Saudades do Brasil

work by Milhaud

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June 17, 2026

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Saudades do Brasil is a 1921 set of dance suites composed by French musician Darius Milhaud. The work is characterized by Milhaud's signature use of polytonality, a technique involving the simultaneous use of different keys. The title itself refers to the Portuguese word "saudade," which describes a feeling of yearning, melancholy, and brooding loneliness, often with a reverence for nature. This emotional concept is a significant theme in Portuguese and Brazilian lyric poetry. Milhaud's composition captures these sentiments through its musical structure and harmonic language.12

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polytonality
…the left, while Darius Milhaud’s Saudades do Brasil combines a melody in C with an accompaniment in A♭ major. Such combinations of tonalities may be reviewed as 20th-century extensions of diatonic harmonic practices, following logically from post-Wagnerian chromaticism.
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…the left, while Darius Milhaud’s Saudades do Brasil combines a melody in C with an accompaniment in A♭ major. Such combinations of tonalities may be reviewed as 20th-century extensions of diatonic harmonic practices, following logically from post-Wagnerian chromaticism.
Read More