O folclórico Alto-Minho: Abel Viana e o romantismo naturalista

Abstract

The development in Portugal of a kind of musical performance known as folclore was determined by the initiative and further activities of one individual, Abel Viana. Born in Viana do Castelo (Alto Minho) in the late 19th century, Abel Viana promoted in 1919 what seems to have been the first instance of a performance by a village group organized with a public presentation purpose in mind. Later, he was at the origin of the first institutionalized Rancho Folclórico. This article aims to determine the causes and intents of these initiatives, especially as outcomes of the influence the author was exposed to: that of French 19th­century literary romanticism, and in particular of the works of Frédéric Mistral and Alphonse Daudet.