This week’s Listening Log entry is dedicated to the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos and his sixth suite (of a total of nine) of the ‘Bachianas Brasileiras’, composed in 1938. This will be first of the blog entries that tries to have as a focus the topic of melody corresponding to Part 2 of the course on Composing Music.

Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959)¹ was a prominent Brazilian composer and educator of the first half of the 20th century. His music is rich with elements of Brazilian folk music and has been variously responsible for popularizing the musical tradition of his native country, even before the advent in popularity of samba and bossa-nova in the second half of the 20th century. His music often features intricate contrapuntal features in the manner of Bach, and it is in this context that the pieces titled Bachianas Brasileiras emerge.

Written between 1930 and 1945, upon his return to Brazil after a decade living and working in Paris, the Bachianas (meaning in the style of Bach, in Portuguese) are a homage to the Baroque techniques of counterpoint and of the musical heritage of Brazil. Totalling nine individual works, the focus of this blog entry is on the sixth of these pieces composed for bassoon and flute in two movements (Ária/chôro and Fantasia).

The piece has long, challenging, scalar phrases in the flute, which have a very improvisational feel to them. While I’m not an expert on Bach’s music, this type of exposition would be one of the features that I loosely associate with his music, so this is the first hint I pick up from Villa-Lobos that his source material comes from Bach. The bassoon develops the harmony of the passage with a subtle counterpoint which counters the flute’s virtuosic runs. The choice of notes in the bassoon is very pleasant and melancholic.

I particularly enjoyed searching for the chôro, a traditional Brazilian style of music from the late 19th century, in this composition. To me this was most evident in both the melancholy tone of the interlocking melodic lines, but most interestingly in the syncopated rhythms of the counterpoint introduced by the bassoon. The composer modified his original rhythm with triplets in order to break the expected arrival of the strong beats, which to my ears was an instant draw to traditional Brazilian styles.

References: 
1. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Heitor-Villa-Lobos

Recording: 
Estill C., Cratton E., 2005. 'Bachianas brasileiras No. 6: I. Aria: Choro' Villa-Lobos: Bachianas Brasileiras (Complete). Hong Kong: Naxos. [online]

Sheet music:
Villa-Lobos, A. 1946. Bachianas Brasileiras No. 6 for Flute and Bassoon. New York: Associated Music Publishers. [online]