The three phases of the genre maxixe

Abstract

“The three phases of the genre maxixe” is a proposal of periodization and organization of the information relating exclusively to the musical aspects of the maxixe. Although it has been the subject of much research, both inside and outside the academic environment, the works usually dealt with aspects of the sensual dance and the shock that this caused to the moralistic standards of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The three proposed phases correspond respectively to polka syncopation experiments, the functional maxixe, and the “maxixe groove”, which constitute three distinct circumstances. In the first, a varied repertoire of experiments, in the second a formula crystallized in theatrical variety shows and in the third, an accent that marked the work of Pixinguinha and his generation. The goals of the composers were considered in different phases and special attention was given to the rhythmic patterns of the accompaniments, with data extracted from recordings made in the first three decades of the twentieth century.