Villa Lobos Heitor Dissertation

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The Piano Compositions of Heitor
Villa‐Lobos
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A search for his compositional style within
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the context of his piano compositions and the
world in which he lived.
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22/05/2009
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Ryan McGovern

This work was produced as the Negotiated Project in the
Music Department, Leeds College of Music.

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Ryan McGovern, BA Music year 3, Negotiated Project: Dissertation
The piano compositions of Heitor Villa‐Lobos:
A search for his compositional style within the context of his
piano compositions and the world in which he lived.
Introduction
Every artist has been inspired by, and affected by the world around them. Most of the time
we associate art with all that is free and spiritual, but what is often overlooked is how great
a part non‐artistic factors play in shaping the way artists are able to express themselves.
Sociological factors, changes in government, wealth and even the environment affect how
artists are able to create. Artists are never dependent on any one situation to be creative
but rather, through their creativity make an impression of the world with whatever medium
they have available. Picasso may never have painted his cubist paintings had he not lived in
the age of the machine. Mozart could never have written his piano sonatas had he been
born before the invention of the piano. Hugo could surely never have conceived of his multi‐
faceted, multi‐dimensional literature had he not lived in 19th century Paris. The focus of my
dissertation will be to show that the politics and social climate of Brazil in the late 19th and
early 20th century was such that Heitor Villa‐Lobos was able to become the eclectic and
diverse composer that he did. I then want to look at some of the aspects of his
compositional style and draw some conclusions about what outside influences and social
factors drove his compositions.
Background
On the 13th of May 1888 Isabel, Imperial Princess and Regent of Brazil, Daughter of Emperor
Dom Pedro II, passed the Golden law abolishing slavery. In November 1889 Deodoro da
Fonseca lead his troops to the Ministry of War and brought down the empire, the following
day the royal family went into exile in Paris. This event marked the end of Brazil’s old
colonialism and gave way to a new republican world of progressive thinking and industry.
Heitor Villa‐Lobos was born in 1887. He was born at a turning point in Brazil’s History, no‐
longer was Brazil so divided among its racial lines, but instead, was free to discover its own,
unique, racial amalgam. People were proud of their Brazilian identity and they
acknowledged the large part that the Afro‐Brazilian played in their makeup. Brazilian people
at this time were primarily made up of the Amerindians, the Portuguese and the Africans.
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These three cultures each had their own musical traditions and it would be from these
different types of music that Villa‐Lobos would establish a style of music that was instantly
Latin American, nationalistic and yet, always rooted in the traditions of the European
classical musicians.
It was composers such as Beethoven, Chopin and Liszt that brought the high class citizens
of Brazil to the afternoon salon concerts at this period in Brazil’s history. Brazil’s own
composers at this time sought to emulate these European composers, Brazilian composers
such as Antônio Carlos Gomes (1836‐1896) who composed operas in an idealized and
Italianate way, and Francisco Manuel da Silva (1795‐1865), the composer of the Brazilian
national anthem. The music of the people, or the folk music was considered the music of the
lower classes. The 20th century saw the emergence of composers such as Villa‐Lobos and
performers like Augustin Barrios Mangoré, the Paraguayan guitar virtuoso who claimed to
be the Paganini of the jungle and often came on stage dressed as an Indian chief. The
Brazilian musical world was beginning to see some of the country’s raw traditions emerge
from the woodwork, and many people did not like it.
Villa‐Lobos’ musical training was the key to his own progressive views on composition. He
was introduced to music by his father Raùl who had a keen interest in literature, geography,
history and especially music. In his parents’ house, Heitor would observe the musicians who
gathered to play at the informal music evenings. At the age of 12, the young Heitor was
already playing the cello, guitar and clarinet and after the sudden death of his father, he was
forced to play in the local cinemas and theatre orchestras to earn a living for his mother and
sisters. He also played in the Café Assírio in the Avenida Central where people would pay
one hundred reis (equivalent to a few pence) for a cup of coffee and musical entertainment.
His mother, Noêmia wanted him to take a professional career in law or medicine but this
was not to his liking and to escape this fate he went to live with his aunt, Fifinha, who would
play Bach Preludes and Fugues for him on the piano. Villa‐Lobos’ fascination and love of
Bach lead him to arrange a Bach Fugue for piano and cello. The surviving manuscript is
dated 1910. These early introductions to Bach planted a seed in his mind that would one
day grow into his most fertile impression of a music that was at once Brazilian, vibrant and
tropical whilst possessing qualities of Baroque and European music, the Bachianas
Brasileiras.
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Villa‐Lobos’ few lessons on harmony proved unsuccessful but he privately studied various
treatises on composition and on the 3rd of April 1901 he entered Colégio Pedro II. The
restless Heitor soon left and continued taking private lessons with Agnello França, a
Brazilian teacher and composer. He also took an entrance exam for the Instituto Nacional de
Mùsica. According to reports, he failed the exam despite being the extremely gifted
musician that he was, and the Instituto openly opposed Villa‐Lobos when he applied for a
government grant to travel to Paris some years later, stating that a more conservative
composer would be better suited to representing their country.
Much of Villa‐ Lobos’ musical activity at this time came from his work in the cinemas and
orchestras and the time he spent among the street musicians of Rio de Janeiro, also known
as the Chorões. He would improvise on the guitar and composed a few pieces to perform
with these street groups, pieces such as Panqueca (1900), Mazurka (1901) and Valsa
Brillhante (1904) all of which are now lost. Villa‐Lobos’ activity as a Chorão was sporadic but
he formed friendships with (now half forgotten) Brazilian greats such as Ernesto Jùlio de
Nazareth, another self taught composer who improvised Polkas and Tangos on the piano for
the waiting audiences at the cinemas. Villa‐Lobos dedicated the Chôros No. 1 for guitar to
Nazareth. The style of the Chôros No. 1 is reminiscent of the popular music played by the
celebrated Chorões of the day with its improvised quality and the simple rondo form. It is
the only one of Villa‐Lobos’ choros that could easily pass for genuine popular music. His
later choros are more stylistic impressions of the choro. Villa‐Lobos was immensely proud of
the fact that the choro was a uniquely Brazilian style of music. He often stated that the
choro is a “novel form of composition” (L.M. Peppercorn Villa‐Lobos Collected Studies p. 19) and
he would seek to make the name ‘choro’ synonymous with Brazil. The very essence of the
choro lies at the heart of many of his compositions, the disregard for harmonious intervals,
rhapsodically improvised quality, at times humorous and at other times deeply sentimental
mood (the verb chorar in Portuguese means ‘to weep’). These qualities are all strong
compositional traits of Villa‐Lobos. The structure of many of the more melancholy choros
originates from a Portuguese song form known as modinha which is a slow minor‐mode
composition with a sad, lamenting character. Five of Villa‐Lobos’ surviving choros from this
period were grouped by the French publisher Max Eschig and entitled Suíte popular
Brasileiro. The five pieces were written for guitar between 1908 and 1912. They were not
written as a suite by the composer but were isolated pieces only later to be grouped by his
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publisher. These five pieces perfectly model the hybridisation of Brazilian and European
classical music with their European titles all being appended by the word ‘Chôro’. The five
pieces are; Mazurka-Chôro, Schottisch-Chôro, Valsa-Chôro, Gavota-Chôro and Chôrinho,
all are still part of the modern guitarist’s concert repertoire.
In 1912 Villa‐Lobos met the pianist Lucília Guimarães and married her the following year on
the 12th of November 1913. This essentially marked a turning point in his career, he had
come of age and with his gifted and supportive wife he was able to embark on his career as
a composer. Also, a meeting with Arthur Napoleão, the Portuguese pianist and music
publisher, gave him hope of pursuing composition seriously. With a wealth of musical ideas
behind him Villa‐Lobos now sought to take his music to a wider audience. He began giving
chamber concerts in January 1915 with his wife and various other colleagues. The concerts
started out in Nova Friburgo where he presented a programme consisting mainly of his own
material, then later moved on to Rio de Janeiro. Villa‐Lobos would promote nearly all of his
latest compositions in the Salão Nobre do Jornal do Comércio and as the public became
increasingly aware of his name and music, he stirred up an air of curiosity and disagreement
among the concert going public. The polite world of the salon concert was beginning to be
disrupted by this modernist movement and people didn’t take to it easily. As is often the
case with any pioneering composer, he was occasionally met by rejection and criticism.
In 1917 he premiered his violin sonata, (Desesperança) ‐ Sonata Phantastica e Capricciosa
no. 1, at the Jornal do Comércio and as the ‘Despair’ in the title suggests, the piece is
wrought with violent emotions, emotions which would continually show themselves in the
work of Villa‐Lobos throughout the entirety of his life. One critic in 1915 described the
‘anguish, perplexity, anxiety, perturbation and torment’ that ran through a large amount of
his music at that time. This tormented side to Villa‐Lobos seems hard to explain although it
was perhaps linked to his father’s death. At the same concert he also aired a group of solo
songs; these songs were settings of French texts by writers such as La Fontaine and Victor
Hugo. L’oiseau blessé d’une fleche (1913) for example tells of a ‘mortally wounded bird’
another theme that was to occupy him throughout his life and he would later use the
imagery of birds in relation to Amerindian mythology.
It was around this time that Villa‐Lobos heard compositions by Debussy, Ravel and Strauss.
Diaghilev arrived in Brazil with his Ballet Russes in both 1913 and 1917, performing scores
by Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky‐Korsakov and other Russian composers. Villa‐Lobos
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began using French and Portuguese markings in his scores at this time and impressionistic
styles began to seep into his own compositions. He also felt the need to further refine his
compositional style and so he began studying Vincent D’Indy’s book on composition, Course
de composition musicale.
Villa‐Lobos was not the first Brazilian composer to use Amerindian themes in his
compositions. Antônio Carlos Gomes also used Amerindian themes in some of his operas,
however these compositions were merely ‘pleasing exotica’ (Wright, Oxford Studies of
Composers, Villa‐Lobos, p. 10) in comparison to Villa‐Lobos’ Três Danças Características
(Africanas e Indígenas) (1914‐1916). These pieces were written using authentic material
from the Caripunas Indians of the Mato Grosso region. The individual titles of the three
pieces that make up the Três Danças are: ‘Farapós’, ‘Kankikis’ and ‘Kankukus’. They were all
originally written for piano but later in 1916, Villa‐Lobos arranged them for octet and full
orchestra. These three dances are supposed to represent the journey of human life from
