Memories and Stories from the Neapolitan Chord and its Functions in Certain Songs of Popular Music in Brazil

Abstract

Whereas the historical implications of musical materials interfere with the appreciation and criticism about what composes a song, the versed set of musical notes known by various terms was approached here, among them the Neapolitan chord. Assuming that the chords are not pure magnitude, we comment aspects of the technical treatment traditionally given to the Neapolitan chord and how this nickname brings traces of quarrels that are important to the western modernity. It is noteworthy that in its long and international path, which dates back to the pre-baroque, this harmony was conventionally reserved for the expression of regret and pain, and how this kind of premeditated associability also became effective on songs produced in Brazil between 1937-1985, by artists such as Noel Rosa, Custódio Mesquita, Tom Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes and Chico Buarque.