Modernist poetry and performer’s dramatic role: considerations on Ronaldo Miranda’s artsong “Segredo"

The present research focuses Ronaldo Miranda’s artsong “segredo”. This study applies an interdisciplinary approach in a methodological attempt to join poetry and music and the dramatic roles of singer and pianist, especially in dealing with modernist poetry. The discussion about the relationship between music and words is based on the studies of Stein and Spillman (1996). The literary concept of persona (who is talking in a poem) and mode of address (to whom the persona is talking) is the one described by Edward T. Cone in The Composer’s Voice (1974). The main goal of this paper is to provide performance guidelines for both the singer and the pianist on the art songs for voice and piano “Segredo” by Ronaldo Miranda and poem by Carlos Drummond de Andrade, with suggestions for shaping interpretive ideas and emphasis on the dramatic role of the performers.