Uma A polka dedicated to an “Bravo official of the Brazilian Navy” for the Passage of Humaitá

a musical narrative in the construction of great naval figures

Abstract

This article aims to understand the construction of naval figures from a narrative woven in the composition of the passage Humaitá-polka offered to the then Lieutenant Captain Arthur Silveira da Motta, commander of one of the ships that surpassed the fortress considered strategic both for the Paraguayans, who took advantage of the geographical conditions to further strengthen their defensive system, and to the allies, who saw in the conclusion of the forcing the possibility of achieving the goal of deposing the Paraguayan government and then ending the War of the Triple Alliance (1864-1870). Authored by Maria Guilhermina de Noronha e Castro, the composition of 1868, the year in which the passage through Humaitá took place, raises reflections on aspects related to the interface between music and war, such as the relations between artists and the military, revealing the way in which construct narratives that carve national heroes and figures.