Villa-Lobos Digital Project at the ABM

Here's an exciting project from the Academia Brasileira da Música.

Villa-Lobos is considered the greatest Brazilian composer of all time and, undoubtedly, one of the world greatest geniuses of music in the twentieth century.  

A controversial artist, but widely respected and admired, his compositions are part of great artists’ repertoire and are performed in the most important concert halls around the world. His monumental orchestral work - which includes symphonic poems, concertos, ballets, symphonies, suites, operas, famous “Bachianas Brasileiras”, the “Choros”, the “Forest of the Amazon” and many others -, lacked a revised orchestral edition to do justice to what Villa-Lobos represents for the Brazilian and world culture. For a long time Dr. Marisa Gandelman (former attorney of the ABM - Brazilian Academy of Music) cherished the complex and difficult to achieve dream to transform this lack in reality.

Many performing rights of Villa-Lobos works belong to foreign publishers, especially Max Eschig, from Paris. The first and most difficult step was to obtain the permission of these companies to produce BAM own editions. The second step was to invite Sarau Agência de Cultura Brasileira, a renowned company in the cultural market, to develop a management and fundraising project required to achieve this goal. 

Therefore, the Digital Villa-Lobos project has as its main goal to provide Villa Lobos scores and orchestral material, in a high-level edition, stimulating and making possible the performance of Villa Lobos symphonic works.  

When we were invited to take the Project’s artistic direction we decided to create, under our presidency, a commission formed by academics Luther Robinson, Henrique Morelenbaum, Ricardo Tacuchian and Turibio Santos, to set the parameters of future issues and have the collaboration of professionals signing several works reviews.
Sarau's work bore fruit, the sponsorship came. Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional, moved by the Project’s significance, was receptive to provide the necessary funds to the first part, that is the editing of the first fifteen works. Shortly after, the Consul Company aware of the importance of a better dissemination of Villa-Lobos works came to meet us to offer the sponsorship of another stage. The work began. There are still other important works to be edited. New sponsors are expected to honor and promote the one who was and still is the biggest name of Brazilian music.

Here are the scores to be published in the first stage of the project:

• Alvorada na Floresta Tropical
• Choros #06
• Momoprecoce
• Danca Frenetica
• Danca dos Mosquitos
• Introducao aos Choros
• Guitar Concerto
• Mandu-Sarrara
• Madona
• O Naufragio de Kleonicos
• Bachianas Brasileiras #9 (orchestral and choral versions)
• Symphony #06
• Fantasia for Cello and Orchestra
• Genesis
• Choros #10
• Choros #07
• Harp Concerto
• Magnificat-Alleluia
• Dancas Africanas
• Rudepoema (orchestral version)
• Amazonas

Yerma from Manaus

In April of 2010 Villa-Lobos's opera Yerma was performed at the famous Opera House in Manaus. The Amazonas Filarmônica is directed by Marcelo de Jesus, and the production is directed by Allex Aguilera.

Villa-Lobos: Uma Vida de Paixão Trailer

Here's a trailer for the outstanding film by Zelito Viana, Villa-Lobos: Uma Vide de Paixão (2000). The trailer-hype for this one is on the mark: "Passional, Exagerado, Revolucionario, Grandioso." Just like the composer himself.

Concert from the 2010 Festival Villa-Lobos

You can listen to a podcast of this concert from Radio MEC's program A Grande Música (June 18, 2011).

Festival Villa-Lobos: cantores

Obras do compositor interpretadas por Licio Bruno, Verushka Mainhardt, Jaime Vignoli, Nilze Carvalho e Maria Tereza Madeira

A apresentação de cantores populares e líricos no evento realizado no Espaço Tom Jobim, no Jardim Botânico, durante o Festival Villa-Lobos. Nesta edição, obras para canto de Villa-Lobos são interpretadas por cantores populares com acompanhamento fiel à partitura original, e por cantores clássicos com arranjos populares.

