Heitor Villa-Lobos Biography and Music

Heitor Villa-Lobos Biography

• Born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1887
• His father encouraged him to play cello, guitar, and clarinet
• Supported his family after his father's death by playing music in cafes and theaters
• Traveled extensively throughout Brazil, collecting folk music (1905-1907)
• Played with street bands while studying at National Institute of Music
• Studied indigenous music in Brazil's interior (1912)
• Married Lucila Guimarães, a pianist
• Received a government grant to study music in Paris (1923)
• Became director of music education in Brazil (1930)
• Founded the Brazilian Academy of Music and became its first president (1945)
• Suffered from poor health and died in Rio de Janeiro at age 72 (1959)

Villa-Lobos's Music

• Known for introducing Brazilian folk music and rhythms to the world of classical music
• Considered a passionate and popular musician who reformed Brazil's musical education system
• Wrote over 1,500 pieces, including concertos, symphonies, chamber music, string quartets, operas, ballets, and movie scores
• Some criticize his music as lacking polish, but he greatly impacted Brazilian music

Uirapuru

• An orchestral work composed in 1916
• Inspired by Brazilian folklore tales
• Features the uirapuru, a small bird of the Amazon rainforest
• Uses instruments like the violinophone to mirror the jungle sounds
• Portrays a dramatic tone poem representing the sounds of the jungle
• The uirapuru represents good luck in Brazilian mythology

National Pride

• Designed a new system of musical instruction for Brazilian children as the Brazilian government's director of music education
• Composed national and patriotic music for large choirs and public performances
• His choir in 1935 had 30,000 voices and 1,000 instrumentalists
• His work continues to instill national pride in Brazil

Early Reception

• His early works (like A Próle do Bébé) were not well-received initially and met with boos
• He was considered too modern for the time