6/16 – A CELLO CELEBRATION ENCORE: Cellists of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Lyric Opera & Friends

Heitor Villa-Lobos was unquestionably the most important Brazilian composer of the 20th Century, as well as his country’s greatest innovator and promulgator of music education of the time. He wrote well over 600 compositions, in standard and in unusual forms, and in combinations of instruments and voices. Our concert today begins with what is probably the best-known of all of his compositions.

Villa-Lobos revered the music of Bach, and this is particularly reflected in the nine works he wrote titled Bachianas Brailseiras – suites, really, for various combinations of instruments – based on Bachian models. (The movements are titled with such terms as toccata, prelude, fugue, etc., but in each case there is a Portuguese term listed alongside the formal designation.)

Both of the examples of Bachianas Brasileiras we hear today are scored for an ensemble of ‘cellos, No. 5 including a solo soprano voice.

The first of the two movements of No. 5 was composed in 1938; the second was added in 1945. An ingenious aspect of No. 5 is that, in the Aria (Cantilena), the greater part of the voice writing is a hauntingly beautiful hummed vocalise (wordless song), but its middle section is set to a sung text.

Below, we have printed translations of the texts of both movements of No. 5, but we’d warn you that – especially in the Dansa (Martelo) – the highly idiomatic/folkloric text can be a little daunting!

Aria (Cantilena)
Evening, a rosy, translucent cloud slowly crosses he drowsy and beautiful firmament! The moon gently rises into infinity, adorning the evening, like a sweet maiden dreamily getting ready, beautifying herself, desiring her soul to be beautiful. She calls to the heavens, the earth, all of Nature. She silences the birds’ melancholy laments, and the sea reflects all her treasures. Softly the moonlight now awakens, cruel yearning which laughs and weeps! Evening, a rosy translucent cloud crosses the drowsy and beautiful firmament! Ah!

Dansa (Martelo)
Ireré, my little bird from the Sertao on the Cariri. Ireré, my companion. Where is the lute? Where is my love? Where is Maria? Oh, sad fate of the singing lute-player! Ah! Without the lute with which he sang of his love, ah! His whistle is your flute, Ireré. Like your flute of the Sertao when it whistles, ah! We suffer in spite of ourselves! Ah! Your song penetrates from the depths of the Sertao, ah! Like a breeze softening the heart, ah! Ireré, let your song ring out! Sing some more! Sing some more! As a memento of the Cariri,
Sing, wren! Sing, little birds! Sing, Ireré, Sing, sing as you suffer. Finch! I can see you! Maria, wake up, it is day! Sing, all of you. Little birds of the Sertao! I can see you! Hey! Sabia! La! Lia! Lia! Lia! La! Lia! Lia! Lia! Lia! Lia! Hey! Sabia from the forest who suffers! Your songs come from the depths of the Sertao like a breeze softening the heart! Ireré, my little bird from the Sertao on the Cariri, etc. Ireré, let your song sing out, etc.

Bachianas Brasileiras No. 1 was composed in 1930. Today we’ll hear the first of its three movements, Introduçao (Embolada).

Although Sir Edward Elgar began writing music seriously in his teens, it was not until he was over 40 that he gained more than a local reputation as a composer of note. The work which truly helped to break the earlier mold was his Enigma Variations for Orchestra (1899), an ingenious set of fourteen variations on an original theme (the beginning of which could be sung to the words “Edward Elgar,” by the way). Each variation musically depicts a friend of Elgar and his wife, Alice, and from all accounts, the musical picture of each truly represents his or her major characteristics. Today we hear Variation 9, Nimrod, a portrait of August Jaeger (Nimrod – the great-grandson of Noah – is described in the Bible as a “mighty hunter,” and jaeger is the German word for hunter). Elgar noted Jaeger was a “valued adviser and stern critic,” here remembered in “a long summer evening talk” as they discussed the beauty of Beethoven’s slow movements. The beauty and nobility of this variation certainly represents the admiration and affection Elgar had for Jaeger.