Works of Villa-Lobos:
Music for Guitar

he guitar was, along with the cello, a favourite instrument of Villa-Lobos. Here are some interesting links along with some information on the relatively small number of works he wrote for guitar.


	Guitarist and composer David Leisner has an excellent website with many useful links and resources. David will release a CD of the complete Villa-Lobos guitar music on the Azica Records label, in September 1999. The significance of this new recording (besides what one assumes will be the excellence of the playing) is that the source for the Etudes will be the 1928 autograph manuscript now in the Museu Villa-Lobos, which David feels is "far preferable, for the most part, to the published version." For more information on this subject, see the Stanley Yates article below, and the article "Villa-Lobos: New Manuscripts by Eduardo Fernández in the Fall 1996 issue of Guitar Review.
Stanley Yates is a guitarist and scholar who is currently at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, TN. His website includes an in-depth article "The Guitar Music of Heitor Villa-Lobos: Alternate Sources and Implications for Performance," which originally appeared in Soundboard.
	Orlando Fraga's Heitor Villa-Lobos: a survey of his guitar music is a very comprehensive study.
The Bach Plucked! site from Australia focusses on the lute and guitar music of Bach. The page on The Bachian Legacy focusses on the guitar music of two Bachians: Heitor Villa-Lobos and Manuel Ponce.
	A typically entertaining "Interview with Villa-Lobos" by Gilbert Imbar, originally published in Guitare et Musique, Issue #18, June 1958, has recently been published in Desde el Escritorio de Randy Osborne.
I really enjoyed Johnna Jeong's article Agustín Barrios Mangoré: The Folkloric, Imitative, and the Religious Influence Behind His Compositions.
	I'm learning more about the Classical Guitar (CG) community as I track down Villa-Lobos references on the web. Fantasia on A Theme started, I am sure, one April 1st; the sense of humour involved is, I am beginning to see, typically CG. There are lots of in-jokes that I am only beginning to understand, many of which are based upon the central importance played within the total CG repertoire by Villa-Lobos' few pieces for the guitar.
A fascinating story about Villa-Lobos and the guitar is told by George Hufsmith: "Lorenzo Fernandez is dead."
	From the Grace Notes website on the PBS radio website, "Villa-Lobos Plays the Guitar for Segovia".
From Classical Guitar Alive!, a radio program heard in many U.S. locations: an excerpt from an interview with Manuel Barrueco in RealAudio format, and a transcript of the whole interview. Here's an excerpt: "I see him (Villa-Lobos) as a very driving and emotional serious composer, whereas a lot of people still like to bring out the more popular elements in him, which I think, in fact, is wrong."

The complete solo guitar music is available in a single volume. Check out the Frederick Noad web-site.

VILLA-LOBOS, COLLECTED WORKS FOR SOLO GUITAR, Editions Max Eschig 95pp $29.95, Introduced by Frederick Noad

This book comprises Choros - No.1, Suite Populaire Bresilienne, Twelve Studies and Five Preludes. It is now available world wide and may be obtained through your local music store. Copies may also be ordered through D&H Sales.

Choros no. 1

Choros

Suite

Suite populaire Bresilienne (1928) - Max Eschig

12 Etudes (1928) - Max Eschig

Dedicated to Segovia, the 12 etudes were written in 1928 but not published until 1953. In his preface to the 1953 Eschig edition, Segovia states: "Villa-Lobos presented to the history of the guitar the gift of the fruits of his talent, as vigorous and delightful as those of Scarlatti and Chopin."

Etudes

Preludes

5 Preludes (1940) - Max Eschig

Written in 1940, the preludes are dedicated to Arminda Villa-Lobos.

No. 1	Lyric melody. Homage to the Brazilian sertanejo.
No. 2	Capadocia and capoeira melody. Homage to the carioca hustler.
No. 3	Homage to Bach
No. 4	Homage to the Brazilian Indian
No. 5	Homage to social life. To the young teenagers who frequent Rio's concerts and theatres.

Concerto for guitar and orchestra (1951) - Max Eschig

Composed for Andrés Segovia (1893-1987) in 1951, the guitar concerto (originally called a "Fantasia Concertante") was premiered by Segovia and the Houston Symphony Orchestra on February 6, 1956, with Villa-Lobos conducting.

The movements:

1. Allegro preciso

2. Andantino e andante: Cadenza

3. Allegretto non troppo

Works of Villa-Lobos: Music for Guitar