Literature, music and the short story “Trio em lá menor”

Abstract

In this essay a reading of Machado de Assis’s short story “Trio em lá menor” is performed from the vantage point of the several references to music contained in it. Differently from other Machado de Assis’ texts, such as “O machete”, “Cantiga de esponsais” or “Um homem célebre”, where music is almost exclusively the topic, “Trio em lá menor” is rather built upon an interesting attempt, which aims at overlaping artistic forms, where music, especially the sonata form, plays a fundamental structring role, organizing the narrative, instead of only providing thematic allusions.