Eduardo Dutra (ca.1908-1964)

[Alkanator]

Back in 2011, a person on the Piano Society website posted a recording of a piece by a Brazilian composer by the name of Eduardo Dutra. This piece, Preludio in F# minor Op.32, appears to be his only known composition. Very little is known about his life, except for a few sparse details, such as that all his compositions appear to have been printed privately printed, and that he had a son, Farnesio (alias Dick Farney, a Brazilian pop musician), to whom the recorded piece is dedicated.

The piece is very short (two pages long), but it shows a very fine craftsmanship, that makes one wish that more was known of him.
Being the musical detectives that many of you are, are any of you able to find more on this composer?

[Alan Howe]

What's his idiom? Please remember UC's remit!

[Alkanator]

The recording can be found on this list: http://www.pianosociety.com/cms/index.php?section=1041
To my ears, this is definitely romantic. As for his idiom, I've never really been a real great judge of such things, but it sounds to me rather Rachmaninoffian, but with a tinge of latin.

[Mark Thomas]

rather Rachmaninoffian, but with a tinge of latin

- I'd say that was spot on!

[Alan Howe]

That's good.

[Alkanator]

One thing that's interesting to note in this piece in relation to Rachmaninoff is that the first three accented notes in the accompaniment are the same as the opening three notes in Rachmaninoff's C# minor prelude. However, it doesn't come across as any sort of ripoff to me.

[Simon]

There's a small comment in Brazil, number 1, volume 22 (or number 12, volume 23? Not very clear...)

http://books.google.fr/books?id=IvcrAAAAYAAJ&q=%22and+particularly+his+concertos%22&dq=%22and+particularly+his+concertos%22&hl=fr&sa=X&ei=KGDfUYi4FJi14APJ9ICACA&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAA

"[...] Eduardo Dutra, is an eminent Brazilian composer of classical music, whose works and particularly his concertos are favorite numbers of the Brazilian orchestras."

Well, are those concertos lost?

[eschiss1]

Worldcat, at least, seems not to know of any of his music published under "Dutra". (Was his full name Eduardo Barcellos Dutra?)

[Alkanator]

You can read the Piano Society Forum conversation here: http://pianosociety.com/new/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=4659
There was still a lot of ambiguity after their conversation.

[Simon]

You can read the Piano Society Forum conversation here: http://pianosociety.com/new/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=4659
There was still a lot of ambiguity after their conversation.

Well, I've just read the whole thing... Very mysterious case! And is this supposed Durta's heir, Mariangela, any real? Kind of frustrating to be left with all those unanswered questions.

[Simon]

Sorry for bringing back that old topic, but I've just seen a disucssion on Facebook that happened last January about Dutra's music (unfortunately for me, in Portuguese). I understand that some early works by Dutra have been located, but not his most important compositions, at least for the moment. Don't know if anything will be recorded or published though... It also includes a list of lost compositions.

https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=879563055429442&set=a.275271722525248.78543.100001272684975&type=1&fref=nf

[Simon]

A recent video recording of some early pieces by Dutra has been uploaded on YouTube a few months ago and gives us an opportunity to discover a little bit more of this elusive Brazilian composer :

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=m8swQSUndBk