Articles

The Mystery of Three (?) Brazilian Composers Named Braga
By John Campbell

Researching Ernani Braga (1888-1948) was a challenge. Fortunately Chrystal Williams had discovered an Ernani Braga song on YouTube and went directly to the internet and discovered Sergio Anderson de Maura Miranda's thesis written in 2010. Researching our in-house reference books and CD booklets which date from the late 20th century led to confusion until we finally found Miranda's thesis (https://commons.und.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1952&context=theses).

To promote Casa Ricordi's publication of Braga's Cinco Canções Nordestinas do Folclore Brasileiro (Five Northeastern Brazilian Folk Songs) the songs were first presented on July 1, 1942 in Buenos Aires with Braga at the piano accompanying mezzo-soprano Clara Souviron. The great Brazilian mezzo-soprano and Metropolitan Opera star Bidú Sayao (b. Rio, 1902; d. Maine, 1999) recorded them on June 2, 1947 and made his songs known throughout the world in her recitals. Her CD booklet is correct for his name but not for his birth (born 1888 not 1898). To ensure the performance of Braga's songs into the future, Sayao handed his music over to Teresa Berganza.

The error begins in the program booklet for mezzo-soprano Teresa Berganza's CD Villa-Lobos, Braga, Guastavino (1983, Claves 50-8401). We ordered it after seeing it listed in the Schwann Opus catalog where Braga's name and dates appear accurately. Yet the CD booklet's composer biography (unattributed) erroneously names “Francisco Ernani Braga (1868-1945)” as composer. Imagine our confusion. Our further research indicated that two different composers named Braga had been blended to create a third who never existed.

The twenty volume Grove Dictionary published in 1980 only lists “Braga, (Antonio) Francisco” (b. April 15, 1868. d. March 14, 1945). In 1890 (when Ernani Braga was two years old) Francisco Braga traveled to Europe on a fellowship where he studied for a time with Massenet. He later lived in Germany where he was influenced by Wagner. As a composer he followed late Romantic models in his mostly orchestral works. He wrote church music and there is an unfinished opera. No songs are listed.

Thus Ernani Braga (1888-1948), the composer of Five Northeastern Brazilian Folk Songs, and Francisco Braga (1868 -1945), the composer of romantic orchestral and church music, were conflated into Francisco Ernani Braga with various dates from both.

In Song: A Guide to Style and Literature, the art song scholar Carol Kimball cites the Berganza CD and re-publishes the errors found there and then discusses Ernani's songs with great insight.

I also found the song Maracatú on a longtime favorite CD titled Duets for Spanish Guitar with Salli Terri, mezzo-soprano and Laurindo Almeida, guitar. The song is correctly attributed to Ernani Braga but lists his dates as 1868-1945. Ernani's dates are, in fact, 1888-1948.

We hope that this research will help others interested in Ernani Braga's music to bypass the confusion we encountered.