Understandings and Thoughts on the Lecture
The Villa-Lobos phenomenon as
an exponent of Brazilian art and ethos
Meng Wang (Hebei University)
I would like to share some of my thoughts of Villa Lobos and his masterpieces.
I am really impressed of the talents of creativity of Villa Lobos and his colorful personal experience. As the most prestigious composer of classical music in Latin America, and guitar player all over the world, he has created a series of masterpieces deeply influenced by Brazilian folk music.
Professor Ricardo selected several of the representative works of Villa Lobs from different periods, such as Suíte Popular, A prole do bebê, Alma Brasileira, Prelude, Floresta do Amazônia…He explained the background of those masterpieces and appreciated the music from details which give us a deep understanding of the continuous process maturation of the music language of Villa Lobos.
The Chôros No. 5 -Alma Brasileira (which means the Soul of Brazil) is one of the representative works of Villa Lobs and the mark of his music languages grow into mature.
Vila Lobos traveled around Brazil and this experience enables him to absorb a lot of the native musical elements into his works, like the music of Indian. It is funny he never accepted that, because he said he recreated based on what he learned, and has made his unique characters. When in France, he had developed a deeper affection of Brazil and a founder understanding of the Brazilian music. It’s all the valuable experience of Villa Lobos that helped to compose the Chôros No. 5 - Alma Brasileira.
The form of Chôros No. 5 is a variation of ternary (ABA) form, in which the central, B section becomes two distinct sections (ABCA). The C section expands the section B.
The A section has a significant character - jeitinho brasileiro (Brazilian knack), which is a sensuous rhythmic delay. The quadruple-meter accompaniment of syncopated chords overlay a melody that enters in the third bar in triplets with syncopation independent of the accompaniment, which makes the section full of Brazilian features.
The opening section is repeated with an added third voice in yet another syncopated pattern. The accompanied mental rhythm in the pianist's left hand is taken from the popular Brazilian dance type called maxixe (a type of Brazilian tango), while the sentimental melody is reminiscent of the modinha (a type of Brazilian sentimental love song)
Following is my personal understanding of the Alam Brasileira. As different people have different understandings. I don’t know whether my sentiments are right. And hopefully the professor can give me more opinions on it. When I listened to Alma Brasileira for the first time, the soothing music caught my attention at once. Then the tempo of the music becomes faster and then slower again, as if to tell the story of Brazil. The music is full of sentimental and romanticism of Bossanova, which gives me a lot of imagination of the history of Brazil, from the Indian history, through the coming of the Portuguese colonization, through the Independent of Brazil, through the dark dictatorship, to the coming of democracy and freedom, different immigrants all around the world, different cultures conflicts and combining, …The Alma Brasileira is performing a dialogue between elements of popular and erudite cultures.