Albertino Inácio Pimentel: Brazilian Musician

Introduction

Albertino Inácio Pimentel, known as Carramona (Rio de Janeiro, April 12, 1874 — Rio de Janeiro, August 6, 1929), was a Brazilian trumpeter, composer and conductor.

Connected to the wind bands, the ranchos carnavalescos (organized carnival processions with music, dance and staged themes) and the rodas de choro (informal choro jam sessions), he belonged to a generation essential to the formation of Rio de Janeiro's popular music. He was first cornet, assistant bandmaster and, later, conductor of the Banda do Corpo de Bombeiros do Rio de Janeiro (Fire Brigade Band), succeeding Anacleto de Medeiros.

As a composer he left more than seventy works, among them polkas, waltzes, schottisches, quadrilles, mazurkas, dobrados (Brazilian military marches) and choros.

Formation and early years

Carramona began his musical studies in the band of the Colégio dos Meninos Desvalidos de Vila Isabel, an institution that trained a number of instrumentalists in late nineteenth-century Rio de Janeiro.

Bands were one of the main schools for popular musicians of that period. There one learned reading, intonation, articulation and ensemble playing — knowledge that then circulated through theaters, balls, festivities, ranchos carnavalescos and rodas de choro.

It was in that environment that Carramona was formed. Before joining the Fire Brigade, he passed through various ensembles and built the experience that would bring him a prominent position among the musicians of his generation.

The Fire Brigade Band

In 1900 Carramona joined the Banda do Corpo de Bombeiros do Rio de Janeiro, directed by Anacleto de Medeiros, one of the most important ensembles in Brazilian music at the time.

He served as first cornet and assistant bandmaster, taking a direct part in the group's musical organization. After Anacleto's death in 1907, he took over as conductor of the band.

The ensemble also played an important role in the early years of the Brazilian recording industry. Under Carramona's direction, it recorded works such as the dobrado Capitão Lustosa, in 1909, the polka Jurema, in 1910, and the waltz Recorda-te, in 1912.

The experience of the bands left a deep mark on his music. In his compositions, writing for the winds sits alongside melodies and rhythms that worked equally well in the small choro ensembles.

Ranchos, carnival and choro

Carramona was also linked to the ranchos carnavalescos, particularly to Ameno Resedá, one of the best known in Rio de Janeiro in the early twentieth century.

The ranchos brought together music, dance, costumes and staged scenes, and were an important source of work for composers and instrumentalists. Carramona frequented the Ameno Resedá and wrote a number of pieces for the group.

At the same time, he moved among the chorões (choro players) of Rio and kept up friendships with musicians such as Irineu de Almeida, Frederico de Jesus and Captain João Jupyaçara Xavier.

Those relationships appear in his work as well. The choro Chora, Jesus pays tribute to Frederico de Jesus, while Jupyaçara takes the name of his friend João Jupyaçara Xavier. In 1912 Carramona presented the captain with a manuscript notebook of his compositions — an example of how repertoire circulated among musicians long before many of these pieces reached record.

Carramona's music

Carramona's work grew out of the meeting between the band tradition and the language of Rio's chorões.

Polkas, waltzes, schottisches, mazurkas, quadrilles and dobrados appear frequently in his catalogue — genres that were part of everyday musical life in Rio de Janeiro at the turn of the twentieth century.

His melodies are clear and singable, particularly well suited to wind instruments, while the rhythms and accompaniments reveal his closeness to choro practice.

The schottisch, a genre that would later move toward the Brazilian xote, appears with special frequency in his output. Pieces such as Botão de rosa, Queixas and Sorriso de Judite show the importance of this repertoire in his work.

His music could circulate both in large wind ensembles and in smaller groups. In 1912, for instance, his polka Albertina was recorded by the Grupo Lulu O Cavaquinho with flute, cavaquinho (small four-string Brazilian guitar) and guitar. Ten years later, Sorriso de Judite was recorded by the Grupo do Pimentel with guitar, cavaquinho, saxophone and trombone.

Fantasia ao luar

One of Carramona's most interesting compositions is the polka Fantasia ao luar.

The piece circulated at first as instrumental music, but took on a new life when Catulo da Paixão Cearense wrote lyrics for its melody. Under the title Templo ideal, it became a modinha (sentimental Brazilian art song) and was recorded by the singer Mário Pinheiro in 1910.

The history of the composition shows how fluid the boundaries between genres were in that period. A single melody could begin as an instrumental polka, circulate among the chorões and then turn into a song.

Notable works

Among his compositions are:

• Fantasia ao luar
• Mimasinha
• Jurandy
• Chora, Jesus
• Choques e cheques
• Botão de rosa
• Queixas
• Raios de luar
• Capitão Lustosa
• Jurema
• Recorda-te
• Albertina
• Sorriso de Judite
• Diva
• Jupyaçara

Early recordings

Carramona's music was present in the first years of commercial recording in Brazil.

The Banda da Casa Edison recorded the waltz Mimasinha in 1904. In the years that followed, his compositions were recorded by the Fire Brigade Band, by the Grupo Lulu O Cavaquinho, by the Grupo do Pimentel and by other ensembles connected to the world of choro.

These recordings also show the variety of formations through which his music circulated, from the large bands to the small groups of flute, cavaquinho and guitar.

Carramona died in Rio de Janeiro on August 6, 1929, at the age of 55.

The rediscovery of his work

Despite the importance he held in his own time, Carramona ended up receiving less attention than some of his contemporaries.

A significant part of his repertoire returned to circulation in 2002, when the collection Princípios do Choro, coordinated by Maurício Carrilho, devoted an entire volume to his compositions.

The record recovered pieces such as Chora, Jesus, Coralina, Queixas, Mimosa, Diva, Neréa, Raios de luar, Choques e cheques, Botão de rosa, Jurandy, Marília, Albertina, Sempre-viva, Pérola and Convidativa.

Taken together, they reveal a composer situated precisely between two generations decisive for choro: that of Anacleto de Medeiros, with whom he worked directly, and that of Pixinguinha, who would come of age in the same world of bands, rodas and professional musicians in Rio de Janeiro.

Sources

• Instituto Casa do Choro — archive, biography and catalogue of works of Albertino Pimentel.
• Instituto Moreira Salles / Discografia Brasileira — phonographic records of Albertino Pimentel and documentation on the earliest Brazilian recordings.
• Alexandre Gonçalves Pinto — O Choro: reminiscências dos chorões antigos.
• Ary Vasconcelos — Panorama da música popular brasileira na Belle Époque.
• Maurício Carrilho — Princípios do Choro, volume 5.
• Osmário Estevam Júnior and Marcelo Verzoni — O Schottisch no Brasil no fim do século XIX.