Heckel Tavares

Heckel Tavares (Satuba, Alagoas, 1896 – Rio de Janeiro, 1969) was a Brazilian composer who moved between popular and concert music at a time when nationalism and modernism shaped much of the country's creative output. Although he was largely self-taught, his work ranges from popular theatre to symphonies and concertos with a distinctly national character.

His first piano lessons came from a relative, and he then taught himself popular instruments such as the cavaquinho and the harmonica. After settling in Rio de Janeiro in 1921, he studied orchestration with the composer João Otaviano. He wrote around one hundred songs for popular theatre; the most celebrated, Casa de caboclo, with lyrics by Luis Peixoto, dates from 1928 and is the work of his that has endured most in Brazil.

His first concert work was the symphonic poem André de Leão e o demônio de cabelo encarnado, from 1935, based on a story by Cassiano Ricardo. Between 1949 and 1953 he toured the country collecting popular musical materials to incorporate into his compositions, and from then on his output drew steadily on indigenous music, as in the tonal poem O Anhangüera, in which he used Tucuna percussion instruments.

His legacy rests on this national synthesis, also visible in his popular Piano Concerto and in the Concerto em formas brasileiras for violin and orchestra.