincenzo – Storia della Musica nel Brasile (1549-
1925). Edit. Fratelli Riccioni. Milano. 1926. Pág.257-258. In Italian.
(7) - Melo, Guilherme de - A Música no Brasil. Desde os tempos
coloniais até o primeiro decênio da República. Imprensa Nacional,
Rio de Janeiro. 1947. Pág.297.
(8) - Almeida, Renato – Compêndio de História da Música Brasileira.
2ª. Edição. F. Briguiet & Cia. Rio de Janeiro. 1958. Pág.90.
(9) - Cernicchiaro, Vincenzo – Obra citada, pág. 327.
(10) – Nepomuceno, Alberto – Wikipedia em português. 2013.
Consultada em 18/06/2013, as 11h45.
(11) - Brito Chaves Junior, Edgard – Obra citada. Pág.36
(12) – Sampaio, Luiz Paulo e Furlanetto, Bruno, in: Kobbé,
Gustave/Conde de Harwood (org.) – O Livro Completo da Ópera.
Tradução: Clóvis Marques. Jorge Zahar Editor, Rio de Janeiro. 1991.
Pág.548.
(13) – Nepomuceno, Alberto – Abul. Ação lendária em três atos e
quatro quadros, inspirado num conto de Herbert c. Ward. Original
em vernáculo e música por A.Nepomuceno. Edição Escola Nacional
de Música da Universidade do Brasil. Rio de Janeiro. 1964.
(14) – Ricciardi, Rubens – Francisco Braga e sua ópera Jupyra.
Encarte do CD. Selo BIS CD-1280 Digital. BIS Records AB. Suécia.
2002. Pág.10.
(15) - Giannetti, Ricardo, in: Teixeira Lopes, Eliane Marta (org.) –
Richard Wagner e Tannhäuser em Paris/Charles Baudelaire. Edição
Bilíngüe. Tradução: Eliane Marta Teixeira Lopes. Editora Autêntica.
Belo Horizonte. 2013. Pág.167-176.
(16) – A Paz
“Dores e prantos, cessai!
Risos e cantos, brotai!
Sigamos a paz.
Tem messe de flores,
Rosas sobre os mortos e sobre os vivos
Da paz é a flor de ouro da esperança.
Dores e prantos, cessai!
Risos e cantos, brotai!
Sigamos a paz.
Calai-vos, trombetas!
Sede perfume, vozes de mulheres,
Sede cristal, vozes de crianças.
Morrei, dores e prantos!
Nascei, risos e cantos!”...
(17) - Ricciardi, Rubens – Ob.cit. Pág.8.
(18) - Reis, Sandra Loureiro de Freitas – A Ópera Tiradentes de
Manuel Joaquim de Macedo e Augusto de Lima. In: Latin American
Music Review/Revista de Música Latinoamericana. Vol.14 no.1.
Spring-Summer 1993. University of Texas Press. Austin. 1993.
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