HEITOR VILLA-LOBOS TWELVE ETUDES · 2020. 1. 18. · Guitar Concourse” founded by Robert J. Vidal in Paris. Mr. Santos nom makes his home in Paris. guitar used in this recording

1056

HEITOR VILLA-LOBOS

TWELVE ETUDES

for

GUITAR

the musical hemtage society inc.

TURBIO SANTOS, Guitar

MHS 1056 MHS 1056

Side 1:

No. 1 in E minor No. 2 in A major No. 3 in D major No. 4 in G major No. 5 in C major No. 6 in E minor

Heitor Villa-Lobos, justly considered Brazil’s most important composer, was born in Rio de Janeiro. His precocious musical gifts were early revealed by his attention to the family piano, his favorite plaything. His father made for him a guitar and taught him to play it cello-fashion. At the age of six, his joy in music was equalled only by his curiosity. By his tenth year, his father had taught him to play the clarinet and the young musician could sightread simple piano music. His father died during Heitor’s twelfth year and his mother forbade further pursuit of his musical interests. Of an independent nature, he borrowed a guitar, left home, and mixed with Choroes, popular roving bands of musicians. It was they who revealed to him the guitar technique and music of the people which had so terrified his mother. That year he composed his first piece, a mazurka for guitar. With the help of an understanding uncle, he entered the National Institute of Music where his rapid progress astonished his professors.

At eighteen he joined a group of choroes entertaining in Northern Brazil. Returning to Rio, he again took up serious study of the cello before continuing his travels, first to the south, then to the borderlands and the interior. When finally he returned to Rio, he brought with him an incredible quantity of observations garnered from popular music during his long and arduous journeys. This rich collection of songs and melodies stimulated his already fertile imagination for the rest of his life.

Works for guitar are found scattered throughout his early com¬ positions. He began his Popular Brazilian Suite in 1908 and composed the eight Dobrados for guitar in 1909- His musical fecundity was prodigious. In 1916 he finished two string quartets, began a symphony, completed a cello sonata, and, the next year, composed his Mystic Sextet with the then daring instrumentation of guitar, flute, oboe, saxophone, harp and celeste.

The period from 1920-29 is marked primarily by the 14 Choros, the first of which is for solo guitar, the others for diversified, often unusual combinations. In 1922 he, began a five-year stay in Paris, after which he was named Director of Brazil’s Department of Artistic and Musical Education. From this position he was able to give Brazil unprecedented musical impetus. In 1929 he began the collection of twelve etudes recorded here. His Six Preludes for Guitar of 1940 and the Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra of 1951 comprise the balance of his works for guitar.

The Twelve Etudes were not published until 1953, at which time the composer dedicated the works to Andres Segovia, who wrote the following preface:

Here are 12 "Etudes” for guitar, written lovingly by the genial Brazilian composer Villa-Lobos. They contain simul¬ taneously a surpassingly effective formula for the technical development of both hands and the musical beauties and permanent aesthetic value of concert pieces, completely free of didactic intent. Few indeed are the composers who have united these two qualities in their etudes. The names of Scarlatti and Chopin come immediately to mind as two other composers who achieved their didactic ends without a hint of dryness or of monotony. If the pianist observes attentively the flexibility, vigor and independence these pieces give to his fingers, the artist who interprets or hears them will admire the nobility, geniality, grace and poetic emotion which flows generously from them. From the fruits of his talent, Villa- Lobos has produced a gift to the history of the guitar as great

HEITOR VILLA-LOBOS (1887-1959)

TWELVE ETUDES for GUITAR

TURBIO SANTOS, Guitar

as those of Scarlatti to the harpsichord or Chopin to the piano.

I have preferred to retain the fingerings indicated by Villa- Lobos for the execution of his pieces. He knew the guitar perfectly, and if he chose a certain string or fingering to emphasize particular phrases, we ought to adhere strictly to his desires, even to the point of extending ourselves to greater efforts of a technical sort.

I do not wish to end this brief note without publicly thanking the illustrious master for the honor done me in dedicating to me these "Etudes.”

Andres Segovia, New York, January, 1953

ETUDE No. 1 IN E MINOR: Allegro non troppo

This is, if not the most loved etude, at least the most widely recognized and performed. Its title, "Arpeggio Study,” indicates the technical device exploited. From an initial accord on "E,” the etude adopts a diatonic melody. One feels that the composer intended to evoke the waterfall. Near the end there is the steep rush of a thread of water freed from the cascade which, in breaking the almost obsessive monotony of the rhythm, is a flash of instru¬ mental genius.

ETUDE No. 2 in A MAJOR: Allegro

Again we have an etude of arpeggios and runs. The composer parodies, with some irony, the etudes of Mateo Carcassi and Dionisio Aguada, both 19th century guitarists whose methods Villa-Lobos used in his studies of the guitar.

