The Sertão imagined in Aria “Cantiga” of Brazilian Bachianas

Abstract

This article presents a reflective perspective on the vision or interpretation given to the northeastern Sertão in Aria "Cantiga" of the Bachianas Brasileiras Series by Heitor Villa Lobos. Considering the problematic of the "being northeastern" and "regionality" that surrounds the theme, the piece was analyzed from the concept of topics (Agawu, 1982; Piedade, 2013), elements understood as commonplace, from where rhetorical syllogisms and dialectics are produced. From this concept, one will seek to understand in the work points or topics that can reveal the "atmosphere" of the Sertão, and consequently its musical discourse. The question we raise is how the northeastern Sertão can be perceived in the music of Villa Lobos. For this, two procedures of analysis, one of topics and the other empirical descriptions, were carried out in order to identify approximations or distances of the theme in the piece. The contribution we hope to bring with this text is that through the Brazilian Bachianas, it is possible to elaborate new interpretations about the region considering the historical and cultural ties built around it.