childhood through to old age; they are violent with little melodic interest. Instead the pieces
are held together by the intricate cross rhythms and all build up into a mesmerising and
primitive state. Villa‐Lobos claims; the few melodic fragments that occasionally weave in
amongst the rhythmic textures are built on a mode that the Caripunas played on a special
type of marimba.
Villa‐Lobos spent a decade from 1900 exploring the far reaches of Brazil and it was
probably in this time that he picked up such melodies. There is, however, a certain amount
of speculation as to the authenticity of these adventures and some scholars claim that his
Indian evocations were nothing more than the result of intellectual study. In the book ‘The
World of Villa‐Lobos in Pictures and Documents’ by Lisa M. Peppercorn, the author states
that he learnt about Indian music through reading history books, visiting museums, listening
to recordings of native music made by others and studying Indigenous instruments.
‘It is a widely held but completely erroneous opinion that Villa‐Lobos – in order to give his
music a Brazilian flavour – roamed through virgin forests in the Amazon region, mingled with
natives, collected folk material in the interior of Brazil, and used it all in his music. He did not
collect one single melody and therefore no such tunes are used in his compositions.
So, what did he do to give his music a specifically Brazilian characteristic? His approach was
intellectual. He went about it like any researcher in any field. He bought and read books,
consulted chronicles, annals, records and documents in libraries and archives, examined
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lithographs, drawings and photographs, visited museums to study indigenous instruments and
listened to recordings of native tunes collected by others’ (L.M. Peppercorn, The World of
Villa‐Lobos in Pictures and Documents, p. 96).
The fact that Villa‐Lobos was a man who loved to amaze and entertain people probably
played a big part in these adventures, undoubtedly some travelling did take place but only
two of his alleged adventures have ever been proven to be strictly true. Perhaps one of his
more hilarious stories is the one where he claimed to have played a gramophone recording
of European music to native Indians at which they began to hit the gramophone. He then
played some native Indian music and they began to shout and sing and pay religious respect
to the gramophone, he finally played the European music again and the Indians destroyed
the gramophone. Villa‐Lobos claimed to have gone through many gramophones and “also
some guitars (sometimes I used a guitar)” (Villa‐Lobos, Collected Studies by L.M. Peppercorn, p.
25) in his experiments. Whether they were embellished or not these adventures in the
untamed regions of Brazil must have been great fuel for the youthful and fertile imagination
of the young composer and they certainly left a big impression on him and affected the way
he would compose music throughout the whole of his life.
“…the vast loneliness and epic scale of the Brazilian scene, in all its variety, surging splendour
and exquisite detail, had deeply impressed him and it was always these factors which
motivated his work. It is the roaming, restless, and ever romantic, fanciful, and isolated figure
of Villa‐Lobos that stands at the centre of all his Brazilian evocations, from that time until the
end of his life, whether miniature vignettes or vast sound canvases: each work is one more
fragment of the glittering mosaic that Villa‐Lobos conceived as representing a Brazilian
totality” (Oxford Studies of Composers, Villa‐Lobos, Simon Wright, Oxford University Press
1992).
Le Sauvage Bresilien
On the 30th of June 1923 Villa‐Lobos made his first trip to Paris. He did not go there to learn
nor did he go there to take in the cultural atmosphere of Paris, he went there, in his own
self‐asserted way to “…show them what I have done”. Despite this he was only able to
perform a small number of his own compositions as the government grant which allowed
him to travel there specified that his main objective should be to promote Brazilian music in
general. He did however manage to secure a publishing deal with the French music
publisher, Éditions Max Eschig. It was also around this time, ironically, that he began to use
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less French influences in his work. Perhaps being so far from home gave him nostalgia for
his home country and after he returned to Brazil he began to mark his work with a more
Brazilian character.
One of his most significant works from this period is his Nonneto for ten players and
chorus. The Nonneto pushes the boundaries of chamber music to its absolute limit:
flute/piccolo, oboe, clarinet, saxophone, bassoon, celesta, harp, piano, a percussion section
of 18 instruments requiring two players at minimum and a mixed chorus divided into 12
parts at the most. The subtitle of the work gives us some insight into the variety of
influences that had led Villa‐Lobos to this stage in his compositional output: Impressão
rápida do todo o Brasil (A quick impression of the whole of Brazil). In this work all of Villa‐
Lobos’ wonderings throughout Brazil are brought to life in vivid and impressionistic terms
and the Brazilian writer, Vasco Mariz comments that the work “…is indeed a synthesis of
Brazil in miniature”. The Nonneto is based on material from some of his earlier works:
Sexteto místico and Quarteto simbólico. The whole piece is a musical map of Brazil, and the
different instrumental and compositional effects that Villa‐Lobos uses throughout the piece
suggest the different musical traditions from the various regions and cultures of Brazil. The
Chorões are portrayed with the opening saxophone solo that is surrounded by
improvisation on the oboe, piccolo and clarinet and later the chorus creates the impression
of children’s songs, macumba rites and Amerindian chants using nonsense syllables that
imitate the sound of Indian chant. The clarinet player has to use a special mute at one point
in the music that imitates the sound of a particular type of Amerindian trumpet and a large
percussion section, containing standard and Brazilian percussion instruments (puíta, reco‐
recos, xuchalhos and cocos) weaves an intricate web of polyrhythms. Villa‐Lobos’ use of
these Brazilian percussion instruments often makes it difficult for regular performance of his
works in non‐Brazilian orchestras. The Nonneto concludes with closely packed chordal
clusters on the piano and celesta then dissolves into a whirlwind of glissandi that makes it
difficult to determine the tonal centre.
It was at Villa‐Lobos’ first Parisian concert dedicated entirely to his own compositions on
the 30th of May 1924, that the Nonneto was first performed. The performance took place at
the Salle des Agriculteurs and also included a performance of the Quarteto simbólico and A
Prole do Bebê no. 1 performed by Artur Rubenstein. The performance was met by a noisy
audience who were keen to criticise this Brazilian newcomer, but the result was his first
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important European press notice. Boris de Schlœza wrote a long review in the recently
established Revue musicale. De Schlœza appreciated the primitivism in Villa‐Lobos’ work but
criticised his use of native Indian themes saying that he ran the risk of disintegrating into
‘academicism’. Villa‐Lobos hardly ran the risk of becoming an academic and his untamed
and wild temperament led the French to dub him: ‘le Sauvage Bresilien’ (the savage
Brazilian). However it was clear that Villa‐Lobos was having something of a musical identity
crisis at this time, whether to be Brazilian or European. Whilst he was beginning to find an
audience in the forward thinking Parisians he was still seen as a man wasting his talents in
his own country and it would take the respect of the wider world and the efforts of
performers like Rubenstein to convince his fellow Brazilians that he was in fact a composer
of great genius.
In 1924 Villa‐Lobos returned to Rio de Janeiro from Paris due to a drastic cut in the grant
he received from the Brazilian government. On his return he was hailed by the poet Manuel
Bandeira:
"Villa‐Lobos has just returned from Paris. You expect whoever has just returned from Paris to
be full of Paris. However, Villa‐Lobos has come back full of Villa‐Lobos. Nevertheless, one thing
seriously shook him: Stravinsky’s "Rite of Spring". It was, he confessed to me, the greatest
musical emotion of his life..." (www.museuvilla‐lobos.org).
In December 1926 he returned, once again, to Paris for a three and a half year stay, this
time accompanied by his wife, Lucília. He met with internationally renowned artists such as
Stokowsky, Albert Wolff, Edgard Varèse and Florent Schmitt. Paris would remain a base for
him throughout his life and he had many friends and admirers there.
The piano works
Perhaps some of Villa‐Lobos’ most profound compositions were those for solo piano. Of the
26 works he wrote for piano, most of them suites, containing as many as 16 individual
pieces, the works discussed in this dissertation are some of his most prominent and
influential. From His first piano composition in 1912, Brinquedo de Roda to his last work,
Hommage à Chopin one can see progression. Yet, in typical Villa‐Lobos style he seems to
also make some backwards movements and occasionally harks back to an earlier style or
more simplistic way of composing. This can be seen when comparing the sophisticated
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writing of Prole do Bebê no. 1 (1918) with the neo‐classical simplicity of Histórias da
Carochina (1919).
Villa‐Lobos was not a virtuoso pianist; however he did have quite some skill at the
instrument and even made some recordings of his piano compositions. His piano music has
the impression of being partly written at the piano and partly written using compositional
ideas and devices away from the instrument. In all of Villa‐Lobos’ compositions, his natural
musicality shines through and one cannot deny the greatness of his musical ideas upon
hearing them. His impressionistic piano works often have a rough and improvised quality
with sharp contrasts between aggressive chords and moments of intense sentimentality.
Sometimes he will lead the music to a new section that will only last for a short time before
returning to the main theme of the composition, often at an unexpected moment, as in Vals
da Dor (Waltz of Sorrow) the brilliantly romantic and sentimental piano work.
Villa‐Lobos’ piano compositions have undergone various changes in style throughout the
course of his life which makes it hard to pin down exactly what his style of writing is. From
Neo‐classicism to Impressionism, from children’s songs to virtuosic works, Villa‐Lobos has
written them all. Despite this, the true nature of Villa‐Lobos is hard to find in some of his
Neo‐classical works and it seems that he is simply writing these pieces to show his skill for
composition or to improve his compositional technique. Villa‐Lobos’ nature seems to be
most present when he is writing folk influenced pieces. Or perhaps diversity is the very
nature of Villa‐Lobos, not to have one particular, predictable style. Maybe none of his
individual works sum up his character but rather it is the vast diversity of them that best
reflect the character of Villa‐Lobos.
‘Glancing at the comprehensive range of Villa‐Lobos’ works, works which include every type of
music, one cannot fail to notice certain compositions speak a personal language while others,
though interesting as a reflection of his individuality, do not reveal the same strength and
intensity’ (L.M. Peppercorn Villa‐Lobos collected studies p. 14).
In 1918 Villa‐Lobos composed the suite Prole do Bebê no. 1 for solo piano. The suite was
perhaps inspired by Debussy’s Children’s Corner as each of the pieces within the suite was
dedicated to children in his family. Villa‐Lobos never had children of his own so this adds a
touching sentimentality to the works. The first piece Branquinha is dedicated to Lucília Villa‐
Lobos. It opens with a simple figuration in the left hand which is quickly followed in bar 3 by
a bright and fantastical flourish in the right hand. The first eight bars are held down with a D
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tonality by the fifths in the left hand while the flourishes in triplets and semi‐quavers give a
mystical and child‐like wonder despite being refined music (Ex. 1).

