Vianna, Fructuoso (de Lima)

views updated

Vianna, Fructuoso (de Lima)

Vianna, Fructuoso (de Lima), Brazilian pianist, teacher, and composer; b. Itajubá, Oct. 6, 1896; d. Rio de Janeiro, April 22,1976. He studied music with his father, a municipal judge, who composed polkas and waltzes. In 1917 he entered the Rio de Janeiro Cons., and studied piano with Oswald and harmony with Gouveia and Franca; in 1923 he went to Europe, where he pursued piano training with Hanschild in Berlin, De Greef in Brussels, and Selva in Paris, where he also studied the Dalcroze method of eurhythmies. Returning to Brazil, he was active as a teacher; was prof, of piano at the Belo Horizonte Cons. (1929-30) and the Säo Paulo Cons. (1930-38), and prof, of choral singing at the National Technical School in Rio de Janeiro (from 1942); also was prof, of piano at Bennet Coll. His works are based on native Brazilian melorhythms pleasurably seasoned with acrid dissonances, achieving a certain trompe-Voreilleeuphony. His musical output consists mainly of piano pieces and songs of such nature; among them are numerous “valsas” (European waltzes in a Brazilian dressing), “toadas” (melodious romances), and “tanguinhos” (little tangos à la brésilienne). They are all perfumed with impressionistic overtones.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire