(b Rio de Janeiro, 11 July 1848; d Rio de Janeiro, 20 March 1880). Brazilian flautist and composer of popular music. His father, a bandmaster and music teacher, taught him at first, then for a short time (1856) he took lessons from Henrique Alves de Mesquita. Within a few years he became such an outstanding virtuoso that in 1870 he was appointed flute instructor at the Imperial Conservatory of Music.
Calado began to compose early and was quite prolific. He cultivated all the fashionable dance genres of the time, but was at his best in polkas; he wrote mostly for the flute. He incorporated into the European polka all the local elements that eventually transformed it into the authentic Brazilian popular species known as the maxixe. His most typically Brazilian polkas include Querida por todos (1869), Cruzes, minha prima! (1875) and A flor amorosa (1880), in which he systematized rhythmic, melodic and harmonic features subsequently identified with the Brazilian musical vernacular. Calado also organized in Rio the first authentic choros, the instrumental ensembles that developed into a truly urban tradition at the beginning of the 20th century and were so influential on the first nationalist composers.
M. Lira: ‘A característica brasileira nas interpretações de Callado’, Revista brasileira de música, vii (1940–41), 210
G.H. Béhague: Popular Musical Currents in the Art Music of the Early Nationalistic Period in Brazil, circa 1870–1920 (diss., Tulane U., 1966)
B. Siqueira: Três vultos históricos da música brasileira (Rio de Janeiro, 1970)
GERARD BÉHAGUE