Seleção musical
Abrideira pro Villa – Jaime Vignoli
De Heitor Villa-Lobos:
Lundu da Marquesa de Santos – João Cavalcanti, voz
Viola Quebrada – Nilze Carvalho, voz
Canção do Poeta do Século XVIII – Veruschka Mainhard, soprano
Remeiro de S. Francisco – Lício Bruno, barítono
Canção da Folha Morta – Nilze Carvalho, voz
Modinha – Nilze Carvalho, voz
Saudades de Minha Vida – Veruschka Mainhard, soprano
Na Paz do Outono – Veruschka Mainhard, soprano
Redondilha – Lício Bruno, barítono
Serenata – Lício Bruno, barítono
Cantiga do Viúvo – João Cavalcanti, voz
Realejo – Maria Tereza Madeira; R. Alvim; Luis Barcelos; Nilze Carvalho
Ária – Veruschka Mainhard, soprano
Melodia Sentimental – J. Cavalcanti; N. Carvalho; V. Mainhard; L. Bruno

Song of the Uirapuru

I love listening to the Cambaxirra (mentioned in the second part of Bachianas Brasileiras #5). So I thought I'd post the song of the Uirapuru:


Uirapuru (Cyphorhinus arada VE-km67 19940712 S1 ATC) by Dean Frey

There are so many Creative Commons-licensed bird songs on the web now.  This one is by Allen T. Chartier, recorded in Venezuela, 12-07-1994, found at this great website. Here's a lovely picture of the "Musical Wren" ("Uirapuru" is the Portuguese name, based on the Tupi "wirapu 'ru").

This picture, in the public domain, is from the Catalogue of the birds in the British Museum. Volume 6, by John Gerrard Keulemans (1842–1912), and comes from the Wikipedia article.

And here, for comparison, is the first part of Villa-Lobos's ballet Uirapuru. This recording is by the OSMSP, conducted by Rodrigo de Carvalho.

Uirapuru, by Villa-Lobos (clip) by Dean Frey

Villa-Lobos the conductor

It's not often one reads about Villa-Lobos the conductor, except when he's conducting his own works. This report from Rio in the November 15, 1935 issue of the Paris music magazine Menestrel shows the range of Villa the conductor. It's not a surprise to see the music of his friend Florent Schmitt, and you can hear the influence of others in Villa's music from the 1930s: especially Ravel, and (obviously) Bach.

Projeto B plays Saudades das Selvas Brasileiras

From the album A Viagem de Villa-Lobos, Projeto B plays Villa's 1927 piece for piano, "Saudades das Selvas Brasileiras.

Saudades das Selvas Brasileiras nº 1 by Projeto B

Wow! James Ellroy likes Villa-Lobos!

 

Novelist James Ellroy was a big hit at FLIP 2011, the international literary festival in Paraty, a small city in Rio de Janeiro state. It seems, from this recent story on the Globo website, that Ellroy spoke a fair amount about music. He's a big fan of Beethoven, but he also, according to the video on the site, likes Villa-Lobos. The article: "James Ellroy diz admirar Heitor Villa-Lobos na Flip", or "James Ellroy expresses admiration for Villa-Lobos at FLIP."

This reminds me a bit of the Royal Couple's recent visit to The Calgary Stampede, where everyone was really pleased that the Prince & Princess wore the white Stetson hats they were given. Not that we're at all insecure in the New World.

"Listen," says Ellroy, "I'm in Brazil; I'm your guest. I'm going to say some good shit about your country."

Mandu Çarará

The Bierce Library at the University of Akron in Ohio holds the collections of Walter Burle Marx, the composer, conductor and close friend of Villa-Lobos. Thanks to librarian David Procházka for this scan of the first page of the score.

You can watch an excellent performance of this rare "secular cantata" at YouTube. Roberto Tibiriçá conducts the Sinfónica de la Juventud Venezolana "Simón Bolívar", the Sistema Nacional de Coros Sinfonicos (Zulia, Tachira, Merida y Metropolitano), and the Niños Cantores del Nucleo Los Teques, in a concert from Caracas from last January 30th.

Alberto Ginastera's Tribute to Villa-Lobos

One of Alberto Ginastera's best known piano works is his Preludios Americanos, op. 12, written in 1944. Included in the 12 characteristic pieces are homages to some composers he admired: Aaron Copland, Roberto Garcia Morillo, Juan Jose Castro, and Heitor Villa-Lobos.

You can listen to No. 11. Homenaje a Heitor Villa-Lobos, played by Fernando Viani, here at Amazon.com.

The Villa-Lobos Twitter Marathon

#HeitorADay is the hashtag for a new Villa-Lobos Twitter project of mine, based in part on the notoriously large output of the great Brazilian composer, and in part because the music is so great.  I'll be listening to a different Villa-Lobos piece every day, and tweeting about it. I'll keep track of all the tweets here and here. We'll see how long it takes to use up my pretty extensive Villa-Lobos music collection.

