Dilermando Reis on the Classical Guitar: The Essential Guide

This guide is part of our overview of the essential classical guitar repertoire. Dilermando Reis (1916–1977) was one of Brazil's great guitarist-composers — a master of the choro tradition who left behind a body of intimate, singing pieces that speak of Rio de Janeiro's street culture and its bittersweet emotional world. Known in Brazil as "the guitar poet," his music is deeply personal, technically refined, and rooted in the popular musical life of the city that shaped him.

Life in Rio

Born in the state of São Paulo in 1916, Reis built his career in Rio de Janeiro, where he became embedded in the city's rich popular guitar tradition. Two relationships were particularly formative: he shared a household with João Pernambuco — one of the founding figures of the choro tradition — and performed in the ensemble of Pixinguinha, the flutist, saxophonist, and composer who stands as one of the most important figures in the history of Brazilian popular music. These connections placed Reis at the heart of Brazil's most distinguished popular music culture at its most creative period.

Recordings and Recognition

Reis eventually recorded 23 solo albums, bringing the choro guitar tradition to audiences across Brazil. In 1953 he undertook a celebrated US tour with CBS recordings — an early instance of Brazilian guitar music reaching international audiences — and the recordings made on that tour remain historically significant documents of the tradition.

His student Bola Sete (1923–1987) went on to become one of the most important jazz guitarists of the 1960s and 1970s, performing with Dizzy Gillespie and recording prolifically for Fantasy Records. The transmission of technique and musical sensibility from Reis to Bola Sete represents one of the important links between Brazilian popular guitar and the international jazz world.

The posthumous tribute of Raphael Rabello — one of the great Brazilian guitarists of the late 20th century — who devoted an entire album to Reis's music, speaks to the enduring significance of his compositions within Brazilian musical culture.

Musical Style

Reis's music centres on the Brazilian waltz (valsa) and the choro. The choro is Brazil's earliest instrumental popular music form, developed in Rio de Janeiro in the second half of the 19th century from a fusion of European forms (polka, mazurka, waltz, schottische) with African rhythmic sensibility. Its characteristic features are sinuous, ornamental melodic lines, chromatic harmony, and a bittersweet emotional character rooted in the Portuguese concept of saudade — the bittersweet longing for something absent or lost.

Reis worked in this tradition with particular mastery of the lyrical, song-like quality of the melody. His right-hand tone — warm, singing, individual — was apparently one of the most recognisable sounds in Brazilian guitar playing of his era. The emotional directness of his style connects it to the Romantic tradition of the European classical guitar while remaining entirely Brazilian in rhythm, harmony, and feeling.

Key Works

Among his most beloved pieces:

• Se Ela Perguntar ("If She Should Ask") — one of his most-played pieces, a Brazilian waltz of intimate tenderness
• Dois Destinos ("Two Destinies") — a choro with the characteristic bittersweet character of the tradition
• Noite de Lua ("Moonlit Night") — a lyrical, atmospheric piece
• Eterna Saudade ("Eternal Longing") — the title itself encapsulates the emotional world of his music
• Uma Valsa e Dois Amores — performed by Anabel Montesinos for Siccas Guitars
• Conversa de Baiana — performed by Spyros Konidaris for Siccas Guitars

At Siccas Guitars

Several of Reis's works have been performed for Siccas Guitars:

• Anabel Montesinos performed Uma Valsa e Dois Amores
• Nora Buschmann performed Se Ela Perguntar
• Spyros Konidaris performed Conversa de Baiana

These performances are available on the Siccas Guitars YouTube channel.

Saudade and the Brazilian Guitar

The concept of saudade — untranslatable in English, it describes a bittersweet longing for something loved and absent — runs through Brazilian popular music as a defining emotional note. It is the feeling that makes a waltz sad even in a major key, the quality that gives the most beautiful choros their undercurrent of melancholy. Reis's music is saturated with saudade in a way that is deeply felt rather than sentimental: the grief is real, but so is the beauty, and the two are inseparable.

For players coming to his music from a classical background, this emotional world may feel unfamiliar. The proper approach to Reis is less about classical precision than about expressive freedom within the rhythmic framework of the choro and the waltz — a rhythmic looseness, a tendency to linger on certain notes, an improvisatory quality in the ornamentation. These are not defects of technique but characteristics of the style.

FAQ

Who was Dilermando Reis?

A Brazilian guitarist and composer (1916–1977), known as "the guitar poet of Brazil." He built his career in Rio de Janeiro within the choro tradition, performed in Pixinguinha's ensemble, and recorded 23 solo albums. His student Bola Sete became an internationally known jazz guitarist.

What is the choro?

Brazil's earliest instrumental popular music form, developed in Rio de Janeiro in the late 19th century from European dance forms combined with African rhythmic sensibility. Its characteristic features are ornamental melodies, chromatic harmony, and the bittersweet emotional character of saudade.

What are his most famous pieces?

Se Ela Perguntar, Dois Destinos, Noite de Lua, Eterna Saudade, and Uma Valsa e Dois Amores are among his most beloved compositions.

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