Scribd
Upload
134 views1 page

Brazilian Modinha: History and Influence

The modinha was a sentimental art song cultivated in Portugal and Brazil between the 18th and 19th centuries. It originated in the early 1700s and competed with the lundu to be one of the first truly Brazilian music forms. By the late 18th century, the modinha had taken on characteristics of the Italian opera aria through embellishments and more elaborate melodies. Eventually, the Brazilian modinha became a strongly lyrical folksong that embodied Brazilian romantic spirit and was an important salon genre alongside the lundu dance.

Uploaded by

Aline
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
134 views1 page

Brazilian Modinha: History and Influence

The modinha was a sentimental art song cultivated in Portugal and Brazil between the 18th and 19th centuries. It originated in the early 1700s and competed with the lundu to be one of the first truly Brazilian music forms. By the late 18th century, the modinha had taken on characteristics of the Italian opera aria through embellishments and more elaborate melodies. Eventually, the Brazilian modinha became a strongly lyrical folksong that embodied Brazilian romantic spirit and was an important salon genre alongside the lundu dance.

Uploaded by

Aline
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 1

Modinha

Gerard Béhague

https://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.18840
Published in print: 20 January 2001
Published online: 2001

A Portuguese and Brazilian sentimental art song cultivated in the 18th and 19th centuries. From the
early 1700s it competed with the lundu to be the first truly Brazilian music form. Moda is a generic
term applied vaguely to any song or melody. Particularly common in the 18th century were the modas a
duo, for two sopranos, sung in parallel motion with harpsichord accompaniment and a possible
doubling of the bass line by a low string instrument. In practice most printed modinhas in Portugal
were accompanied by the guitar. During the Second Empire in Brazil the modinha acquired the
character of the Italian opera aria, while in Portugal the same occurred about 1800. Under such
influences the modinha began to lose its original simplicity, acquiring elaborate melodic lines with
typically superficial ornamentation. Aspects of the opera aria were retained in the popularization of the
modinha and came to be identified later in the 19th century as ‘national’ traits. Eventually the Brazilian
modinha became a strongly lyrical folksong incarnating Brazilian romantic spirit. As a love song it was
closely related to another popular genre, the lundu, a song and dance born of African origin which,
together with the modinha, became the most important salon genre in Portugal and Brazil.

Bibliography
M. de Andrade, ed.: Modinhas imperiais (São Paulo, 1930/R)

B. Siqueira: Modinhas do passado (Rio de Janeiro, 1956, enlarged 2/1979)

M. de Araújo: A modinha e o lundu no século XVIII (São Paulo, 1963)

E. de Alencar: A modinha cearense (Fortaleza, 1967) [score]

G. Béhague: ‘Biblioteca de Ajuda (Lisbon) MSS 1595/1596: Two Eighteenth-Century Anonymous


Collections of Modinhas’, YIAMR, 4 (1968), 44–81

B. Kiefer: A mondinha e o lundu: duas raizes da música popular brasileira (Pôrto Alegre, 1977)

G. Doderer, ed.: Modinhas luso-brasileiras (Lisbon, 1984) [score]

M. Veiga: ‘O estudo da modinha brasileira’, LAMR, 19/1 (1998), 47–91

See also

Brazil, §III, 6: Popular music, Dance music of the north and north-east.

Page 1 of 1
Printed from Grove Music Online. Grove is a registered trademark. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an
individual user may print out a single article for personal use (for details see Privacy Policy).

Subscriber: Universidade de Sao Paulo (USP); date: 29 May 2020

You might also like