Heitor Villa-Lobos
Heitor Villa-Lobos, 1887-1959
Overview of Chapter V: Brazil’s revolutionary composer Heitor Villa-Lobos either captivated or offended audiences around the world, and his life reveals the intersectionality of indigenous music and Modernism. The chapter also examines development in the Amazon, coffee production, racial identity, the administration of Getúlio Vargas, the 1939 World’s Fair in New York, aviation history in South America, and the construction of Brasília. More cupcakes!
additional resources and scholarship
Discussion Questions and Writing Prompts:
1. In the video above, Leonard Bernstein said that Villa-Lobos' music was both nationalistic and universal. Is that fundamentally a contradiction?
2. Villa-Lobos admired Europe and wanted international recognition, yet relied upon indigenous Brazilian instruments and musical techniques to gain that recognition. Do you seem him as someone who betrayed his nation for fame and profit or not?
Classroom Activities:
1. If your school has a music program, thinking about developing a joint class around the music of Villa-Lobos with the history students teaching the musicians about the historical context and the music students teaching the history students how to play some of the music. What household items might be substituted to sound like the percussion instruments Villa-Lobos called for in the score?
2. Play at least the first five minutes of a podcast by Stephen Peithman that compares Bach and Villa-Lobos' interpretation of Bach from a Brazilian perspective. What differences do you hear?
Links to New Scholarship
• 2019 Dissertation by Henrique Borges Gomes analyzing Bachianas Brasileiras no.2 and arguing that it is only when played by a full orchestra that Villa-Lobos' musical intent can be realized. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/4783/
Photo Gallery for Chapter V
Map for Chapter V: This map by the author is in the print edition of the book and show important places in Brazil for Villa-Lobos and other figures in the chapter.
Painting by Johann Moritz Rugendas, c. 1822-1825, showing Brazilians singing in rural Brazil. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. Samba originated in northeastern Brazil, thanks to the influence of batuque-- a music and dance form from Cape Verde,"
Choro-Group Banda de Bombeiros with Anacleto de Medeiros, Rio de Janeiro, around 1896, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Bachianas Brasileiras by Villa-Lobos. Image courtesy of https://www.scribd.com/
Notes from "Young People's Concerts Scripts: The Latin American Spirit [black, red & blue pencil on yellow legal pad paper; [outline/notes]" by Bernstein, Leonard -- 1918-1990, courtesy of Library of Congress. Bachianas Brasileiras by Villa-Lobos is featured as first piece.
This postcard of Josephine Baker is by Iris Verlag, no. 5293, and the photograph of her is by Lucien Waléry. It was taken in Paris before 1929. Baker (1906-1975) became a famous singer and dancer in 1925 because of her erotic dance. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.