String Quartet No. 17 (Villa-Lobos)

Analysis#

The quartet consists of the traditional four movements: The first movement is in ternary form, rather than the expected sonata-allegro form, and has a long concluding 37-measure coda. The second movement is also in ternary form and has the character of the improvised instrumental serenade called a choro. The third movement is a traditional scherzo with trio, followed by a concluding coda. The finale breaks with traditional forms, offering instead a succession of three unrelated sections, a transition, and a recapitulation of the first half of section one, and an extended coda.

Discography#

Chronological, by date of recording. * Heitor.Villa-Lobos: Na música de câmara. Quartets Nos. 1 and 17. Quarteto Rio de Janeiro. LP recording, 1 disc: analog, 33⅓ rpm, 12 in., stereo. Rio de Janeiro : Caravelle, 196- * Brazilian Quartets. Heitor Villa-Lobos: String Quartet No. 17; Alberto Nepomuceno: String Quartet No. 3 in D minor (“Brasileiro”). Brazilian String Quartet. LP recording, 1 disc, 12 in., 33⅓ rpm, stereo. CBS Masterworks 60141. Brazil: CBS Discos, 1967. Reissued on LP, Odyssey 32 16 0176. New York: Columbia Records, 1967. ** Reissued on CD as part of Heitor Villa-Lobos: String Quartets nos. 1, 6, and 17. Quarteto Brasileiro da UFRJ. CD recording, 1 sound disc: digital, 12 cm, stereo. S.l. : Albany Records, p2005. * Concurso Internacional de Quarteto de Cordas (1977: Rio de Janeiro). Heitor Villa-Lobos: String Quartets Nos. 16 and 17. Quarteto de Cuerdas de la Universidad Nacional de La Plata; Audubon Quartet. Recorded live at the Sala Cecília Meireles, Rio de Janeiro. LP recording, 1 sound disc: analog, 33⅓ rpm, 12 in. Tapecar MEC/DAC/CFC/MVL 020. Rio de Janeiro: Tapecar Gravações, 1977. * Villa-Lobos: Quatuors a Cordes Nos. 15/16/17. Quatuor Bessler-Reis (Bernardo Bessler, Michel Bessler, violins; Marie-Christine Springuel, viola; Alceu Reis, cello). Recorded at Studios Master in Rio de Janeiro, August–November 1988. CD recording, 1 disc: digital, 12 cm, stereo. Le Chant du Monde LDC 278 948. S.l. : S.n. , 1989. ** Also issued as part of Villa-Lobos: Os 17 quartetos de cordas / The 17 String Quartets. Quarteto Bessler-Reis and Quarteto Amazônia. CD recording, 6 sound discs: digital, 12 cm, stereo. Kuarup Discos KCX-1001 (KCD 045, M-KCD-034, KCD 080/1, KCD-051, KCD 042). Rio de Janeiro: Kuarup Discos, 1996. * Heitor Villa-Lobos: String Quartets Nos. 11, 16 and 17. Danubius Quartet (Judit Tóth and Adél Miklós, violins; Cecilia Bodolai, viola; Ilona Wibli, cello). Recorded at the Hungaroton Studios in Budapest, 15–16 October 1990, 28–30 January, and 11–15 February 1991. CD recording, 1 disc: digital, 12 cm, stereo. Marco Polo 8.223390. A co-production with Records International. Germany: HH International, Ltd., 1992. * Villa-Lobos: String Quartets, Volume 1. Quartets Nos. 6, 1, 17. Cuarteto Latinoamericano (Saúl Bitrán, Arón Bitrán, violins; Javier Montiel, viola; Alvaro Bitrán, cello). Recorded at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall in Troy, NY,April 1994. Music of Latin American Masters. CD recording, 1 disc: digital, 12 cm, stereo. Dorian DOR-90205. Troy, NY: Dorian Recordings, 1995. ** Reissued as part of Heitor Villa-Lobos: The Complete String Quartets. 6 CDs + 1 DVD with a performance of Quartet No. 1 and interview with the Cuarteto Latinoamericano. Dorian Sono Luminus. DSL-90904. Winchester, VA: Sono Luminus, 2009. ** Also reissued (without the DVD) on Brilliant Classics 6634.

Filmography#

• Villa-Lobos: A integral dos quartetos de cordas. Quarteto Radamés Gnattali (Carla Rincón, Francisco Roa, violins; Fernando Thebaldi, viola; Hugo Pilger, cello); presented by Turibio Santos. Recorded from June 2010 to September 2011 at the Palácio do Catete, Palácio das Laranjeiras, and the Theatro Municipal, Rio de Janeiro. DVD and Blu-ray (VIBD11111), 3 discs. Rio de Janeiro: Visom Digital, 2012.

Further reading#

• Béhague, Gerard. 1979. Music in Latin America: An Introduction. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.
• Béhague, Gerard. 1994. Heitor Villa-Lobos: The Search for Brazil’s Musical Soul. Austin: Institute of Latin American Studies, University of Texas at Austin.
• Béhague, Gerard. 2003. Villa-Lobos, Heitor: String Quartets, Cuarteto Latinoamericano. review Latin American Music Review / Revista de Música Latinoamericana 24, no. 2 (Autumn–Winter): 293–94.
• Estrella, Arnaldo. 1978. Os quartetos de cordas de Villa-Lobos, second edition. Rio de Janeiro: Museu Villa-Lobos, Ministério da Educação e Cultura.
• Gilman, Bruce. 1999. “Enigma de vanguardia”, translated by Juan Arturo Brennan. Pauta: Cuadernos de teoría y crítica musical 17, no. 69 (January–March): 29–34.
• Macedo Ribeiro, Roberto. 2000. “A escrita contrapontística nos quartetos de cordas de Heitor Villa-Lobos”. In Anais do I Colóquio de Pesquisa de Pós-Graduação, edited by Marisa Rezende and Mário Nogueira, 71–76. Rio de Janeiro: Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) (Escola de Música).
• Tarasti, Eero. 2009. “Villa-Lobos’s String Quartets”. In Intimate Voices: The Twentieth-Century String Quartet, vol. 1: Debussy to Villa-Lobos, edited by Evan Jones, 223–55. Eastman Studies in Music 70. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press. ; ; .
• Villa-Lobos, sua obra: Programa de Ação Cultural. 1972. Second edition. Rio de Janeiro: MEC, DAC, Museu Villa-Lobos.