Villa-Lobos ‘ben trovato’

Abstract

Heitor Villa-Lobos's musical output is very comprehensive. Nevertheless, he thought it useful or necessary, at some later stage, to incorporate certain pieces – in their original form or in transcription – into other compositions, apparently for lack of time to write a completely new work, or sheer laziness. Or, he found delight in teasing his listeners, friends and admirers, unless they discovered his hoax. The Brazilian composer-conductor Walter Burle-Marx (b. 1902), in a letter to me of 31 May 1981 from Caracas, Venezuela (and reproduced here by his kind permission), commented on this characteristic of Villa-LobosA typical example of Villa-Lobos's temperament and way of thinking concerns the Bachianas Brasileiras # 5.1 did the U.S premiere in New York at the World's Fair on May 4th, 1939 with the New York Philharmonic and Bidú Sayão, using the manuscript of Villa-Lobos. Later on, when I saw the manuscript again, there was a repeat sign on the first introductory measure in 5/4. I asked him why he did that and he replied that he felt that the introduction was too short. I asked why he didn't compose two different measures – he who had so much imagination – and he smiled and said: ‘To tell the truth, I felt lazy’. This was one of his faults; once a work was finished, he very rarely went back to polish it much less to change it.