Resumo

A dissertação aborda a vida e obra do citarista Heitor Avena de Castro. Considerado o primeiro, e até hoje único, citarista popular da música brasileira, Avena de Castro desempenhou sua função durante um longo período de tempo, marcando sua presença em diferentes momentos e épocas. Longe de ser uma biografia tradicional, busca-se fazer, baseado na micro-história, uma reflexão que possibilite interligar o estudo de Avena de Castro com as transformações vividas pelo Choro e pela sociedade durante sua carreira. Nessa perspectiva, as influências recíprocas entre Avena e o ambiente são enfatizadas. Assim, o Choro se torna personagem tão importante dessa pesquisa quanto o próprio citarista e suas transformações, do Rio de Janeiro do início do século XX até Brasília do século XXI, servem como base para esse estudo.

This research concerns the life and work of Heitor Avena de Castro in the analytical perspective of microhistory. His importance is much due to him being the first, and still only, zither player in Brazilian popular music and for having performed during a long period of time. In that sense, the aim of this dissertation is not only to do a simple biography, but also to understand the relationship established between him, the society that surrounded him and the changes that took place in the musical genre to which he devoted his life for, the Choro. That being said, Choro becomes as much a character as Avena de Castro himself, serving as a basis for the development of the discussion. Thinking about Avena’s participation on different periods of time and the changes that happened in Choro in several moments it was possible to construct a narrative that approached the establishment of the genre, in Rio de Janeiro of the early twenty’s century, as well as its transition to a new context in Brasília and many changes that surpassed until today.