Ex.1 Branquinha p.1 bars 1‐6

The opening eight bars are all in the D myxolidian mode. The use of modes, of course, was
popular among the impressionists at this time and the influence of Debussy seems a likely
source for Villa‐Lobos’ own modal compositions.
Despite the relative simplicity of the piano writing the effect in performance is seems
intricate and avant‐garde. This ability to create complex music out of a simple idea shows
Villa‐Lobos’ had an innate understanding of music. In bar 9 the harmony is pentatonic and is
far removed from, yet innately linked to the use of harmony in classical music. In bar 11 the
music changes to the time signature of 5/4 for one bar then descends again with a bar of
glissandi in bar 13. This is typical of impressionist music and the trend around the early 20th
century of freer musical forms which are in contrast to the more symmetrical forms of his
predecessors like Beethoven, Mozart and Bach. In bar 14 the same figuration as in bar 1 is
continued but this time in a different tonality and in bar 16 the child‐like melody is
introduced with the expression marking of Cantando com muita infantilidade (sing/play like
a small child). This very simple melody is written using only the basic rhythms of crotchets
and minims with deliberate accents and staccato markings above each note which suggests
the cumbersome sound of a young child learning the piano. However this is not simple
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music and the speed at which it is played makes it seem like quavers rather than crotchets.
The harmony at this point seems to be centred on B but this melodic section ends with a
tied G and D in the bass leaving the key ambiguous. Key however is not fixed in this piece
and the modulations again suggest impressionism using neither perfect cadences nor
traditional modulations. Villa‐Lobos breaks up the fluidity of the piece with clashing chords
played staccato and a section that is almost entirely made up of block chords with sonorous
clusters and clashing notes being its strength. In bar 42 the music moves into triplets and
continues with this rhythm almost exclusively until bar 53 where a variation of the original
theme is introduced this time using another mode over the notes E and B. This section is
short lived and quickly modulates back to the child‐like melody section but this time the
melody is played in leaping octaves and the music is written out on four staves to
accommodate the various voices within the piece. The child‐like theme is much more eerie
and distant this time and the expression marking is Crystallino. He then writes what seems
to be improvised material leading to the final section which juxtaposes triplets against
duplets. In the final five bars, an ascending quintuplet is left ringing over the notes of D, F, A
and C suggesting the original D myxolidian mode.
Branquinha is a very original work by Villa‐Lobos and although it has elements of
impressionism it is a style all of its own possessing what may be described as cubist qualities
with its geometric chord shapes, bright colours and slightly brash treatment of material. It
could be described as Brazilian impressionism or Villa‐Lobos’ impression of impressionism, it
is, on reflection, nothing like the music of Debussy.
The second piece in this suite, Moreninha has a similar approach to compositional style,
opening once again with two bars of chordal accompaniment before introducing a melody
over the top. This style of piano writing has a song‐like quality and is perhaps the result of
Villa‐Lobos’ own experimentation at the piano. Although Villa‐Lobos marks no key signature
the piece opens with the notes D#, F#, C# and E# which suggests the key of F# major. These
notes are played out in semi quavers with the marking sempre legato and the melody is
sung out on top. This semi‐quaver motif continues almost entirely throughout the piece. As
with many of Villa‐Lobos’ compositions, there are plenty of triplets against duplets, uneven
groupings and he seems to have a flair for writing aesthetically pleasing scores, the score
itself is a work of art. The child‐like melody could easily be mistaken for a Christmas carol if
it wasn’t for the sophisticated treatment of material. Here, Villa‐Lobos gives us an insight
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into two sides of his character, the child‐like innocence hidden behind the complex almost
feline nature.
The 3rd piece in the suite, Caboclinha (little native child) bears similarities to his other
native inspired work A Lenda do Caboclo in some of the harmonic and melodic phrases he
uses. The piece opens, as with all the others so far, with two bars of accompaniment before
bringing in a new voice, this time in the bass. The actual song begins in bar 7; the melody in
bar 9 is almost an exact replica of a melodic phrase in A Lenda do Caboclo (Ex. 1.2).

