Francisco Mignone

Francisco Mignone was among the most important Brazilian composers after Villa-Lobos. Like that master, he incorporated Brazilian vernacular materials into European musical frameworks, but the effect of his music is quite different from that of Villa-Lobos.
Mignone was born in São Paulo on September 3, 1897, to parents who were Italian immigrants. His father had been an opera orchestra flutist in Italy, and he gave Mignone his first lessons in flute, piano, theory, and improvisation. By age ten, Mignone was playing Brazilian chôro music on the streets, and by 13, he directed his own popular orchestra, using the name Chico Bororó to keep these activities separate from his classical training. At 15, in 1912, Mignone enrolled at the São Paulo Conservatory, studying piano with Agostinho Cantú. He was also influenced by literature professor Mario de Andrade, who became a friend and whose avant-garde novels emphasized Brazilian cultures, including those of native peoples. In 1918, Mignone performed Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16, under his father’s baton; one result of this concert was that he earned a scholarship for studies at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan. He also lived in Spain for a time. Mignone wrote two operas while in Europe; one, L’innocente, was a success in Brazil. Richard Strauss also conducted one of Mignone’s orchestral works during a Brazilian visit.
These early works were written in the Italian-French style of Mignone’s teacher, Vincenzo Ferroni, but Andrade convinced Mignone to experiment more with Brazilian musical materials. Such works as the Cuatro peças Brasileiras (“Four Brazilian Pieces”) of 1930 employed the ragtime-like, Afro-Brazilian rhythms of the maxixe dance. Mignone also wrote in purely European styles, but he often displayed a concision and humor that set his music apart from that of his slightly older contemporary Villa-Lobos. He composed in most major genres, including ballet, but not including choral music. Later in his career, Mignone turned away from national themes in favor of European trends, including polytonality and serialism. He died on February 19, 1986, in Rio de Janeiro. Mignone’s has often been performed and recorded in Brazil, although less so elsewhere; pianist Martin Jones issued an album of his piano music in 2023. By that time, some 100 of his works had been recorded. ~ James Manheim