Music TheoryPrint

Heitor Villa-Lobos

Étude No. 1 (Villa-Lobos)

Heitor Villa-Lobos's Étude No. 1, part of his 12 Studies for Guitar, was first published by Max Eschig, Paris, in

History#

The first public performance of this étude (together with those of Études 7 and 8) was given by Andrés Segovia on 5 March 1947 at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts.

Structure#

The piece is in E minor and is marked Allegro non troppo. A strong presence of J. S. Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier suggests a miniature Bachiana Brasileira.

Analysis#

Étude No. 1 is an arpeggio study that is predominantly focused on a cross-string right-hand technique with the exception of one scalar passage from measure 23 to 24 and a series of cadential harmonics in measures 31 to 32.

Further reading#

  • Wright, Simon. 1992. Villa-Lobos. Oxford Studies of Composers. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. (cloth); (pbk).
Composer
Heitor Villa-Lobos