Ex 1.2 Caboclinha bars 7‐10

By the time we get to the 4th piece in the suite, Mulatinha, Villa‐Lobos has changed his
approach to compositional style. This time the key signature is in compound time but in
typical Villa‐Lobos style he juxtaposes compound and duple meter making the music seem
more like a mixture of 3/4 and 2/4 and most of the rhythms commonly associated with 6/8
time are scarcely seen (Ex. 1.3).

Ex. 1.3 Mulatinha bars 1‐4

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Negrinha, the 5th piece in the suite, is based almost entirely on strong, punchy rhythm and
the small amount of melody that does exist within the piece is extremely simple, to the
point of being crude. However Villa‐Lobos once again manages to disguise this simple
melody behind a wave of impressionistic techniques which make the piece seem exciting
and fast moving. His use of piano technique in this piece is very rhythmical and the chords
constantly alternate between the left and right hand which makes the piano seem more like
a drum than a melodic instrument.
The 6th work in the suite is a touching little melody entitled A Pobresinha (the little poor
child) and seems to encapsulate all the sufferings and strivings a poor child in Brazil may
have to face. The piece opens with the expression marking Lentamente e melancolico and
Villa‐Lobos sets up an interesting mood by giving two bars of triplets answered by two bars
of duple meter (Ex. 1.4). This gives the music a dragging and melancholy feel, as though
struggling to get started, perhaps echoing the emotions of a poor child with little
motivation.

Ex. 1.4 A Pobresinha, bars 1‐4

The 7th piece, O Polichinello, is by far the fastest and most exciting piece in this suite and
once again makes use of Villa‐lobos’ drum like playing with the left and right hand
constantly alternating over clashing harmonies. This is great music for children, who seem to
enjoy making music without too much intellectual input. This piece gives students of the
piano an opportunity to make some noise, a bit like children painting their first picture and
making a terrible mess. This is similar to the piano music of Bela Bartok who often wrote
studies with uneven time signatures to encourage learners to break out of the 4/4 and 3/4
mould. Villa‐lobos uses the same rhythm throughout the entirety of the piece occasionally
15
adding some quintuplets and the minims at the end seem to be the only way to stop this
fast moving train, apparently it does not have brakes!
The final piece in the suite Bruxa is one of the finer works from Prole do Bebê no. 1 and
nicely rounds up the suite, somehow echoing Branquinha yet different altogether. The piece
is also relentlessly fast moving similar to O Polichinello but with a different approach to
melody. The piece ends rather curtly with a low C# pounded out at ff, thus ending this suite.
Villa‐Lobos’ approach to composition in this suite was very much avant‐garde and his use
of harmony doesn’t adhere to many traditional rules of modulation. Still, he manages to
incorporate traditional type melodies into the music without being tied to traditional
harmonisation. This shows Villa‐Lobos was able to conceive music in non‐traditional ways,
pushing his abilities to new levels rather than staying within his comfort zone. This ability to
experiment mixed with his tropical and fecund nature is what lies at the heart of many of his
compositions. Upon hearing his music one can sense the zeal and ferocity with which he
composed. One imagines pencils scrawling, manuscripts flying, and many cigars being
smoked as he worked long into the night, possessed by an uncontrollable urge to create
music.
What is noticeable about Villa‐Lobos’ music at this time, when compared to his later piano
compositions, is the lack of Brazilian thematic material. The suite Prole do Bebê no. 1 is
made up all most entirely of impressionistic rhythms but underneath the façade is the ever
present improvised nature of Brazilian music that marks the whole of Villa‐Lobos’ output.
Though impressionistic, it is a Brazilian impressionism full of bright and striking colours.
Villa‐Lobos also wrote a follow up, Prole do Bebê no. 2 in 1921 this time taking his
inspiration from children’s toys and animals.
In contrast to the suite Prole do Bebê no. 1, whilst in Paris in 1927 Villa‐Lobos composed
the Saudades das sélvas brasileiras (longing for the Brazilian rainforest). This two movement
piece encapsulates the raucous sound of the Chorões and the lamenting sound of the
Serestras. The piece is a clear turn towards using more overtly Brazilian themes and ideas
and it was whilst in Paris that Villa‐lobos realised that to be original and make his mark on
the world of music he would have to utilise the music of his homeland.
‘In fact it was Paris which made him realise . . . he, too, had to show the world something that
was not only outstanding but totally different from European music’ (L.M. Peppercorn Villa‐
Lobos Collected Studies p. 53).
16
In this piece Villa‐Lobos uses a much more melodic approach to piano writing. The first
movement opens with a punchy ‘train‐like’ rhythm with staccato markings and the melody
is then introduced over the top of the left hand accompaniment. The left hand ostinato is
continued throughout the entirety of the piece with the occasional break in movement,
change in meter and figuration. The melodic material on top of this seems almost
improvised and uses sequential movement in chromatic notes. The second movement is
much more expressive with the melody in the bass being in triplets against the
accompanying chords which maintain a duple meter. Villa‐Lobos also uses an interesting
device of setting what seems to be the main beat of a particular phrase on the last beat of
the previous bar giving the music a free feel. This is first noticeable in bar 17 where he puts
a low bass note at the end of the 2/2 bar just before the time signature transposes to 3/2
(Ex. 1.5).

