Historical context and considerations on the chamber song Serenata, for voice and piano, by Pedro de Castro (1895-1978)

Abstract

In this paper, the authors present data on the song for voice and piano, Serenata, by Pedro de Castro (1895–1978), composed based on a poem by Abílio Barreto (1883–1957). The composer, trained at the Instituto Nacional de Música, Rio de Janeiro, under the guidance of Henrique Oswald, distinguished himself as a pianist and professor at the Minas Gerais Conservatory of Music. Romantic in character and influenced by the German Lied, Serenata uses the Jequitinhonha River as its poetic setting; this river originates in the Serra do Espinhaço mountain range in Minas Gerais and flows into the Atlantic Ocean in the city of Belmonte, Bahia. The structural analysis of the work, carried out in light of Jan LaRue's (1918-2004) Guidelines for Style Analysis (1992), highlights the integration of European elements into Brazilian art song. The study aims to disseminate the work of Pedro de Castro and includes, as an appendix, an edition of the score of Serenata, prepared based on the work Música sacra e religiosa brasileira dos séculos XVIII e XIX – Teoria e práticas editorials (2017), by Carlos Alberto Figueiredo (1950).