Helza de Cordoville Camêu

Helza de Cordoville Camêu

Works for Cello

Meditação (1928), for cello and piano.

Sonata Op. 24 No. 1 (1942), for cello and piano.

Boje (do Bumba-meu-boi) da Paraíba, for cello and piano.

Canto, for cello and piano.

Dois cantos indígenas, for cello and piano.

Improviso, for cello and piano.

Sonata, for cello and piano.

Sources:

  • Furman Schleifer, M., and Galván, G (2016). Latin American Classical Composers, A Biographical Dictionary. London: Rowman & Littlefield.

  • The Norton/Grove dictionary of women composers. (1994). Cameu (de Cordoville), Helza. In J. A. Sadie & R. Samuel (Eds.), The Norton/Grove dictionary of women composers. W.W. Norton. https://archive.org/details/nortongrovedicti00sadi/page/99/mode/2up?q=helza

Helza de Cordoville Camêu

Brazilian composer, pianist, and musicologist, born March 28, 1903, died March 27, 1993.

A composer, pianist, and musicologist, Camêu was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1903. Camêu studied piano with Alberto Nepomuceno and João Nunes at Rio de Janeiro’s Instituto Nacional de Música, where she also learned theory from Alfredo Richard. She furthered her studies of harmony with Agnelo França, of counterpoint and fugue with Assis Republicano and Francisco Braga, and of composition with Oscar Lorenzo Fernández. In 1936, she studied canto orfeônico (male choral singing) with Heitor Villa-Lobos. In addition to piano, Camêu studied violin, cello, and voice.

Camêu dedicated herself to the study of indigenous music and throughout her career she wrote several articles and a book (Introdução ao estudo da música indígena brasileira) on the subject; moreover, she regularly included direct quotes from indigenous music in her own compositions.