May 12 2009
Choro Da Saudade by Agustin Barrios
The latest in my guitar masterworks series is Choro Da Saudade by Agustin Barrios, a haunting choro with elements of Bossa Nova in sections two and three of the piece. The images in this post are taken from photographs taken in San Juan Bautista, Paraguay, the birthplace of Barrios, for which I am grateful to svmma of flickr.
Guitarist Rob Tucker, then playing in a dance band, first came across this piece and thought it a terrific Bossa styled guitar solo, and it inspired him to take up guitar in it’s classical style. Rob wrote many articles on Barrios, after becoming attracted to his music. It was Rob who wrote to John Williams in the ’70’s, suggesting a possible recording dedicated to this forgotten composer of guitar. Around two years later Williams responded with his first album of Barrios, dated 1977. So Choro Da Saudade played a significant part in the emergence of Barrios the composer in the following years.
The piece has been interpreted by guitarists in many different ways, such is the scope for interpretation here. I have often been haunted by the piece, and set out the origin and feelings inherent in the music….
Origin of Choro Da Saudade.
The origin of the Choro is of course Brazil, and the type of music played by street ensembles. Some even take Choro as a type of “street serenade”. “Saudade” is a hard word to translate, it refers to nostalgia, or feelings of yearning, such as in homesickness. The musical idiom of the piece is steeped in carioca, To understand the feelings in the music, you need to understand the nature of the carioca.
When people of Brazil, or Rio De Janeiro to be more related to the idiom and the music, incur a loss they will sing you a sad song about it. But it will be followed by extemporaneous joy, such as a dance, before returning to the main theme of lament. It is this sad/happy/sad elements interspersed which forms the structure of the music in this Choro.
The first time the work was featured in a concert programme of Barrios was dated November 1929, though it’s possible “Aire Brasilero”, played as far back as 1925, may have been the same piece. The manuscript was written out by Barrios in 1929, dedicated to Americo Camargo, the son of a good friend who had died tragicly young.
The structure of the music is in three parts, played in the order of; A, B, A, C, B, A. Note the main theme, A, keeps coming back to haunt, as in the feelings of yearning or lament.
The Cathederal at San Juan Bautista.
Guitar Techniques
Choro is a really hard piece to play well, possibly the hardest in my repertoire. It is notorious among guitarists for it’s long left hand stretches, many finding impossible to play. It may be that this piece is the first example of the hinge barre being used in guitar. This is where the left hand barre stretches across the strings, but instead of being across fret one, the tip of the finger reaches to fret two. Thus enabling the hand to reach to higher positions.
Preferred recordings
My preferred recordings of this piece would have to be Wulfin Lieske, David Rusell, and Robert Brightmore. Those renditions in my view come closest to portraying the feelings of lament, interspersed with spontaneous joy, required to do the work full justice.
To close, here is Andrea Dieci from Italy, playing Barrios Choro Da Saudade, a fine rendition.
