Chôros No. 11

Chôros No. 11
by Heitor Villa-Lobos

Heitor Villa-Lobos
Key Polytonal
Catalogue W228
Genre Chôros
Form Chôros
Composed 1928 (1928)–1941 (1941): Rio de Janeiro
Dedication Arthur Rubinstein
Recorded 6, 8, and 9 May 1958 – Aline van Barentzen (piano), Orchestre national de la radiodiffusion française, Heitor Villa-Lobos (cond.) (two 12-inch monaural LPs, La voix de son maître/EMI FALP 596/597; Angel 3 CBX 440/441)
Duration 65 mins.
Movements 1
Scoring Piano solo and large orchestra
Premiere
Date 18 July 1942 (1942-07-18)
Location Theatro Municipal, Rio de Janeiro
Conductor Heitor Villa-Lobos
Performers José Vieira Brandão (piano), Orquestra Sinfônica do Theatro Municipal

Chôros No. 11 is a work for piano and orchestra written in 1928 by the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos. It is part of a series of fourteen numbered compositions collectively titled Chôros, ranging from solos for guitar and for piano up to works scored for soloist or chorus with orchestra or multiple orchestras. Chôros No. 11 is the longest in the series, a performance lasting over an hour.

History

Arthur Rubinstein, dedicatee of Chôros No. 11, in 1938

According to the official account, Chôros No. 11 was composed in Rio de Janeiro in 1928, and the score is dedicated to Arthur Rubinstein. The first known performance was given on 18 July 1942 in Rio de Janeiro by José Vieira Brandão, piano, and the Orquestra Sinfônica do Theatro Municipal, conducted by the composer (Villa-Lobos,sua obra 2009, 26). However, for a variety of reasons it seems more likely that it may have begun in 1928, but was only completed in 1941, after Artur Rubinstein had requested a piano concerto during a visit to Rio in 1939 (Peppercorn 1991, 75n5).

Because he realised that its extraordinary length, in a single movement, would inhibit uncut performances, Villa-Lobos specified cuts that would make a shorter performing version of only about thirty-five minutes (Nóbrega 1975, 117).

Scoring

The work is scored for solo piano and a large orchestra consisting of 2 piccolos, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, cor anglais, E♭ clarinet, 2 clarinets in B♭, bass clarinet, soprano saxophone in B♭, alto saxophone in E♭, 2 bassoons, 2 contrabassoons, 4 horns, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, tuba, tímpani, bass drum, tam-tam, cymbals, reco-reco, chocalho, caixa clara, tambourine, tambor, coco, cabacinhas, caxambu, cuíca, xylophone, vibraphone, celesta, 2 harps, and strings.

Analysis

Interior of the Theatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro, where Chôros No. 11 was premiered

The composer compares the structure of Chôros No. 11 to that of the baroque concerto grosso, because of the solo role of the piano, "whose technical virtuosity on the curious fantasy of recurring themes fully confirms the tendency of its type." However, it also takes advantage of aspects of the symphonic poem, the symphony, the classical serenade, and the fantasy, all of which contribute to explaining the extraordinary length of an hour or more in performance (Villa-Lobos 1972, 204–205).

Although Chorôs No. 11 is in a single continuous movement, the long central modinha in slow tempo stands apart from the surrounding material, for its "laguid, sequential, and dream-inhabited melody" clothed in "twisted and rather chilling harmony" (Wright 1992, 69). Indeed, the work as a whole can be regarded as being in three conventional, but linked movements, though the boundary between the first and second is somewhat vague: A rhapsodic and enigmatic opening (Allegro preciso – Allegro moderato – Misterioso –Andantino – Marcha), a lyrical slow movement in two sections, and a complex rondo finale (Tarasti 1991, 131–33).

Villa-Lobos calls particular attention to a number of features of the work (Villa-Lobos 1972, 205):

  1. the energetic and mechanical rhythm of the opening;
  2. the melody with a primitive character (number 29)
  3. that simultaneously serves as a bass for crossed arpeggios, with the same sounds of the primitive scale;
  4. unforeseen and strange modulations (number 41);
  5. various melodic types accompanied by unusual harmonies (number 46);
  6. a sentimental melody with a simple dissonant harmony and on a vague rhythm, forming a characteristic space (number 55);
  7. an unimportant melody enriched by harmony;
  8. a theme of primitive form that serves as a subject for a short fugato (number 78);
  9. at rehearsal number 80 appears a recapitulation, restating one of the early themes of the work a major third lower;
  10. finally, a warm, passionate, and extremely vague melody appears, in the midst of contrary and syncopated harmonies and rhythms, muddying the rhythmic center of gravity.

Discography

In chronological order of recording:

References

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