Braga Santos was born in Lisbon and studied there at the
conservatory. As well as composing and teaching, he has been very influential
through his work with Portuguese radio. His works can best be considered
in two phases: the first, through the fifties, is essentially neo-classicist,
and was influenced by his teacher, Freitas Branco, and also some of the
English composers, notably Vaughan Williams and Walton. The second period
produced music with more intensely chromatic harmonies and a freer structural
form. This divertimento represents the culmination of his neo-classical
period, although it contains some passages which hint at what was to come.
Villa-Lobos' importance extends far beyond the shores of Brazil, throughout the Western world. His music, rooted as it is in the twentieth century, is at the confluence of two great rivers of musical form: the "traditional" European style and the music of the Amazon, a term which he used to represent the great body of Brazilian music, not only indigenous but "Latin" also. Villa-Lobos was not only a prolific composer, and internationally renowned conductor, but, like Fernandez, was active in musical education in Brazil.
Heitor Villa-Lobos was born in the spring of 1887 in the Laranjeiras district of Rio de Janeiro. His father, an amateur musician himself, encouraged Heitor to study cello (at first on an adapted viola) and taught him musical theory. In 1899, after his father died, he began to play cello professionally in theaters and other gigs. He also began studying guitar, and although he wrote much music for the instrument, the cello was always his first love, both as a virtuoso and as a composer (several of his compositions, such as the Bachianas Brasileiras numbers 1 and 5, call for all-cello "orchestras," to wonderful effect). At the same time, he became friends with several popular musicians, with whom he never lost contact, and developed a life-long interest in the Choros, the authentic folk music of Brazil.
His earliest works show the influence of other composers, but in time, he developed his own unique style. He left over a thousand works! In his own words, Considero minhas obras como cartas que escrevi à posteridade sem esperar resposta (I see my works as letters written to posterity, expecting no answer).
At age 18, he made the first of his many journeys through the interior of Brazil (no mean feat 90 years ago!), learning the folk music which was to have such a profound influence on his music. According to a story he related later in Paris, he was caught by a tribe of cannibals who only let him go because of his music!
Between 1923 and 1930, the composer was based in Paris, although his travels were extensive, including most of the principal cities of Europe, even back to Rio, Argentina and Africa. This was all made possible through financial support in recognition of his increasing popularity. During this time, he first heard the music of Stravinsky, in particular the Rite of Spring, which was to have a strong influence on his music.
He wrote two great cycles: the 14 Choros, from
which we hear the sixth, and the nine Bachianas Brasileiras, whence
part of number four. Each of the individual pieces of these cycles calls
for different instrumentation, ranging from a solo through to full orchestra.
Most of the Choros were written during his Parisian period. The
Choros #6 contains some wonderfully evocative sounds of Brazil,
including both tonal and atonal (chromatic) music to achieve its effect.
Fernandez was the first leader of the Brazilian nationalist movement and was, unusually, schooled entirely in Brazil. His music is rich in popular and indigenous melodies. In 1936, he founded and became the first director of the Brazilian Conservatory of Music. Most of his life was spent as an educator and conductor, specializing particularly in the music of his better-known contemporary Villa-Lobos.
The Batuque is from an early opera in the nationalist
style called Malazarte. It is a free rhythmic improvisational piece and
is, perhaps, his most popular work.
After his return to Brazil, his love of Bach and Brazilian music inevitably led to a fusion in Bachianas Brasileiras. Number four was originally written for piano solo but was later transcribed for string orchestra. The Prelúdio (one of his most popular works) is a kind of Bachian adagio.
He continued to travel and first visited the USA (including
Boston) in 1945. But also, during this period, the once avant-garde musician
became a pillar of the establishment, devoting much of his energy to education.
Jobim
was one of the originators of the Bossa Nova style, that quintessentially
Brazilian sound which swept the popular music charts throughout the world
in the early sixties. Bossa Nova is an amalgam of Brazilian samba,
American jazz and French Impressionism. This arrangement by Kevin Kaska
(whose Fanfare we featured in our February
concert) of four of Jobim's best-loved songs was commissioned by the
Boston Pops Orchestra in 1995, a few months after Jobim's death. We begin
with the slow, stately Insensatez (How insensitive) followed by
the shimmering Desafinado. Next comes Corcovado, also known
as Quiet Nights (whence the title of the arrangement). Corcovado
is the name of the hill outside Rio on which stands the huge statue of
Christ. We close with perhaps the best-known of them all, The Girl from
Ipanema [the jet-set
beach area next to Copacabana].