I'm in this for the long haul!  Feel free to listen and tweet along.

Tweets #1 to #32: June 30, and July 1-31, 2011
Tweets #33 to #62: August 2011 
Tweets #63 to #89: September 2011

#90 - October 1 - #BachADay & #HeitorADay Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1: Prelude 22, arranged for 8 cellos by Villa-Lobos, on a Yale Cellos disc @DelosMusic
#91 - October 2 - #HeitorADay Serestas - a collection of amazing songs written from 1923 to the early 40s - villalobos.ca/serestas
#92 - October 3 - #HeitorADay Saudades das Selvas Brasileiras, from 1927 - Fred Sturm video: youtube.com/watch?v=G6GgB
#93 - October 4 - #HeitorADay Choros #05 "Alma Brasileira" - villalobos.ca/choros05
#94 - October 5 - #HeitorADay Cirandas, 16 piano pieces based on children's songs - youtube.com/watch?v=0ihcwb…
#95 - October 6 - #HeitorADay Villa-Lobos Cor dulce, cor amabile, a late choral work. villalobos.ca/cor-dulce

Turibio Santos plays Introdução aos Choros

Here's an archival video of Turibio Santos playing the rare Introdução aos Choros, with the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo directed by Diogo Pacheco. The Introduction to Choros is a "Symphonic Overture" to the Choros series, and includes themes from a number of Choros. Note that the first Choros, for solo guitar, is played immediately following the Introdução.

The video is undated; my guess, based on hairstyles, would be late 1970s.

The Emperor Jones

In 1956 the great choreographer José Limon commissioned Villa-Lobos to write a score for a ballet based on Eugene O'Neill's play The Emperor Jones. Above is video of the first 10 minutes of a CBC television broadcast with the Limon Dance Company, from March 13, 1957. The full performance is 23 minutes, and is available on DVD.

Earlier this month, the Limon Dance Company presented a revival of The Emperor Jones 25 years after its premiere. Here are excerpts from that production, in rehearsal at SUNY Purchase.

Ivan Pires's Music for Children

 

Here's an interesting concert program, especially considering the charity involved: Barnardo's Children's Charity. There's more information on this July 6 concert, at Westminster Cathedral Hall, here.

South of the Border with Disney

In 1942 Disney released the 30-minute film "South of the Border with Disney". There's a great clip of Villa-Lobos conducting a huge choir of school children at the Vasco da Gama stadium in Rio (at the 4 minute mark).

At one point Disney and Villa discussed including a "Little Train" segment for a sequel to Fantasia. Sadly, the project never worked out.

New Villa-Lobos Book from Germany

 

A new book has been released by the German publisher Max Brockhaus: the author is Cornelia Napp, and the title is „Personal representatives“ in musikverlegerischen Kulturbeziehungen. Die Vertretung von Heitor Villa-Lobos in den USA. Mit Zeittafel „Villa-Lobos in den USA 1947–1961“.

Villa spent a fair amount of time in the U.S. - mainly in New York - in the last 15 years of his life. He was busy with his Broadway show Magdalena, with guest conducting, and with various commissions, including those for the Philadelphia, Boston, and Louisville Symphonies.  This book covers these important stories from the point of view of Milton A. Peterson, who represented Villa-Lobos in many of these activities.

Go to the Max Brockhaus Musikverlag website for more information.  Here is the book's Table of Contents.

The Four Maestros

NOTE: I screwed up the caption of this excellent photo the first time around.  Thanks to Roberto for this corrected version:

Villa-Lobos and his famous cello in a group that includes Maestros Tabarin, Souza Lima and Franklin de Mattos.  This 1931 photo was taken at Hotel where Villa-Lobos was living at the time, in São Paulo. Franklin de Mattos, a great friend of Villa-Lobos is from Botucatu, one of the destinations of the Caravana Villa-Lobos, the road trip on the Trenzinho do Caipira that Villa led through the back-woods of Brazil. This photo is from a great website maintained by Prof. Roberto Vicençotto Ribas.  Lots of other great photos there.

Uirapuru from Madrid

I've been waiting for this to show up on YouTube. It's another part of a concert in San Lorenzo del Escorial from April 17, 2011, with Jordi Francés Sanjuán conducting JORCAM (Joven Orquesta de la Comunidad de Madrid). This is the 2nd half of the great early ballet score, Uirapuru. YouTube also has videos of Bachianas Brasileiras #8 from the same concert.  This is an excellent performance by these young musicians, and the HD version of the video is stunning.

