Heitor Villa-Lobos Website

Between 1965 and 1981, the Museu Villa-Lobos in Rio de Janeiro, jointly with the Ministry of Education and Culture, published twelve volumes of essays, appreciations and reminiscences under the title 'Presença de Villa-Lobos'. The quality and interest of the contributions are variable; but for me, the best parts of the material are the texts by the composer himself, the perceptive analyses of aspects of his work by experts such as Eero Tarasti and Pierre Vidal, documentation about the composer's endeavours in musical education, and a wealth of recollections from artists and musicians who knew Villa-Lobos.

Some of the anecdotes that are told, for instance, by his widow, Mindinha, and by his close friends have appeared elsewhere in print; but since all the biographical material in the 'Presença' volumes is in Portuguese, the following examples, which I have translated and paraphrased, may help to give a flavour of the composer's personality for those not familiar with that language. Villa-Lobos could be fairly certain that the cultural elite who hosted him on his tours abroad - particularly in North America - understood not a word of Portuguese.