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For National Hispanic Heritage Month, Music Library Assistant Ryan Jacobs has chosen听听to highlight from the Naxos Music Library. This is part two of a three- part series. These individuals were chosen as some of the premier examples of composers whose work has been shaped heavily by the culture and influence of their native lands and lands where they traveled.

The second composer I wish to highlight in this series is Heitor Villa-Lobos, the foremost Brazilian composer of the 20th century. He traveled extensively throughout Brazil in the formative period of his career, and his works put Brazil on the wider cultural map of classical music. He was听later given charge of the country鈥檚 music education after the government was overthrown. He chose to structure the resulting institutions with a particular emphasis on Brazilian folk and popular influences.

I听want to听first dive into his听听which are a series of many pieces with wildly varying ensembles from chamber to full orchestra. They represent an entanglement of Baroque techniques and Brazilian folk idioms.

From his adolescence, Villa-Lobos had been fascinated by Bach, finding in his work analogies with听the traditional music of听Brazil. Thus the present sequence was intended as an explicit homage to Bach, a factor most evident in the designation of almost every movement with twin titles alluding听both听to the actual movements of Baroque suite forms and听also to听specific Brazilian popular styles.
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Bachianas brasileiras听No. 9,听composed in New York during 1945, is in many respects a summation of the whole series. Originally written for an unaccompanied chorus, it sounds equally convincing when played by string orchestra, and might be thought of as a musical paradigm for the synthesis that Villa-Lobos had sought in the previous eight works. Thus the Prel煤dio is taken up with a long-breathed melody, unfolding in expansive harmonies that could almost be a composite of those already heard. Only when the Fuga proceeds is the theme revealed as the听subject of the听latter听movement听which ranks among the most impressive of the composer鈥檚 such pieces. Although the range of contrapuntal techniques is applied, the most striking factor is the composer鈥檚 blurring of the distinction between what is Bachian and what is Brazilian, surely an intentional QED as the work, and the series as a whole,听reaches its affirmative close.听

Another example of cultural influence in the music of Villa-Lobos is in his听ch么ros听series, the title of which is a reference to听Brazilian street musicians who use a combination of听European and听African instrumentation. Villa-Lobos viewed the听ch么ros听series as an extension of this music.

听is widely considered听to be听a distilled representation of the larger series, telling the story of the untouched beauty of the Amazon and听the arrival of听humankind.听鈥淭he work鈥檚 opening imparts impressions of Brazil鈥檚 sonorous natural riches with indigenous melodies and birdsongs, providing an extended prelude to the choral section. The mixed chorus functions at the same level of value and distinction as that of the orchestral architecture, singing vocables meant to evoke aboriginal languages.听(B茅hague,听,听pp.87-96)

The final piece from Villa-Lobos that I wish to highlight is the ballet听Uirapuru,听which originated as a symphonic poem, featuring birdsong as a major compositional theme. 鈥淯irapuru鈥� is a term used to describe various bird families in Brazil with particularly tuneful and听melodious听songs.

听is the offspring of international modernism.听Villa-Lobos not only displays his constant interest in the richness of texture, tonal expansion, orchestral color, fluidity of form, melodic symmetry,听and the rereading of his compositional references (particularly Wagner, Debussy,听and Stravinsky), but creates a specifically Brazilian sound, without directly drawing on folkloric elements鈥攑recisely what makes him one of the supreme inventors of Brazilian culture.

In the ballet's storyline, indigenous groups find themselves drawn deep into the forest by the magic of the bird's song; there, a young woman hunts the uirapuru and sees it transform into a young male warrior. Finally,听when he is killed by an听indigenous intruder, he transforms once again into a bird. The story and the music create a very distant echo of Debussy's听Pr茅lude 脿 l'apr猫s-midi d'un faune听and Stravinsky's听Firebird.听Villa-Lobos,听without the interest in real bird song that Messiaen had, transforms the theme of the uirapuru into a model of stylized symmetry, which opens up into a complex network of formal and harmonic growth. Especially after being recorded by Leopold Stokowski,听Uirapuru听deservedly became a calling card for the modernist Villa-Lobos.听

In addition to the three composers highlighted in this series, there are many other hispanic and latinx composers鈥� works available to listen to via Naxos. We have prepared听听including some of this great music!听This list is by no means exhaustive, as there are a myriad of high-quality recordings of incredible works of music by hispanic composers available through Naxos, and further research and listening (either independently or with the assistance of the Music Library) is highly recommended.