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CD Curumim Making of do CD Curumim - Camargo Guarnieri CD-List of Songs Lacan Group Paulista Chamber Orchestra releases CD with Camargo Guarnieri compositions About Camargo Guarnieri List of main compositions Photos Interview with Vera Silvia and Tânia Guarnieri Interview with Sister Marion Verhaalen Portuguese "The CD will be launched in October" |
"In the first look" By Olavo Soares (August, 23, 2007) In the first look, one has no doubt: it is the house of a musician. Or more: the house of a genius. The pictures, photographs and caricatures attract the attention. A bust, with about 40 centimeters of height, is imponent and detaches in the well decorated room. This is the house of Camargo Guarnieri. But beyond being the house of the teacher Camargo Guarnieri, it is the house of the husband and father Camargo Guarnieri. His sister, Tânia, also a musician, violinist in Italy, uses the cited bust to make reference to this familiar tone of the place. "We used to hide things in the nose here", says, pointing to the nostrils of the beautiful bust, what reminds her of a beautiful infancy. If it is obvious saying that geniuses remain livings creatures by means of the heritage, one should not expect small affectionate gestures could contribute for the longevity of the myth. And stories like this, that disclose Camargo Guarnieri`s family habits, is counted with much affection by Tânia and his widower, Vera Sílvia. The memory of Camargo Guarnieri comes in 2007 due to the centenarian of birth of the musician, and will be remembered in projects such as the CD "Curumim - Camargo Guarnieri", that the Paulista Chamber Orchestra, with sponsorship of Grupo Lacan, will launch this year. The affectionate father and husband is detached by two of the people who lived with him the most. Kirbo Communication: Could you describe Camargo Guarnieri? Vera Silvia: A person of several aspects. Artist, father, husband… a common person of day-by-day, that tried not to mix his artist side and his "family" side. Tânia: I never had the minimum notion of what it was the image of him. For me he was, and still is, my father. He was always "just" my father, as everybody has a father. He never mixed the things - what until he harmed me, because I did not have the minimum notion of as the people looked at me. I passed for arrogant. I play his songs, I find them brilliant and there is a side of me that says: "wow, this guy is my father". It is strange. I can not describe it very well. My son (also a musician, a fan of Jazz), now, is paying the account of being his grandson. I tell him: this is what I passed my entire life, you have that to get used. I try to give him a couch that I did not have. He hurts himself less than I hurt myself. KC: This way of "not to mix the things" was done in deliberate way or something more spontaneous? T: Spontaneous. He was this way, a very common guy. For being very demanding with himself, I think that he never felt a genius. He was somebody that always searched something more - he did not lie down on his conquests. V: When somebody arrived home and said "oh, maestro!", he always answered "I am not a maestro, and here there is no orchestra". KC: No matter how hard he kept this distinction between the professional side and the familiar one, music was present in his current acts, in his day-by-day? V: One can not separate the music away from him. T: A child goes behind books if he always sees the parents reading, having this envolvement. My mother works with books - and then, books and music had always been at home. In his pockets there were always some small papers with sketches of that he wrote. Toilet paper, napkins… This was our routine! V: He used not to write music at home. But suddenly, if very he was excited, he made something more. For him, composition was an exercise. Everyday he composed something, even if he decided to throw it away. For him, to compose was like to study an instrument. One has that to play everyday for practice. KC: Is there some curious moment related with composition, these sudden moments of inspiration? V: Usually he woke up at night to write. He had an idea and soon he went to draft what he had thought. Once, he promised some friends who would commemorate 45 years of marriage, that he would write for them a mass. The mass would finish with an Agnus Dei. He kept writing, but was not enjoying it. He wrote and threw it away. He did it six or seven times. Then, during one nigh, he woke up to write. Our room had a great table, with a picture in one of headboards. He went to the room and took a long, long time… until suddenly I heard a noise. I woke up and run to see what what had happened and cried out: "Guarnieri, what happened". He answered: "I do not know, I woke up with this noise". It was the picture that had fallen on the table. And the Agnus Dei that he wrote until sleeping was what the one he got satisfied the most. KC: Currently, much is said about sweating, hard work. Bernardo Rezende, olimpic champion volleyball coach, says that for him the talent is something secondary or even though tertiary - being less