Ex. 1.5 Saudades das sélvas brasileiras, un poco animado bars 16‐19

In bar 39 he introduces a melody in thirds which sounds reminiscent of music from the
classical period. A contrapuntal bass line echoes the melody in the right hand, sounding
reminiscent of Mozart or Bach. A sudden flourish of notes ends this classical section, a
moment of irrational and intense passion leads to a variation of this theme sounding like a
sudden storm spattering rain on the leaves of the Brazilian rainforest or the frustrated
desire to have that which one longs for but cannot have at that time. The same classical
melody is played a 3rd lower but without the contrapuntal bass line underneath, this time he
only adds the ostinato chord figuration from the opening of the piece. The rest of the piece
17
is expressive and folk‐like, constantly changing meter using triplets, quintuplets and
septuplets which give the piece a relaxed and melancholy feel.
This second movement has a touch of the melancholy mood of another of Villa‐Lobos’
piano works A Lenda do Caboclo and also of the music of Erik Satie with his use of
interesting melody against relatively simple left hand chords. However Villa‐Lobos’
compositions have more Brazilian swing than Satie in the way he sets duple meter against
triple meter. Saudades das sélvas brasileiras is a sign of Villa‐Lobos beginning to utilise in a
much more overt way the music of his home country Brazil, whilst still being connected to
and tied to European musical styles.
Many critics of Villa‐Lobos’ work have stated that his composition Rudepoêma (1921‐1926)
is the pinnacle of his piano compositional style and that in no other work is the anguish of
Villa‐Lobos so overtly expressed. Written for his friend Artur Rubenstein, the piece
according to Villa‐Lobos is a musical portrait of the great virtuoso. When Villa‐Lobos
presented the work to Rubenstein, the pianist asked Villa‐Lobos if he thought he was a
savage pianist (Rudepoêma means savage poem), Villa‐Lobos replied;
‘We are both savage! We don’t care much for pedantic detail. I compose and you play, off the
heart, making the music live, and this is what I hope I expressed in this work’ (Oxford Studies
of Composers, Villa‐Lobos, Simon Wright, p. 49).
The dedication on the title page of the score reads:
‘My sincere friend, I do not know if I have been able to put all of your spirit into the
Rudepoêma, but I am honestly able to say that, as far as I can tell, I have caught your true
temperament on paper as I might have done with an intimate snapshot. Hence, if I have
succeeded, it will be you in fact who will have been the real composer of this work.’ (James
Melo, Villa‐Lobos Piano Music, Vol. 6, album sleeve notes).
Rubenstein flattered though he was, denied the claim to being co‐author of the work and
stated that:
‘…my own talent as an interpreter is mainly based on my need for understanding the structure
of a musical work’ (Oxford Studies of Composers, Villa‐Lobos, Simon Wright, p. 49).
Rudepoêma demands insanely virtuosic technique. There seems to be a distinct lack of
recordings of the work which may be a result of Villa‐Lobos not quite being within the
popular classical music canon. However the pianist Sonia Rubinsky has made a recording of
the work on the Naxos label as she has done with almost all of Villa‐Lobos’ piano works. The
18
piece opens with the rhythm that seems to be a musical signature of Villa‐lobos’ and is the
rhythm commonly found in the music of the Chorões. The first sixteen bars seem almost to
dance (Ex. 1.6). This is one of the few moments in the piece that the music seems melodic
and it quickly descends into the savage mood that marks the rest of the work. In bar 17 the
mood of the music drastically changes and the expression marking Très sauvage gives us
some idea of the mood Villa‐Lobos wants to express at this point. The left hand plays out
the same bass line as in the opening of the piece but this time leaps from rumbling bass
notes while the right hand plays groupings of quintuplets, sextuplets and septuplets, all at ff
and rff. This section is only eight bars long before moving into yet another section marked
Animé. The music is written out on three staves here and the time signature changes to 5/8,
and then 6/8.

Ex. 1.6 Rudepoêma p.1 Bars 1‐4: Showing the rhythm that is synonymous with the music of Brazil and of Villa‐Lobos.
Compare with example 1.7 Chôros No. 1.
Ex. 1.7 Chôros No. 1 bars 42‐45

The Animé section is another short‐lived piece of thematic material and only lasts for 6 bars
before moving into another development. The composition seems to be structured in this
way, short sections based on different thematic material. Villa‐Lobos’ great genius is shown
here in his ability to weave these different sections together so that all seem connected. The
19
piece, when listened to with a critical ear and score in hand, begins to reveal some of its
secrets and one begins to see the true complexity and genius of this work. The harmonic
layers are as multi‐faceted and richly ornate as the feathers on some bird of paradise in the
Brazilian rainforest, leaving us with a tantalising glimpse into the colourful imagination of a
Latin American composer. Though the work was dedicated to Rubenstein and is claimed to
be a musical portrait of him, it is clear after listening closely that the music has a very
Brazilian character. It is also fair to say that a large part of Villa‐Lobos’ character is expressed
in this work. Rudepoêma then, is in fact a simultaneous musical portrait of Rubenstein, Villa‐
Lobos and Brazil.
Villa‐Lobos’ use of the piano in this piece shows his ability to write in a way that is
idiomatic of the instrument and also of his ability to conceive music in a multi‐layered way.
A good example of this is on page 23 of the score, the expression marking is Moins, mais
très rythmé and the time signature is 6/4. He introduces a melody that essentially is just a
simple song‐like melody, not unlike the kind of melody you would find in folk music. What
distinguishes it from folk music and gives it the unique mood that is so integral to the
Rudepoêma is the material that Villa‐Lobos weaves around it. The music is also written out
on three staves here to accommodate these different voices. The overall effect comes out
as something like a slightly jilted waltz (Ex. 1.8 and 1.9).
Looking at these two examples one can clearly see the complex musical structures Villa‐
Lobos has been able to compose out of a simple melodic fragment. The melody alone has
similarities to the Modinha form commonly found in Portuguese music and once again
shows Villa‐Lobos’ strong affinity with folk music. The piece has other moments like this,
where Villa‐Lobos weaves quite simple melodies into complex, rich harmonic and rhythmic
structures. Another such moment is at the end of the piece where he builds the music to a
savage climax in a cloud of harmonic texture. The clear placing of melody notes within this
texture demands great control from the pianist despite the fact that the music seems to
have lost all sense of control at this point. The final chord is an overt expression of the
savagery suggested by the title. The markings of assez rude and à coups de poing leave the
pianist quite literally hitting the piano and the effect is so intense that it almost sounds extra
musical. The reverberations of the piano at this point are not far removed from the sound of
some alien space ship in an American sci‐fi movie.

20

Ex. 1.8 Rudepoêma p. 23

Ex. 1.9 Rudepoêma p. 23, melodic fragment

Whatever Villa‐Lobos wished to achieve in writing Rudepoêma, whether it was to capture
the character of Rubenstein, to express his own or to capture the essence of Brazil, he
certainly wrote one of the greatest and most demanding piano pieces of the 20th century.
Despite this, it still remains quite an unknown work for many pianists.
These compositons, Prole do Bebê no. 1, Saudades das sélvas brasileiras and Rudepoêma
all show elements of Villa‐Lobos’ modernistic and impressionistic style. If you were to hear
the suite entitled Histórias da Carochina by Villa‐Lobos, after listening to these
impressionistic works you would hardly recognise the composer. They are far removed from
these impressionistic and freely formed, organic works and instead Villa‐Lobos gives us
something that would not be out of place in the oeuvre of Beethoven or Mozart. The pieces
are simple and short in length using traditional cadences and modulations.

21
Use of Piano in the Bachianas Brasileiras
It was during the reign of Getulio Vargas that Villa‐Lobos wrote, or rather compiled, the
Bachianas Brasileiras. The idea that he could fuse the spirit of Brazil with that of Bach was
not something he dreamed up over night but was instead something that grew throughout
his life slowly taking shape in all the disparate strands of his musical amalgam. The very title
gives the works impetus and is instantly striking and mystifying to musicians and music
lovers alike, leaving us with the question ‘what does it mean?’ hitherto there is no
translation. Villa‐Lobos always had an affinity with Bach’s music and he had the self
assertion to state on one occasion, that there were only two great composers of music,
namely “Bach and I” (L.M. Peppercorn Villa‐Lobos Collected Studies p. 14).
There is much to be said about the Bachianas Brasileiras but we will only concern ourselves
here with the use of piano in these works. He first uses the piano in the Bachianas
Brasileiras no. 2, that undeniably rural and most Brazilian of the Brasileiras. His use of piano
is rather sparse in the first movement and in typically eccentric style he only introduces the
piano at two points, bars 1‐4 and at section 8 in the score, where the music is marked
Andantino mosso. However sparse the piano writing is, it plays an integral part in setting up
the rhythm in this section by the use of a simple anacrusis figure. The use of the piano
seems almost like timpani writing in this movement and is mostly just adding to the
rhythmical elements of the music.
The second movement starts with an equally sparse texture with a large held chord on the
first beat of the first bar being the only thing we hear from the piano until bar 23. In bar 26
the piano begins a rhythmical figure that continues unchanged (except for subtle
displacement of the rhythms within the bar) until section 10 where a recapitulation of the
opening theme is introduced (Ex. 2.0). After this, the piano remains as sparse as before only
to be re‐introduced in the final three bars.