Maria Lúcia Godoy Podcast

Soprano Maria Lúcia Godoy (b. 1929) is an outstanding singer of the generation after Bidu Sayão. She specialized in the music of Villa-Lobos; among her famous recordings are Bachianas Brasileiras #5, Forest of the Amazon, and Serestas.  You can listen to a podcast from the Radio MEC program A Música Clássica no Brasil, in which Godoy sings a selection of Serestas, and some traditional songs from Minas Gerais (she grew up in Belo Horizonte, and graduated from the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais).

Dom, 27/02

A Arte de Maria Lúcia Godoy

A soprano brasileira interpreta tradicionais modinhas mineiras e composições de Heitor Villa-Lobos

"Cantares de Minas" (1985), álbum da cantora Maria Lúcia Godoy

A consagrada soprano Maria Lúcia Godoy nos oferece sua interpretação de algumas das mais tradicionais modinhas mineiras, reunidas no álbum Cantares de Minas. O programa apresenta ainda algumas das obras vocais, entre serestas e modinhas, de Heitor Villa-Lobos. Um repertório inteiramente adequado à voz da cantora. 

No programa
Seleção de modinhas mineiras  – Cantares de Minas
Seleção de modinhas e serestas de Heitor Villa-Lobos

Tribute to Arminda

Arminda Neves d'Almeida Villa-Lobos was Villa's devoted companion from 1936 to Villa's death in 1959, and the first Director of the Museu Villa-Lobos from 1960 until her death in 1985. Villa called her "Mindinha".

 

Next week the Museu VL will be presenting three programs in tribute to Mindinha.  Here is what's happening (in Google translation):

THE PROGRAM
Tuesday: 17/05, 16 hours - Roundtable:
"Project Mini-Concert Didactic Museum of Villa-Lobos - 25"
Participants: Turibio Santos, guitarist, former director of the Villa-Lobos, Jayme Vignoli, composer, arranger; Josimar Carneiro, composer, arranger, Luis Carlos Barbieri, guitarist, music producer, Charles Smith, professor, guitarist; Monica Mangia, guitarist ; Ronildo Candide, cellist. Mediation: Marcia Ladeira, museologist.
Wednesday: 18/05, 16 hours - Lecture:
"The Muse and the Museum" - Tribute to Arminda Villa-Lobos, founder and first director of the Villa-Lobos
Participants: Ely Gonçalves, first museologist of the Villa-Lobos and Rui Mourao, writer, director of the Conspiracy Museum, former Coordinator of the National Museum of the National Foundation Pro-Memory.
Thursday: 19/05, 16 hours - Roundtable:
"Mindinha Villa-Lobos - Affective Memory"
Participants: Alceo Bocchino, conductor, composer; Herminio Bello de Carvalho, a poet, composer, Célia Maria Machado, Harper, Noel Devos, bassoonist; Turibio Santos guitarist, former director of the Villa-Lobos.
Mediation: Valdinha Barbosa, researcher.
Music Participation: Marcio Malard, cello / Wagner Tiso, piano
Valdinha Barbosa / Marcia Slope
Educational Action of MVL
(21) 2226-9818
(21) 2226-9020
mvl.educa @ museus.gov.br

I recently came across this letter from Mindinha to Marguerite Long, the great French pianist who was a great friend of Mindinha and Heitor, and an advocate for Villa-Lobos's music.  The letter was written on June 2, 1962.

Very, very dear friend,

I never forget you. You are always in my thoughts. My soul is empty without the presence of our unforgettable Villa-Lobos, but in spite of everything, my health is fine…. The government created the Villa-Lobos museum… and I am in charge of a radio program for the Ministry of Education called 'Villa-Lobos, his life, his work.' …I insist on writing to you about this because I cannot have a program about Villa-Lobos without having your contribution… It would make me very happy and the program would be all the better for it. It is because of the deep friendship he had with you… for his sincere admiration for your art, well, everything, that I hope to hear from you soon…. You can understand how I feel, without the one who represented everything to me: my immense love, my mentor, my friend, and how difficult it is to live.

This heartbreaking outpouring of grief to a close friend is from "Marguerite Long: a life in French music, 1874-1966," by Cecilia Dunoyer, p. 180