Composer: Luciano Gallet
Model: DZ 4446
Arranged by: Luciano Lima
Instrumentation: 3 guitars
Level: Advanced
20 pages
Publisher: d'Oz Publications
Brazilian composer, pianist and musicologist Luciano Gallet was born on June 28th, 1893, in Rio de Janeiro. In 1914, he enrolled at the “Instituto Nacional de Música” where he studied piano with Henrique Oswald, Abdon Milanez, and harmony with Agnelo França. In the same year, Gallet founded the “Sociedade Glauco Velásquez”, dedicated to promoting the music of this remarkable composer who had recently passed away. In 1916, after completing the piano program, Gallet became a professor at the “Instituto Nacional de Música” where he would be appointed director in 1930.
Gallet studied with Darius Milhaud, who also introduced him to modern French music, when the French composer came to Brazil accompanying diplomat and writer Paul Claudel as his secretary and cultural attaché, in 1917.
From 1918 onwards, he intensified his production as a composer, soon becoming one of the key names in Brazilian nationalist musical modernism alongside Villa-Lobos, Lorenzo Fernândez, and Camargo Guarnieri. His catalog includes works for solo piano and various chamber formations: piano four-hands; two pianos; violin and piano; cello and piano; voice and harmonium; voice and piano; choir and piano (including different combinations of voices); chamber orchestra and symphony orchestra.
In 1924, he founded the “Pró-Arte” choral society and published the first two volumes of “Canções Populares Brasileiras,” one of his most significant compositions, a series of Brazilian popular themes harmonized by him which would be completed by three other volumes in 1926.
As a researcher, in 1928 Gallet wrote the essays “O Índio na Música Brasileira” and “O Negro na Música Brasileira” (The Indian in Brazilian Music and The African American in Brazilian Music, respectively), in addition to other works on Brazilian songs and dances. These texts were collected by Mário de Andrade and published in 1934 in the posthumous book “Estudos de Folclore”.
Gallet passed away on October 29th, 1931, victim of an infectious flu.
Published in 1928, “12 Exercícios Brasileiros” (12 Brazilian Exercises) was originally written for piano four-hands, following the student-teacher format. Each piece in this collection was based on a particular genre or dance of Brazilian popular music typical of that period, such as “Puladinho,” “Chorinho,” “Modinha,” “Maxixe,” and “Batuque,” among others. In accordance with the composer’s intention, this transcription preserves the work’s didactic purposes, allowing it to be played by guitar trio or having the parts shared in an ensemble setting. The first guitar is equivalent to the student part in the original version. Thus, depending on the level of the performers, the content can either be played with divisi, where each guitarist is responsible for a different octave, or played as written, by the same guitarist. Guitars 2 and 3 are equivalent to the teacher’s part in the piano edition.
Movements
1. Valsa Sestrosa
2. Puladinho I
3. Dobrado
4. Chorinho
5. Modinha
6. Tanguinho
7. Schottisch Brasileira
8. Seresta
9. Maxixe
10. Polca Sertaneja
11. Puladinho II
12. Batuque
