Lino josé nunes (1789-1847): um afro-brasileiro seria o compositor mais cromático das américas até meados do século xix?

Abstract

Recent data on the birth, life and death of Brazilian composer, theorist and performer Lino José Nunes (1789-1847) and his musical legacy known to date suggest that he is the author of the most exacerbated chromaticism in the Americas until at least the first half of the nineteenth century. This pioneering spirit becomes even more significant when we discover that he was the son of a former slave and unknown father. Following in and advancing the footsteps of another mulatto - his master, Father José Maurício Nunes Garcia, Lino José left works in popular and classical fields and excelled in the most important music ensembles of the Brazilian First Empire in Rio de Janeiro. This study analyzes Lino José Nunes’s chromatic style which is revealed at pedagogical (the circle of fifths), ornamental (passing notes and chords), functional (secondary dominants, borrowed chords) and textpainting (chromaticism as sadness and anxiety indexes) levels.