Lange, Barbara Rose2019-06-242019-06-24December 22018-12December 2https://hdl.handle.net/10657/4075Composer Francisco Mignone’s contribution to Brazilian musical nationalism is illustrated by his Valsas Chôro, a set of twelve waltzes for solo piano. In this project, I argue that in the Valsas Chôro Mignone fused Western form and Brazilian popular music; this procedure in turn allowed him to create a Brazilian waltz style that advanced Heitor Villa-Lobos’s adaptations of popular street music. Stylistic descriptions of the Valsas Chôro reveal how Mignone incorporates both waltz and choro styles. I show that by adapting the traditional accompaniment of the European waltz, Mignone creates his own Brazilian waltz style within the dance’s triple meter. I demonstrate that Mignone transferred the characteristics of the choro ensemble and its improvisatory playing style to solo piano by using arpeggiated chords, eighth notes, and staccato. The result is a fusion of waltz rhythm and improvisatory choro style. The combination creates a blend that characterizes Mignone’s Valsas Chôro.application/pdfengThe author of this work is the copyright owner. UH Libraries and the Texas Digital Library have their permission to store and provide access to this work. Further transmission, reproduction, or presentation of this work is prohibited except with permission of the author(s).Mignone, FranciscoValsas Chôro2019-06-24Thesisborn digital