Choro

, the acoustic guitar, the mandolin, the flute, the cavaquinho and the pandeiro Originally choro was played by a trio of flute, guitar and cavaquinho (a small chordophone with four strings). Other instruments commonly played in choro are the mandolin, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet and trombone. These melody instruments are backed by a rhythm section composed of 6-string guitar, seven-string guitar (playing bass lines) and light percussion, such as a pandeiro. The cavaquinho appears sometimes as a melody instrument, other times as part of the rhythm. ==Compositional structure==

Structurally, a choro composition usually has three parts, played in a rondo form: AABBACCA, with each section typically in a different key (usually the tonal sequence is: principal key->relative mode->sub-dominant key). There are a variety of choros in both major and minor keys. ==History==

(1897–1973), one of the most important choro composers of all time In the 19th century, choro resulted from the style of playing several musical genres (polka, schottische, waltz, mazurka and habanera) by carioca musicians, who were already strongly influenced by Afro-Brazilian rhythms, principally the lundu and the batuque. The term “choro” was used informally at first to refer to the style of playing, or a particular instrumental ensemble, (e.g. in the 1870s flutist Joaquim Antônio da Silva Calado formed an ensemble called "Choro Carioca", with flute, two guitars and cavaquinho), and later the term referred to the music genre of these ensembles. The accompanying music of the Maxixe (dance) (also called "tango brasileiro") was played by these choro ensembles. Various genres were incorporated as subgenres of choro such as "choro-polca", "choro-lundu", "choro-xote" (from schottische), "choro-mazurca", "choro-valsa" (waltz), "choro-maxixe", "samba-choro", "choro baião". Just like ragtime in the United States, tango in Argentina and habanera in Cuba, choro springs up as a result of influences of musical styles and rhythms coming from Europe and Africa. In the beginning (by the 1880s to 1920s), the success of choro came from informal groups of friends (principally composed of workers from the postal, railway and telegraphic services) which played at parties, pubs (botecos), streets and home balls (forrobodós). The mainstay of the repertoire was made of the big hits of Ernesto Nazareth, Chiquinha Gonzaga and other pianists, whose musical scores were published by print houses. The French composer Darius Milhaud was enchanted by choro when he lived in Brazil (in 1917) and he composed the ballet Le Bœuf sur le toit, in which he quotes close to 30 Brazilian tunes. According to Aquiles Rique Reis (a Brazilian singer), ”Choro is classical music played with bare feet and callus on the hands” ==Notable choro compositions==

• "Brejeiro" (Ernesto Nazareth) • "Apanhei-te, cavaquinho" (Ernesto Nazareth) • "Odeon" (Ernesto Nazareth) • "Corta Jaca" (Chiquinha Gonzaga) • "Carinhoso" (Pixinguinha) • "Lamentos" (Pixinguinha) • "Descendo a Serra" (Pixinguinha) • "Cochichando" (Pixinguinha) • "Segura Ele" (Pixinguinha) • "Um a zero" (Pixinguinha) • "Vou Vivendo" (Pixinguinha) • "Sete cordas" (Raphael Rabello) • "Brasileirinho" (Valdir Azevedo) • "Pedacinhos do Céu" (Waldir Azevedo) • "Dôce de Coco" (Jacob do Bandolim) • "Noites Cariocas" (Jacob do Bandolim) • "Tico-Tico no Fubá" (Zequinha de Abreu) • "Meu caro amigo" (Chico Buarque and Francis Hime) • "Meu amigo Radamés" (Antônio Carlos Jobim) • "Choros nos. 1 to 14" (Concert music inspired by Choro, by Heitor Villa-Lobos) ==See also==