ETUDE No, 3 IN D MAJOR: Allegro moderato

Despite its subtitle of "Arpeggio Study,” this piece uses pre¬ dominantly slurs throughout the range of the guitar. The accord struck at the beginning of each measure freely breaks the comfort of the hands, charging each phrase with a certain violence which opposes the natural harmony of the slurs.

ETUDE No. 4 IN G MAJOR: Poco moderato

Here Villa-Lobos employs the little finger of the right hand in a manner opposed to all admissable rules of orthodox classical guitar technique. An attentive ear will discover harmonic sequences typical of the "Bosa Nova” — in 1929! — employed here in erudite guise.

ETUDE No. 5 IN C MAJOR: Andantino

The persistent accompaniment of this etude confers on it an immediate climate of sadness. Villa-Lobos here evokes the sound of the "viola caipira,” a small five-string guitar very popular in the Brazilian countryside. The repertory of this instrument is traditionally of a melancholy nature.

ETUDE No. 6 IN E MINOR: Poco allegro

This etude is comprised of contrasting passages, both gay and somber. The strongly marked rhythm brings to mind the Argen¬ tinian tango which has influenced the musical folklore of southern Brazil to a certain extent.

ETUDE No. 7 IN E MINOR: Tres anime

This is perhaps the least didactic of the etudes. By its animated movement and the rapid diatonic descent of the eight-notes of the

Side 2:

No. 7 in E minor No. 8 in C-sharp minor No. 9 in F-sharp minor No. 10 in B minor No. 11 in E minor No. 12 in A minor

opening measure, the composer shows himself as a clever instru¬ mentalist. It is an eclectic etude, a mixture of research — and work! — on unexpected rhythms and lyric expressions well suited to the guitar and typical of Villa-Lobos,

ETUDE No. 8 IN C-SHARP MINOR: Modere

Written in a key seldom used by Villa-Lobos, this study is based on a popular Brazilian melody. Its nonchalance is stamped with nostalgia., In the first part the melody is carried by the bass strings only to be transferred to treble strings toward the end.

ETUDE No. 9 IN F-SHARP MINOR: Tres peu anime

The composer returns here to the "viola caipira.” The exposi¬ tion of the theme of the first section sees its rhythmic monotony broken by a scale passage. As for the second section, the theme is presented in an embellished version which calls to our minds the "viola.”

ETUDE No. 10 IN B MINOR: Tres anime

This is a study of high virtuosity. The alternation of 3/8, 4/8 and 5/8 meters used in the first part adds to its difficulty. To give this piece its haunting character, the composer employed harmonies which progresses using the same strings. The central part imitates the singing of birds. The piece ends with the initial theme marked by harmonies using, once again, the unorthodox employment of the little finger of the right hand.

ETUDE No. 11 IN E MINOR: Lento-piu mosso-anime-lento

Here is an etude which, for the sake of richness and beauty, totally evades the pedagogical realm. An essence of impressionism impregnates the entire work. The composer’s lyricism is displayed in the central section where the tremolo is punctuated by a hollow, bell-like ostinato on the low "E” string.

ETUDE No. 12 IN A MINOR: Anime

A glissando study. A fiery minor harmony moves about on the neck of the guitar, provoking a feeling of anxiety. A savage drum-roll effect appears in the central section. The initial harmony resumes its desperate and agitated course to explode in violent "rasgueados.”

The unusual technical devices, anti-academic and revolutionary, of this etude are the basis of its interest.

ROBERT J. VIDAL

* * ❖

Turbio Santos u/as born in 1943 in Sao Luis, in the state of Maranhao, in the north of Brazil. It mas through his interest in popular music that he mas attracted to the guitar and its classical literature. He studied guitar mith the great Uruguayan guitarist Oscar Caceres mith mhom he toured Brazil and Uruguay in 1964. He has also studied mith Julian Bream and assisted Andres Segovia mith his courses given at St. James of CompoStella in Spain. In 1963 he mon the First Prize for interpretation of the "International Guitar Concourse” founded by Robert J. Vidal in Paris. Mr. Santos nom makes his home in Paris.

The guitar used in this recording mas made by Robert Bouchet, Paris, 1968.

Stereo records may be played on modern mono equipment. It is advisable to wipe record mith antistatic dust cloth before playing.

(Translated and condensed from the French by James Rich)

Timings:

Side 1: 2:00 - 1:55 - 2:32 - 5:26 - 3:23 - 1:58 / 17:14

Side 2: 2:38 - 3:18 - 3:20 - 2:33 * 4:11 - 2:27 / 18:17

the musical heritage society inc. 1991 imoa&way, new yoRk* n. y. 10023

Recorded by ERATO of France

Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 71-751421

| MUSICAL HERITAGE SOCIETY j

TWELVE ETUDES FOR GUITAR

Etude No. 7 In E minor Etude No. 8 in C-sharp minor Etude No. 9 in F-tharp minor Etude No. 10 in B minor Etude No. II in E minor