tailieunhanh - Heitor Villa-Lobos: Brazil’s Master of Musical Fusion

Heitor Villa-Lobos did not conclude his secondary studies. In 1904, however, he enrolled at the National Institute of Music to take cello lessons on an evening course, at the same time as playing in the orchestra of a symphonic society, the Francisco Manuel Club. The evening courses comprised part of the project of teachers from the Institute to maintain and expand the public profile of classical music in Rio de Janeiro soon after the proclamation of the Republic. The creation of these courses was justified, in March 1900, by José Rodrigues Barbosa, a music critic and honorary professor of the Institute, in an official missive in. | Culture Briefs R. James Ferguson 2008 History Politics and Culture Heitor Villa-Lobos Brazil s Master of Musical Fusion Heitor Villa-Lobos 1887-1959 was one of Brazil s finest 20th century composers. Heitor s surname is sometimes written in the Spanish form as Villalobos which he rejected in favour of the Portuguese hyphenated form Appleby 2002 p2 . VillaLobos was born in Rio de Janeiro and was in his early years taught the cello by his father who was a good amateur player Fraga 1996 . One of the most popular of modern Brazilian composers Heitor Villa-Lobos wrote a wide range of music for piano guitar orchestra voice mixed chamber ensembles harp and even mouth organ. He is viewed as a composer working freely across folk national and modernist idioms using diverse lyrical impressionist romantic and classical elements. During his youth Villa-Lobos was influenced by the street music of Brazil particularly the choro groups which would often include a flute guitars and guitar-like instruments and used patterns of improvisation on well-known songs Appleby 2002 . Thus VillaLobos was influenced by great improvisers such as Ernesto Nazareth Appleby 2002 p19 . He did engage in trips to northeast and southern Brazil during the ages of 18-25 years Fraga 1996 though doubts have been raised about the degree to which he could access local music from other regions. Even if Villa-Lobos did not personally engage in sustained collection of indigenous music he was willing to utilise materials and songs collected by others . by E. Roquette Pinto and Astolfo Tavares and had a sustained nationalist interest in Brazilian and Amazonian themes Appleby 2002 pp24-25 p58 . He was largely self-taught having been expelled from the conservatory for rejecting criticism of his composition but studied compositional works such as Vincent d Indy s Cours de composition musicale and undertook further musical explorations in Europe Appleby 2002 p27 p46 Gates 1939 . It has also been suggested that .