important than discipline and hard work. Guarnieri would agree? V: I don`t think so. He is from another generation. He always said that any person is capable to make any thing; but, to be a musician, one has to be born a musician. He always said that there were "pianists" and pianists, "violinists" and violinists. KC: Tell us about you love story. V: We met in the house of a common friend. I had 18 years at the time, and there was a house that my family always used to go. Guarnieri - that was already famous and 50 year-old - appeared there and he and my father got friends. An instantaneous friendship. And then he started to go home very frequently. My father used to enjoy a party very much. He was deeply in love by music, as much that, when he died, journalists wrote an article on him. In 1959, he had one heart attack and suddenly died. Guarnieri kept coming home and decided to take care of me. Indeed, he took care of me for the rest of his life! My father died in 1959, and I and Guarnieri got married in 1961. KC: The difference of age generated difficulties? V: It was a great problem in my family. A hell of a mess! Two uncles had never more spoken with me. Guarnieri had been married twice. He has a son older than me. KC: And how was the poetical side of the conquest? V: He wrote for me, made improvisation, dedicated workmanships. One of his happiest songs - happy in the sense of gladness, good mood - was written as a wedding present. It is glad, and at the same time, "honey". T: He was lovely, sweety. A father who signed "with all love, of his father", who used to say to his children "I love you", what he is well rare. He cried very easily too. In the first and last note that I played in life he was crying. Even when he was conducting - I played with him as teacher sometimes and he cried on stage! KC: How would you define his sense of humor? T: He could laugh from anything. He used to tell very funny stories. A very funny one was when he had to follow a singer in a recital. She was very fat and, when she entered in the stage, her skirt got imprisoned in the brace and she was showing everything! My father was trying to lower the dress, in order to cover her, but she couldn`t understand, thinking he was harassing her. She noticed what happened just at the end of the concert. V: Another good one happened when he was in Moscow. He was called to be judge in the Tchaikowsky competition of piano, the most important of the world. He arrived in Moscow - in full communism - and was led for a chic hotel. He was tired of the trip and he had the idea to relax in the bathtub. But the bathtub had a different format, with marble plates, that made angles until the end. He - that always was a fat person - fulled of water and entered in the bathtub. When he seated, he heard a strange noise. The suction stuck him at the bathtub! The only way out was to strain the foot to try to pull the tap so as to liberate the water. In end, he did it, but it was a sacrifice, since the bathtub was great. T: He made a lot of jokes about himself. Sometimes, the sense of humor shocked people. He made jokes about other people and expected a reply, an intelligent reply. That`s what he wanted. But the people were inhibited e, frequently, they got offended. His intelligence and sense of humor made us very demanding and we got fed up with people easily! KC: Guarnieri, when he was mad with a person, he used to say: "try being a musician in Brazil". Did he used to complain? What was his relation with the country? V: Yes, he complained. Especially in the end of his life, when he was more bitter. He had conscience that he was a great composer. He complained his music was not divulged enough, had little recognition. This hurt him. T: The inversion of values annoyed him. For example, to see a football player to earn more than a musician. He was possessed with these things. V: But he was deeply Brazilian. He had love for Brazil. To illustrate: in 1942, he went to the USA, invited by the State Department. He went, first of all, to receive an international prize, and then stayed more six months. He presented concerts of his works, with participation of great artists, directed the Boston Orchestra, one of the main ones of the world. In this period, his music made a great success there. This attracted Hollywood`s attention. Two movie executives invited him to remain there to make scores for them. He refused. They had offered good money, in proposals like "say how much you want". And he did not accept. T: Since that left Brazil for the first time, the idea of him was the following one: to see what it functioned better there - and the letters that he wrote demonstrate this well - and to bring these improvements here. He was always very idealistic. V: When he was studying in France, he came back due to the war. When he arrived in Brazil, as his return was not expected, he had lost the job. He was without pupils. A composer of his dimension was without means to gain his life. Then, a conservatory of Panama offered to a true richness to go there, but he refused. He preferred to be in Brazil. |
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