Ex. 2.0 Bachianas Brasileiras no. 2, Aria bar 26
22
In the third movement, sparseness is once again the theme for the pianist with a single E
note on the first beat of the first bar being the only sound we hear from the piano until bar
34 where he introduces a simple marching figuration all in the bass clef. In bar 41 a
figuration in sextuplets just adds colour to the orchestra rather than having any melodic or
leading purpose. The piano emerges just four times in the midst of this third movement.
However the piano gets the final word and finishes the piece on a loud aggressive bass note
leaving the sound ringing in your ears.
In the fourth movement, O Trenzinho do Caipira (the little train of the Brazilian country
man), he uses the piano to create a vividly train‐like rhythm which encapsulates all of the
rickety sounds of the early steam trains. The use of train‐like rhythms is a recurrent element
in Villa‐Lobos’ output. This is a very rustic use of the piano and makes no concession to
delicate finger work. The pianist needs hammers for fingers to play this. Once again Villa‐
Lobos is using the piano like a drum and the left and right hand alternation found in
Negrinha and many other Villa‐Lobos works is again found here. Towards the end of section
6 in the score, the pianist has quite a lot of work to do with little clusters of notes, played
staccato and on the offbeat. This style of playing demands a good sense of rhythm and is
typical of Latin music. The remainder of the work mostly features the left and right hand
alternation, drum‐like playing mentioned before. As the music (train) comes to a stop the
piano slowly decreases in speed and rhythmic rate.
This final movement features the piano the most out of the four movements. This is a
rhythmical approach to piano writing and is far removed from the world of concert piano
technique with its cascading arpeggios and flashy showmanship. This really is piano music
with a folk influenced root and the simplicity of its style conjures up images of dusty,
ramshackle houses deep in the Brazilian countryside, where men wear straw hats and
smoke cigars, playing cards in the shadows, seeking respite from the midday sun.
He next uses the piano in the Bachianas Brasileiras no. 3. The piano takes a much more
leading role in this work and seems more like a piano concerto at times. The compositional
style is rhapsodic with the pianist leaping around the keyboard in an almost improvised
manner. In this work we can clearly detect the ‘Bachianas’ part of the title although the
music still remains uniquely Villa‐Lobos with his use of impressionistic rhythms that seem
worlds apart from Bach’s own rather uniform rhythms. The first movement Preludio opens
with rich and powerful chords in the piano surrounded by harmonies from the clarinets,
23
bass clarinet, viola, cello and double bass. The piano writing is strikingly bold with the
melody in the left hand being mirrored in octaves by the right. Where there are gaps in the
melody the left and right hand place rich and deep chords before leaping back up to play
out the melody. The piano starts a descending passage which essentially starts on beat two
of bar four and continues descending down until bar 6. This passage is typically Latin with
the demi‐semiquavers being grouped in threes, this causes the phrases to cut across the bar
line and creates a sense of breaking down the meter (Ex. 2.1).
After this section the music moves into a movement where the rhythms are continually the
same, perhaps trying to emulate Bach’s own way of using relentless rhythm and the music is
written out on three staves, a favourite device of Villa‐Lobos. After this section he
introduces a baroque‐like melody with typically contrapuntal harmonisations. The violins
weave in amongst the texture with semiquavers and later the oboe adds a beautiful
sonorous melody which complements the melody in the piano. Gone are the impressionistic
rhythms here and instead Villa‐Lobos presents us with something much more fugue like.
This first movement is a good display of Villa‐Lobos’ versatility as a composer for the piano.
Here we have something very different from Rudepoêma, this is neo‐baroque music with a
Latin American colouring. Unlike his educational and overtly Neo‐classical music, here we
have a good balance between, what seems to be the true character of Villa‐Lobos and him
striving to imitate and emulate the musical styles of his predecessors. This music is far
removed from the ramshackle sounds of the Bachianas Brasileiras no. 2 and shows Villa‐
Lobos as a much more refined and learned composer.
The second movement, Fantasia, starts out with a similar compositional style to the first
movement but quickly descends into something much freer and also includes longer
sections where the piano does not have anything to play. There are elements of Jazz in
some of the rhythms too and the piece on the whole is a lot more fantasy like.
The third movement is entitled Aria but has a Portuguese subtitle of Modinha. It is
interesting to see how Villa‐Lobos fuses these two styles and sees them as belonging to a
similar category of music. In fact the Modinha form does bear many similarities to the Aria
the only real difference between the two being mood and idiom.
24

Ex. 2.1 Bachianas Brasileiras no. 3, Preludio, bars 1‐6, piano part.
In this movement the pianist does not play any notes until bar 18 where the piano is
introduced with a moving and passionate melody that gradually increases in intensity. This
music really could pass for baroque music and if bars 18 to 21 were played as an isolated
fragment many musicians may mistake it for genuine baroque music.
25
The fourth movement Toccata lives up to its name with the fast moving semiquavers often
associated with Toccatas being the driving rhythm. Villa‐Lobos once again uses his device of
left and right hand alternation in the piano. The Toccata is a very exciting piece of music and
the piano takes a more rhythmical role once again in this movement although this is flashy
showmanship type rhythm and not just supporting rhythm.
Bachianas Brasileiras no. 3 is worlds apart from no. 2 in compositional style mood and
setting. Where we had the countryman in no. 2 we now have the world of the concert
pianist in no. 3 and the whole of European piano musical heritage. There are elements of
Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Debussy, Liszt and Ravel all within in this one work. Without these
composers to follow Villa‐Lobos would surely never have composed music like this, but it is
Villa‐Lobos’ own unique character that gives the works their individuality. This tropical,
extravagance, this Brazilian fascination with all things European and antique, this attempt at
taming the wild Brazilian soul within European models is at the very heart of Bachianas
Brasileiras no. 3.
One way of describing this composition is to compare it to a wild native Indian from the
Amazon who has been dressed up in European clothing, taught something about European
culture and etiquette then come to live amongst European people in a city. Although he
essentially acts as the other city folk do, there will always remain something innately wild
and Indian about him and though he tries to hide them, you can almost see the feathers
poking out from under his hat, the ceremonial paint on his face and a spear in place of his
brief case.
Bachianas Brasileiras no. 4 (1941) is the only one out of the nine Bachianas that features
the piano solely. However, Villa‐Lobos made an orchestral arrangement later in the same
year. The Preludio from this suite is a combination of an essentially baroque theme mixed
with a mood that gradually gets more and more Latin, eventually descending into rich,
passionate chords. One gets the impression of Villa‐Lobos trying to imitate Bach’s music but
unable to contain his own flamboyant soul within the piece. The Preludio is based on a
simple theme that, not unlike Pachelbel’s Canon, is extemporised and elaborated as the
piece progresses (Ex. 2.2).
In the second movement, Coral, Villa‐Lobos intends the piano to create an organ‐like effect
with the use of sympathetic vibrations and his marking in the score is ‘como um orgão’.
26
Ex. 2.2 Prelúdio (Introdução) Bachianas Brasileiras no. 4 bars 1‐2

