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Heitor Villa-Lobos

Symphony No. 9 (Villa-Lobos)

Symphony No. 9 is a composition by the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, written in 1952. A performance lasts about twenty minutes. Villa-Lobos composed his Ninth Symphony in Rio de Janeiro in

Instrumentation#

The symphony is scored for an orchestra consisting of piccolo, 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, coconut hulls, bass drum, xylophone, and vibraphone), celesta, harp, and strings.

Analysis#

The symphony has four movements:

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. .
  • Enyart, John William. 1984. “The Symphonies of Heitor Villa-Lobos”. PhD diss. Cincinnati: University of Cincinnati.
  • Peppercorn, Lisa M. 1991. Villa-Lobos: The Music: An Analysis of His Style, translated by Stefan de Haan. London: Kahn & Averill; White Plains, New York: Pro/Am Music Resources Inc. (Kahn & Averill); .
  • Salles, Paulo de Tarso. 2009. Villa-Lobos: processos composicionais. Campinas, SP: Editora da Unicamp. .
Composer
Heitor Villa-Lobos