Heitor Villa Lobos

"Noted Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos holds a distinctive position as an international artist, and in Gerard Béhague's comprehensive study a truly critical assessment of his creative output is available for the first time. Villa-Lobos was a representative of the most natural and direct expressions of Brazil's popular culture, constantly 'in search of the Brazilian soul.' Indeed 'Alma Brasileira' was the subtitle he gave to the piano piece Choros No. 5, and the musical manifestations of that soul preoccupied him throughout his life. Expanded from a prize-winning essay, the present study provides a critical appraisal of the significant aspects of his life as well as an in-depth analysis of his musical language. With over fifty musical examples, a bibliography, and a discography, this book presents a thorough analysis of Villa-Lobos's composition, craftsmanship, and ideology that should appeal to musicologists, students, and all who have an interest in Latin American cultural and historical studies. Villa-Lobos once stated, 'I consider my works as letters that I wrote to Posterity, without expecting any answer.' This book provides readings of a selected number of such 'letters' and in the process attempts to give some answers regarding the uniqueness of the music of one of the most creative composers of the twentieth century." --Back cover.

"Tristorosa", a title derived by combining the Portuguese words for "sad" and "rose", was written by Heitor Villa-Lobos in 1910 when he was 23 years of age under the name of Epaminondas Villaba Filho. This pseudonym had also been previously used by his father, Raúl, a writer and amateur cellist. It is one of Heitor's earliest compositions and the style of the waltz is typical of those of the period.

Heitor Villa-Lobos’s Bachianas Brasileiras demonstrates how the composer achieved his own Brazilian neoclassical style in a group of works, nine suites in total, that is arguably one of the best examples of homage to J.S. Bach’s music in the twentieth century. In this book, the corpus of Bachianas Brasileiras is contextualized and critically examined according to its structure and intertextual aspects, as well as its relationship to Bach’s music, Brazilian popular music, and other works by contemporaries of Villa Lobos. A range of musical examples illustrate instances of the selected topics in the works, encompassing urban Brazilian popular music such as the choro, Brazilian northeast and afro rhythms, and citation of folkloric melodies. Dudeque’s comprehensive examination of the Bachianas Brasileiras will be invaluable for scholars and researchers of music theory and analysis.

Appleby is a scholar and musician specializing in the music of his native Brazil, and in particular the work of Villa-Lobos. He augments the many biographies and musical analyses of the country's best known composer with insights from his own five decades of performing his music and interviews with his family and friends. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

This suite of eight pieces portrays the ethnic or folk character of a child's dolls, drawing freely on national folk tunes. The set is edited by the Villa-Lobos scholar David P. Appleby, who was honored by the Brazilian government with the Villa-Lobos Centennial Medal for his outstanding research into the life and music of the composer. Each piece has its own unique, sharply drawn character and is sure to appeal with an abundant degree of rhythmic sophistication.

(Amadeus). This heartbreaking tale uncovers a mystery in the life of one of the most important personalities of the twentieth century, guitarist Andres Segovia (1893-1987). He married the widowed Paquita Madriguera (1900-1965), famous child prodigy pianist and prized student of Enrique Granados, in 1935 as his international career was blossoming. They fled their native Spain under death threats when the Spanish Civil War erupted in 1936 and began an odyssey that landed them in the Uruguayan capital. Segovia's support for the fascist Franco resulted in his banishment from the lucrative American concert scene, while the travel dangers of World War II further isolated him from the rest of the world. During this time, Segovia greatly enriched the guitar repertoire through numerous arrangements and collaborations with major composers via correspondence. It was also an era of happy family life with Paquita. The couple collaborated on two of the most important contemporary guitar concertos and traveled throughout Latin America to perform. Then tragedy struck as the guitarist became entangled with a beautiful Brazilian singer in an affair that ruined his marriage and brought tragic consequences to his family life. In writing his autobiography, Segovia could never face this period. With the help of tenacious research and Paquita's two surviving daughters, Alfredo Escande diligently lifts the veil of secrecy and reveals a magical age of music history framed around the couple's decade together.