Reemployment of Villa-Lobos’ music and intertextuality between films of Humberto Mauro and Brazilian Cinema Novo

Abstract

We consider the intertextual relationships of films by directors of Cinema Novo between 1959 and 1980 with Humberto Mauro’s feature films — The Discovery of Brazil (193٧), Clay (1942) and O canto da saudade (19٥2) — analyzing the use of the same Villa-Lobos’ musical pieces in Mauro's films, that are reemployed (in the same or in a different version) in selected films by Cinema Novo’s directors. Through film analysis, we identify that the very presence of musical pieces The Discovery of Brazil, O canto do cisne negro, O canto do pajé and Choros n.3 evoke aspects of Mauro’s films in the ones by Glauber Rocha, Walter Lima Júnior, Carlos Diegues, Paulo César Saraceni and Joaquim Pedro de Andrade, such as: the Indian thematic, nationalism, rural environment, construction of national identity, besides more intricate associations, as those with Ancient Greece.

Key words
sound reemployment; Villa-Lobos; Cinema Novo; Humberto Mauro; intertextuality