Slow Listening #7
Heitor Villa-Lobos, Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 (1938-1945)
Following on from last week, this week we’ve got a piece inspired by Bach and by the cello suites especially. Villa-Lobos was a Brazilian composer, and between 1930 and 1945 wrote a series nine orchestral works whose titles, “Bachianas Brasileiras”, translate to something like “Bachian Brazilian Pieces”. Bach was one of Villa-Lobos’ favourite composers, and these pieces represent his attempt to marry Bachian and Brazilian musical influences.
Key to the romantic, sensual fifth suite is its dedication: ‘To Mindinha.’ This was Villa-Lobos’s nickname for the musician Arminda Neves d’Almeida, for whom he had left his wife of 23 years in 1936. Arminda would become his lifelong partner, and this piece from the early years of their relationship is something like a musical love-letter.
Written for soprano and cellos, its two movements set texts by two Brazilian poets, Ruth V. Corrêa and Manuel Bandeira, whose lyrics focus on love and nature:
Ária (Cantilena)
Dança (Martelo)
The aria, the more “Bachian” of the two movements, begins and ends with the soprano singing wordlessly, which helps to create the piece’s dreamy atmosphere. In the more animated central section, the poem personifies the moon as a woman whose beauty radiates over all the earth, exciting everything from laughter to anxiety and nostalgic longing. The second movement draws on an embolada, a fast form from the north east of Brazil with set refrains and improvised stanzas, and calls on the singer to imitate various different mountain birds.
Listening Prompt
What connections, if any, do you hear between this piece and last week’s Bach?
Recommended Recording
This rendition really leans in to the passion of this work. Hendricks gives a rich, lush interpretation of the Ária, and the breakneck speed of the Dança brings a real energy and improvisatory quality to the second movement.