Piano music in Brazilian musical education
In June of 1930 Villa‐Lobos arrived at the Brazilian port of Recife with the intention of
returning to Paris, however, political circumstances made this impossible. A revolution in
October of 1930 bringing Getulio Vargas into power brought about 15 years of dictatorship
that made it temporarily impossible to make payments abroad. This meant that Villa‐Lobos
was unable to make the payments on his Parisian apartment and was duly evicted, his
belongings were removed along with various autograph scores that are now lost. He thus
turned his efforts to work in Brazil and in a visit to São Paulo he became aware of the
appalling state of musical education in schools and was inflamed with the desire to remedy
the situation. He approached the authorities with a proposal of institutionalising Brazilian
musical education in public schools and devoted many years to these projects.
In 1932 Villa‐Lobos was invited by the Director General of Education to become the musical
director of SEMA (Superintendency of Artistic and Musical Education). It is thanks to this
fortunate event that Brazilian people today benefit from a unique musical education system
designed by Villa‐Lobos himself. He was quick to realise that to follow in the footsteps of the
European education system would not have worked so well in Brazil and so he adapted and
modified methods that had already proven beneficial, to better suit the Brazilian people.
Villa‐Lobos believed that musical education in schools is not an end in itself but rather a
means to create discipline, civic training and artistic education. It seems strange that Villa‐
Lobos puts artistic education as the final point in musical training but he believed that
before people can appreciate serious music they have to have a well grounded
understanding of art.
Perhaps his greatest educational achievement was his development of the manisolfa
system, a system closely linked to the Tonic Solfa but with less syllables and more hand signs
27
making it applicable to any key and chromatic notes. It also has similarities to the Indian
system of Sagam but Villa‐Lobos probably did not have this in mind when designing the
method. However, it serves the same purpose as the Indian system in that it allows the
student to concentrate on producing the right sounds rather than focusing on intellectual
concepts. The children in Brazilian schools were then taught the national anthem, nursery,
folk and national songs using his method. Villa‐Lobos’ aim through his musical system was to
develop the Brazilian peoples’ understanding of their vast and diverse culture, to give them
a healthy respect for their fellow Brazilians and also to widen their perception of musical
styles from all around the world.
At this time Villa‐Lobos’ compositional style inevitably changed. The characteristic sounds
of his modernist period, the chordal clusters, the sharp dissonances and the tormented side
to his music really had no place in educational and nationalistic music. His music became
much more tonal at this time and his focus turned to using children’s songs, folk songs and
nationalistic music to develop a musical heritage uniquely Brazilian.
It was during the Vargas years that he gathered the material to compose and arrange the
Guia pràtico (1932). The Guia pràtico consists of eleven volumes of piano music all arranged
from Brazilian children’s songs and folk songs. They were originally choral works but Villa‐
Lobos later arranged them for solo piano. Much of the material used in Guia pràtico was
also used in his 1926 suite Cirandas. The sophisticated treatment of the material in these
earlier arrangements is in marked contrast to the simple and diatonic arrangement in Guia
pràtico. Villa‐Lobos had an ability to extract hidden meanings from within these children’s
songs while still staying true to the simplicity of them. Other works from the Guia pràtico
are beyond the ability of children’s or beginner’s music and would not be out of place in the
concert repertoire. The beautiful simplicity of Acordei de madrugada from volume 1 of the
Guia pràtico shows Villa‐Lobos’ talent as an arranger and aptitude for letting the melody line
sing. He does not overcomplicate the music with flashy showmanship but simply presents us
with a clear arrangement that features a rhythmical motif in the left hand which repeats
throughout the piece. Simple decoration in the right hand embellishes the melody which
helps to break the monotony of the music (Ex. 2.3).
28
Ex. 2.3 Acordei de madrugada, bars 5‐8
The second piece of music in volume 1 is a popular song from Paraíba in the north of Brazil.
Villa‐Lobos allows himself a bit more extravagance with the opening here, using an
introduction that seems to be unconnected to the actual song, being more an original
creation of the composer. The piece has two main sections after the opening: a sentimental
and reflective melody followed by a piece of punchy and truly Brazilian rhythm with the left
hand playing staccato and the right hand playing chords on the offbeat.
The folk melody from Na corda da viola, the fifth piece from volume 1, is a well know
melody in Brazil and was also used by Antonio Carlos Jobim in his 1963 composition
Gabriela. Villa‐Lobos makes a more classical arrangement of Na corda da viola here in the
Guia pràtico but the original melody is clearly distinguishable in both Villa‐Lobos’ and
Jobim’s work. There are 5 pieces of music in volume 1 of the Guia pràtico all in this simple
style of piano playing and all very much children’s songs with that simplicity of melody that
can only come from folk music. Still, these works are advanced in compositional technique
and the clarity of them is refreshing. The Guia pràtico also provided Villa‐Lobos with yet
more compositional resources and some of the melodies and rhythms found their way into
some of his most memorable compositions.

