Playing the Lisbon
Portuguese Guitarra by Ronald Louis Fernandez
(continued) Section
10a. Fado Menor de Reynaldo Varella (1925)-- a
written transcription of his music by Ronald Fernandez.
See below
written music for more information.
Original Publishing
Information on Fado Menor de Reynaldo Varella
The piece which I presented above appeared in Reynaldo
Varella's Methodo para Aprender a Tocar Guitarra
Portugueza, sem auxilio de professor
(Method to Learn to Play the Portuguese Guitarra, without a
teacher), in 1925.
I acquired a copy of this
work in the 1990's through LuÃs Penedo who had copied it
from the National Library in Lisbon. The work was 43 pages
of music which was written in a curious system which
Reynaldo called "algarismos" (which means numerals, figures,
digits).
His algarismos presented the
music as 2 columns of numbers. The first column indicated
which the string (Corda) and the second column indicated the
fret (Ponto). He used an asterisk in front of a number to
indicate playing with the right hand thumb, all other right
hand plucking was with the index finger. To indicate longer
note values he placed a line over the the fret number. (See
the example of Varella's algarismos at the end of this web
page.) Since I had a lot of experience with Fado music I
eventually figured out what he was trying to say musically.
To compliment Varella's Portuguese guitarra
composition I wrote a simple accompaniment for the Spanish
guitar which is the substitute for the steel string Viola de
Fado which has become almost obsolete.
Varella's Algarismo for Fado Menor, 1st variation, p. 14
of his Methodo
In the original method book this piece is called,
Fado Corrido em tom menor. I have given it a
simpler name, Fado Menor de Reynaldo Varella
(1925). I should note here that the word Corrido
is now generally omitted from the phrase Fado
Corrido Menor and Fado Corrido Maior.
As you read through the sheet
music pay attention to the structure of the
piece. The piece begins with 4 repetitions of
the 8 note arpegio. There are 10 variations
which follow--these variations are marked. The
harmony is simple in most of the variations, it
just alternates between the tonic (D minor) and
the dominant 7th. There are a few places where a
subdominant (G minor) is thrown in. The 9th
variation starts off with the tonic of the
relative major (the F chord). The 10th variation
returns to the simple tonic and dominant 7th
harmony in the original minor key (D minor);
melodically, this last variation is interesting
in its jumping up to the 12th fret for a nice
climax. Reynaldo Varella (1867
- 1940) and Renato Varela
(1909 -1946)
It is worthwhile to be aware of Reynaldo Varella
and his son Renato Varela (1909-1946). The father was a famous
player of the Portuguese guitarra around the turn of the 20th
century. In addition, he sang fados, was one of the first to
made fado recordings, published original fados (usually with
piano accompaniment) and wrote a method for the Portuguese
guitar. His son was a singer of fados and publish several
originals fados. To avoid confusion I should mention that
sometimes their surname is spelled with only one "L",
and sometimes Reynaldo is spelled Reinaldo.
Among the pieces Reynaldo wrote were:
Fado da Rosa (published for piano, 1905) at Sheet Music at
Fado Museum
Fado Funchal (1910), Sheet Music at Fado Museum
Fado Toureiro (Published for Piano). Sheet Music at Fado
Museum
Fado Boemia, mentioned in Historia do Fado,by Pinto de
Carvalho, 1903, p. 274
Fado do Estoril (1901), mentioned in Historia do Fado, p. 274
Fado Novo, mentioned in Historia do Fado, p. 274).
Fado das Tres Horas, mentioned in Historia do Fado, p. 274
Cancao da Noite (1887) in Cancioneiro de Músicas Populares,
1896) p. 208.
See also
https://fado.fcsh.unl.pt/fado013/
The son, Renato, was a known singer of fados. In particular,
he is generally credited with composing Fado Varela.
