Erico Verissimo's Cronica translated

As promised, here are some excerpts from Lee Boyd's translation of Erico Verissimo's cronica:

'It's evening at our house. Mafalda is seated under the lamp, knitting. Through the big window in the study a light can be seen growing in the December sky, like a pale slice of watermelon.The breeze brings us the fragrance of roses from our little garden. A record is turning on the phonograph, and from its speaker flows the plangent music of violoncellos, in a long, languid, undulating phrase, with the sweetness of a serenade. I recognize the voice of Villa-Lobos, the greatest minstrel of our people. I feel his living, human presence in the room, and I begin to think about our many meetings, their places and times.

'The first time I read that name was in 1923, in the art column of the "Revista do Brasil" [Brazil Review]. I was 18, sitting dreaming in one of the squares in Cruz Alta, on a bench under some bamboos quivering in the breeze of a waning September. It was then that I became aware of a modern Brazilian musician who belonged to the group of rebel artists and writers responsible for the Week of Modern Art in Sao Paulo. Villa-Lobos --- according to the columnist --- had recently gone to Paris and on his arrival, when a reporter asked if he'd come to study composing, he replied, "No. I've come to teach it."'

*******

'There were 30 of us in the audience. Villa-Lobos climbed up on stage and went to the front, follwed by Mr. Foss, a young man with beautiful hair and a sculptured profile, exactly what one expects in an artist and intellectual (and rarely finds...). The Brazilian is holding a burning cigar stub. For the first time in my life, I see a man smoke while giving a public speech. In his fluent and picturesque French, Villa-Lobos, who didn't have a clear theme for his talk, tells stories about music and musicians, not bothering about coherence -- a sort of oral list of "diverse activities." It was as if he were seated at a cafe table in Montparnasse; chatting with friends, having a brandy, legs crossed, relaxed in gesture and speech. On the whole, I can't really recall why the speaker brought up the case of the famous Italian tenor who, shut in the bathroom, managed to break a glass with a high C. The audience laughed and the speaker laughed with them. After that, he seemed somewhat at a loss and tired of all this talk. He glanced behind him, and off to the sides, as if he were looking for something, and cried out, "I want a piano! Bring me a piano!" Lukas Foss got up from his chair and went off to find a grand piano, which eventually was brought onto the stage.

'Still with his cigar between his teeth, our Villa sat down at the noble instrument, played a few chords, looked at the audience, and said, "I'll play Brahms" ... He begins to play a passage from a sonata, and then comments "and the piano won't budge." He addresses himself to the Apassionata and lightly plays the opening phrase.

'Turning to the audience, "I play Beethoven, but the piano doesn't stir." After that comes Schumann, Schubert, Chopin. And, according to the Maestro, the piano continues not to " budge." Finally the speaker cries out, "I'll play Villa-Lobos!" His hands romped over the keys, producing a passage from his "Rudepoema." He got up and pointed to the piano, exclaiming. "It budged! It budged!"'

Great story! Thanks for bringing it to a wider audience, Lee. Here's the moving final portion of Verissimo's memoir:

'During their 1959-60 winter season the National Symphony in Washington played the Villa-Lobos "Choros No. 10" in Constitution Hall with the Howard University Chorus. We were in the audience. Right from the first chord, the presence of the composer filled that great space. And with him came the whole of Brazil, grandiose Brazil, sentimental Brazil, wrongheaded Brazil, rascally Brazil, disorganized Brazil, lyrical Brazil the streetsinger --- our indolence, our sensitivity, our romance, our sensuality, our hopes, yes, and our faults, too, all transformed into music. And when the chorus, at the finale of the Choros, began to sing "Rasga o Coracao," it was as if our own hearts were breaking, and then, deeply moved (nostalgia for Villa-Lobos, for Brazil, nostalgia for the Marching Band of the Cruz Alta 8th Infantry, nostalgia for that plaza of my youth, nostalgia for nostalgia, how do I know! --- ), I stifled a sob, but I couldn't prevent the tears from rolling down my cheeks. I didn't dare look at Mafalda beside me, who was also suffering in that moment of picquant beauty.'

Magdalena on CD

In a recent posting (Oct 27) I mistakenly said "Though Magdalena has recently been revived around the world (in Germany and in Los Angeles in 1999), we still need a good modern CD to bring this music to the attention of the large new Villa-Lobos fan base that's grown up in the last ten years" As my friend Bert Berenschot has pointed out: 'This "good modern cd" is available for years (since 1989) on Sony Records.' Bert goes on to note that 'At Amazon it is filed under Popular Music, as are many other Villa-Lobos cd's! Some things go very wrong at Amazon. For example all Kuarup records of Villa-Lobos are filed at popular.' Check out Magdalena here.

Thanks so much for the correction, Bert. I haven't heard this music yet, but I have my order in at Amazon. Actually, Ricardo Prado mentions the recording in his column, though he says that it's out of print. According to their website, Amazon will ship in 3 to 4 days.

While you're at Amazon, check out Bert's reviews and Villa-Lobos lists - I think very highly of Bert's critical faculties: he knows his Villa-Lobos!

Here's a very interesting site that deserves further investigation. Unfortunately for me, it's entirely in Portuguese. I use Altavista's Babelfish online translation service to get a feel for what's happening in Portuguese websites or e-mails, but the state of the art of machine translation just isn't ready for something like this.

The site is Crônica de Érico Veríssimo sobre os encontros e as vivências dele com Villa-Lobos. Verissimo apparently knew Villa-Lobos, in Brazil in the 20's, and later in Los Angeles. The report of happenings in L.A. has apparently been the cause of some controversy. A recent article in the May 2001 issue of Brasiliana (the journal of the Brazilian Academy of Music) includes an article by Robert Stevenson discussing the visit. Here, from the Academy's website, is an abstract of the article:

Abstract - "Villa-Lobos visit to Los Angeles", Robert Stevenson
"Exchange of acrid remarks, scorn and unpleasantness seem to have been the note of the meeting between two important figures of Brazilian culture in USA, in 1944. Hector Villa-Lobos was visiting the country and Erico Verissimo, who was there for a series of lectures, acted as his interpreter. The article raises questions about the story told by Verissimo, confronting it with the newspapers' accounts made at the time, ascertaining ill-founded pieces of information. The author detects that personal issues led the writer to make a not very benign portrayal of Villa-Lobos."

I'm anxious to get an English translation of the Verissimo memoir. The players are of great interest: Lukas Foss, Werner Janssen, Walt Disney. I'll report on this in the future.