Heitor Villa-Lobos
Symphony No. 8 (Villa-Lobos)
Symphony No. 8 is a composition by the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, written in 1950. A typical performance lasts about 25 minutes. It was first performed at Carnegie Hall in New York on 14
Instrumentation#
The symphony is scored for an orchestra consisting of 2 piccolos, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, cor anglais, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, tuba, percussion (timpani, tam-tam, cymbals, and xylophone), celesta, 2 harps, piano, and strings.
Analysis#
The symphony has four movements: This is according to Villa-Lobos, sua obra and Latin American Music Center. The liner card and electronic track listing for the CPO CD of the work (CPO 999 517-2) gives: With the exception of the expanded listing of the first movement, however, the booklet accompanying the CD agrees with the two Villa-Lobos catalogues. Enyart gives a slightly different version, with the Portuguese spelling, justo, in place of the Italian giusto in the last movement:
Further reading#
- Béhague, Gerard. 1994. Villa-Lobos: The Search for Brazil’s Musical Soul. Austin: Institute of Latin American Studies, University of Texas at Austin, 1994. .
- Béhague, Gerard. 2001. “Heitor Villa-Lobos’ Symphonies No. 6 and No. 8, and Suite pour cordes”. Booklet accompanying Heitor Villa-Lobos: Symphonies 6 & 8, 16–24 (also in German and French translations, 4–13 and 27–36, respectively). SWR Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart, Carl St. Clair, cond. Recorded 17–21 February 1997 and 18 April 2000, Stadthallle Sindelfingen. CD recording. 1 disc, 12 cm, stereo. CPO 999 517-2.
- Salles, Paulo de Tarso. 2009. Villa-Lobos: processos composicionais. Campinas, SP: Editora da Unicamp. .
- Composer
- Heitor Villa-Lobos