29
Conclusion
Through the study of Villa‐Lobos’ music one begins to appreciate the diversity and
originality of this composer. Villa‐Lobos in fact, is something of a hidden gem yet to be
discovered and truly appreciated for all that he has to offer. How he came to compose in
the way he did is the result of many sociological factors coming together at the right place
and right time, mixed with natural creativity and the ability to experiment. The fact that
Villa‐Lobos had models like Bach, Mozart, Debussy, Ravel, Liszt and many other composers
as the source of inspiration for his music is the result of the era he lived in. The way in which
information was distributed at the turn of the 20th century was much quicker and it was
because of this that people all over the world could readily benefit from influences that
came from faraway places. Perhaps composers before Villa‐Lobos would have had to wait a
lot longer to pick up the latest trends from Paris and Europe as travel between these two
countries was undoubtedly slower before the invention of modern transport systems. Not
only this but the changes in government and monarchy began shaping Brazil and at the time
of Villa‐Lobos’ birth, as we have already seen, the Emperor of Brazil had been overthrown
by republicans. Such changes always have an effect on people and the way they live their
lives, this too in turn leads to new trends in art and music as traditional values are broken
down and new social structures arise.
It was Villa‐Lobos’ own character however that played a large part in shaping his music.
The diversity of his music and the prolific way in which he composed is evidence of a man
possessed by an unshakeable self assertion and desire to be heard. Throughout his life Villa‐
Lobos regularly had to champion his own music as other people were reluctant to add his
repertoire into their concert programmes. It is hard to imagine him being disheartened and
one gets the impression of a man who never lost the drive to promote his work, in an
almost business like fashion. In fact examining Villa‐Lobos’ life and music one begins to see
that a large part of his character was academic and that his compositional style was strongly
directed by his ability to experiment, almost like an inventor rather than a musician.
‘Villa‐Lobos’ special gift is his ability to absorb, coupled with an imaginative power and a skill
for experimenting’ (L.M. Peppercorn Villa‐Lobos Collected Studies p. 14).
30
However, Villa‐Lobos’ musicality is undisputable he was after all one of the musicians
talented enough to be accepted by the Chorões who were said to judge a man by his
appearance and ability to improvise. If you could improvise and accompany they would
accept you among their ranks, otherwise, they wouldn’t let you waste their time. Villa‐Lobos
was innately musical in that way that many Latin musicians are; playing by feeling, instinct
and listening rather than pursuing the intellectual side of music.
The vast diversity of Villa‐Lobos’ music sums up the character of Brazil beautifully, that
almost chaotic mixture of races, cultures, religions and music can be heard in Villa‐Lobos’
own mosaic‐like approach to composing. It is almost as if Brazil deliberately created Villa‐
Lobos to express to the wider world her diversity and colours. The music of Villa‐Lobos is a
synthesis of Brazilian culture. Yet, ever present behind this Latin soul is the foundation of
European classical music, Villa‐Lobos’ music may have been completely different had he
never been influenced by it. Despite this, Villa‐Lobos himself claimed to have no outside
influences and stated that:
In my music there are no so called influences. It is thoroughly American – of our continent ‐
belonging to no school or special trend. How do I know what inspired choros no. 8 and no. 9?
My answer is that I do not know what the word inspiration means. I create music out of
necessity, biological necessity. I write because I cannot help it. I follow no style or fashion. My
artistic creed is la liberté absolue. When I write, it is according to the style of Villa‐Lobos
(Oxford studies of composers Wright p. 67).
These kinds of statements seem typical of an artistic temperament and it seems hard to
believe that any composer can write music without some influence from outside. Still, Villa‐
Lobos was an original and individual composer and Rudepoêma is an example of one of his
most original works. At other times Villa‐Lobos seems more of a musical‐magpie collecting
ideas or fragments and then weaving them all together to form his own unique creation.
Villa‐Lobos was not the type of composer that depended on any special mood or
inspiration to write music and it has been noted that he often composed music whilst at
parties, playing billiards and holding a conversation on the phone. This approach seems
worlds away from the deep sentimentality of some of his music and on hearing and playing
his music one gets the impression of a man with a sense of tragic loss and sadness. Even his
lighter pieces are often interspersed with sections of anxiety and torment before returning
to a short lived contentment.
31
When considering the idiomatic writing Villa‐Lobos has achieved for many instruments we
also see that he had a very good knowledge of many instruments, in particular the cello,
guitar and piano. His more traditional music for guitar is in marked contrast to the
modernistic and experimental piano music he wrote. And yet both types of music work well
for the chosen instrument.
Eccentricity also plays a big part in his compositional style and writing music for 8 cellos
often makes it hard for regular performances of his music. Still, Villa‐Lobos did just that. As
has often been said about Villa‐Lobos, he was a man who seemed to make it his personal
ambition to be completely different from everyone and these eccentricities are perhaps a
result of that desire.
‘Possessed by a strange ambition to be different from others in every way, he has embellished
his rather uneventful and struggling life with fictitious happenings in which his belief is
unshakeable.’ (L.M. Peppercorn Villa‐Lobos Collected Studies p. 14).
Other eccentricities include writing music for voice without words and creating words based
on Indian and African languages.
‘The attraction of mixing unfamiliar‐sounding words with musical tones has inspired Villa‐
Lobos to go even a step further and create his own words to emphasize his musical ideas’
(L.M. Peppercorn Villa‐Lobos Collected studies p. 20).
In Chôros no. 8, on page 109 of the miniature score he tries to create an interesting effect by
asking the performer to place paper between the strings of the piano. The problem is that
the player only has four bars in which to do this and the fact that another ordinary piano is
used at the same time means that the effect goes unheard. No doubt these eccentricities
can create difficulties in ensuring regular performances of his music. Villa‐Lobos’ use of
Brazilian percussion instruments also hinders frequent performance of his works, although
they add to the authenticity of Brazilian folk music their use seems to be another case of
Villa‐Lobos striving to be different.
Villa‐Lobos seemed to be most at ease when composing folk‐based material. He remained
quite modest in his lifestyle, choosing to live in a small down town apartment in Rio rather
than any grand house. No stranger to the street life, he seemed at ease among the ordinary
people of Rio and yet had no problem socialising with great artists and the bourgeoisie alike.
He seems the type of man that would have had the same airs and graces around world
32
renowned artists or simple folk musicians. Only he could have prized Andres Segovia’s
beloved guitar from his fingers at a party and proceeded to improvise on it, with heavy
hands, for an entire night. Of course moments like these made him lifelong friends and
many people talk of his amicable and loveable character. Sergei Prokofiev, while he was a
critic for the Revue musicale, commented on his; ‘charm, sincerity, his freedom from
academicism, and, most important, his restless but tender spirit’ (Oxford Studies of Composers,
Simon Wright p. 44).
What drove him to compose so prolifically is hard to say and his frenetic lifestyle seems
one that many people would have found to be a burden. Questions regarding unusual
character traits inevitably arise when regarding many of the great composers and Villa‐
Lobos did have some rather unusual tendencies. Despite this he really was rather a personal
man and easily befriended others. There are no accounts of him being violent though his
music sometimes suggests otherwise. If anything one could say Villa‐Lobos had a tragic and
profound side to his nature that can be heard persistently throughout his oeuvre.
The true failing of Villa‐Lobos as a composer is his inability to create cohesive and logical
forms as is pointed out by Lisa M. Peppercorn in her book of collected studies. It seems he
lacks the ability to follow a straight and narrow path in his artistic progression and instead
tries to capture an impression of everything all at once. These inconsistencies run
throughout the entirety of his compositional life and a good case in point is the Bachianas
Brasileiras, where he composed no. 4 before no. 3, reusing old material patched onto a new
idea. Perhaps the greatest summary of his compositional style comes from the composer
himself “I do not compose, I improvise in the dark”. On hearing many of his works one has
the impression that he stitches together patches of improvisation. Peppercorn talks of his
inability to conceive formal structures and fuse works into an organic whole and she
undermines his proud comment that Chôros are a “novel form of musical composition” and
states: ‘…they make a virtue of a weakness in constructing organic forms’ (L.M. Peppercorn Villa‐
Lobos Collected Studies p. 19).
One of the driving forces behind Villa‐Lobos’ desire to be a great composer was in fact
borne of his need to be noticed, admired and talked about.
‘…it was less an inner urge but rather a desperate necessity trying to seek fame and fortune,
be talked about and call attention’ (L.M. Peppercorn Villa‐Lobos Collected Studies p. 53).
33
The multi‐faceted and eclectic nature of Villa‐Lobos leaves his critics and followers with the
difficult job of answering the question: What exactly is the compositional style of Villa‐
Lobos? As has already been stated by many of his critics; folk music is definitely at the
forefront of his style, but whether or not Villa‐Lobos would have accepted the claim to being
a folk musician or not is one we can no longer answer. Perhaps the best way we can
describe the music of Villa‐Lobos is to consider it as a musical mosaic, representing all the
different cultures and musical styles he was influenced by. This ‘mosaic’ is as brightly
coloured, vibrant and diverse as Brazilian culture itself.
As a composer he wrote music unlike any other Brazilian composer that came before and
yet in this process he utilized perhaps every style of Brazilian music in existence. He took a
little inspiration from one source a little from another and blended them altogether in a way
that was unique and daring so that, although he may have taken inspiration from
impressionism for example, it is an impressionism unique to him. He had a way of
conceiving music that seemed to be all his own yet familiar enough to capture our attention
and form links and comparisons with other works. The influence of Bach in his work is
undeniable and his pseudo‐Baroque melodies are so convincing at times that one may
believe they are in fact hearing Bach, that is until Villa‐Lobos’ Latin spirit springs forth and
reminds us that this is actually 20th century music. A quote by Peppercorn is a good example
of the way in which he conceived music:

‘Harmony itself has little attraction for Villa‐Lobos; he prefers rather to exploit other fields
nearer his heart. Colour, timbre and sound are all that matter to him; harmony is a mere
necessary support, formal structure an inevitable foundation’ (L.M. Peppercorn Villa‐Lobos
Collected Studies p. 21).

34
Bibliography

Fausto, Boris (Trans. Arthur Brakel), A Concise History of Brazil, Cambridge University Press, 1999

Melo, J, Villa‐Lobos Piano Music Volume 5 (album sleeve notes), Sonia Rubinsky – Piano

Melo, J, Villa‐Lobos Piano Music Volume 6 (album sleeve notes), Sonia Rubinsky ‐ Piano

Peppercorn, L.M, The World of Villa‐Lobos in Pictures and Documents, Scolar Press, England, 1992

Peppercorn, L.M, Villa‐Lobos Collected Studies, Scolar Press, England 1992

Santos, Turibio, (trans. Victoria Forde and Graham Wade) Heitor Villa‐Lobos and the Guitar, Wise
Owl Music, Co. Cork, Ireland, 1985

Wright, Simon, Oxford Studies of Composers – Villa‐Lobos, Oxford University Press, New York, 1992

Websites:

www.museuvilla‐lobos.org

Scores:

Villa‐Lobos, H, A Prole do Bebe no .1, Editons Max Eschig, 1955

Villa‐Lobos, H, Bachianas Brasileiras no. 3, Ricordi, New York

Villa‐Lobos, H, Guia Prático Book 1, Iramãos Vitale – Editores, Brasil

Villa‐Lobos, H, Rudepoema, Editions Max Eschig, 1951

Villa‐Lobos, H, Saudades das selvas brasileiras, Editions Max Eschig

Discography:

Villa‐Lobos, H, Piano Music 5, Sonia Rubinsky Piano, Naxos



Villa‐Lobos, H, Bachianas Brasileiras Disc 1, Intégrales, AMGClassical, 1990

Villa‐Lobos, H, Bachianas Brasileiras Disc 2, Intégrales, AMGClassical, 1990

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