Chôros No. 12

Chôros No. 12 is an orchestral work written between 1925 and 1945 by the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos. It is part of a series of fourteen numbered compositions collectively titled Chôros, ranging from solos for guitar and for piano up to works scored for soloist or chorus with orchestra or multiple orchestras, and in duration up to over an hour. Chôros No. 12 is one of the longest compositions in the series, a performance lasting about 35 minutes.

Chôros No. 12
by Heitor Villa-Lobos
Heitor Villa-Lobos
CatalogueW233
GenreChôros
FormChôros
OccasionJosé Cândido de Andrade Muricy
Composed1925 (1925) – 1945 (1945): Rio de Janeiro
Published1986 (1986): Paris
PublisherMax Eschig
Recorded9–10 September 1980 Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège, Pierre Bartholomée, cond. (LP recording, 1 disc: 33⅓ rpm, 12 in., stereo. Ricercar RIC-007. Gütersloh: Sonopress, issued 1980)
Duration35 mins.
Movements1
ScoringOrchestra
Premiere
Date23 February 1945 (1945-02-23):
LocationHarvard University, Cambridge, MA
ConductorHeitor Villa-Lobos
PerformersBoston Symphony Orchestra

History

According to the score and the official catalog of the Museu Villa-Lobos, Chôros No. 12 was composed in Rio de Janeiro in 1925, and the score is dedicated to José Cândido de Andrade Muricy. It was premiered at Harvard University by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, conducted by the composer, on 21 October 1945 according to the official catalogue of the composer's works (Villa-Lobos, sua obra 2009, 26). However, this programme was announced for 23 February of that year, and a broadcast of the work by the BSO with Villa-Lobos conducting was made on Saturday, 24 February 1945 (Anon. 1945a; Anon. 1945b). According to contemporary reports in the Daily Boston Globe, it was performed in Cambridge on 23 February and was to have been performed two more times at Symphony Hall on 23 and 24 February. At the time of the Boston premiere, Villa-Lobos said that he had written the work "for and in admiration of Serge Koussevitzky", whose Paris concerts he had attended in the 1920s (Durgin 1945a; Durgin 1945b).

Other sources give 1929 as the year of composition found in the score (Béhague 2001; Seixas 2007, 63). However, Lisa Peppercorn casts doubt on such an early date of composition, based on the fact that it was Villa-Lobos's habit to secure premieres of his works as soon as they were completed. In her opinion, the difference of two (or nearly two) decades between the nominal date of composition and that of the world premiere suggests that, although the score may have been begun or at least conceived in 1925, it was probably not completed until shortly before the premiere in 1945 (Peppercorn 1991, preface, unpaginated). Based on his detailed analysis of the score, Guilherme Seixas concludes that stylistic considerations do not support a date of completion as early as the mid-1920s, either, and agrees with Peppercorn's hypothesis (Seixas 2007, 63–64).

Analysis

What sets this work apart from all of the preceding Chôros is its use of traditional motivic developmental techniques. The motive that first appears at rehearsal number 1, for example, is developed intervallically, tonally, melodically, and—as in some of Stravinsky's works—by variation (Seixas 2007, 127).

Villa-Lobos here proclaims himself free of the strictly nationalist preoccupations of the preceding works in the series. Nevertheless, in the final section he draws on the esquinado, an almost forgotten Brazilian dramatic dance, and earlier on quotes a dance called charanga from the state of Espírito Santo, collected in 1912 by Santos Vieira (Appleby 2002, 90).

Discography
  • Heitor Villa-Lobos: Choros XII. Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège, Pierre Bartholomée, cond. Recorded at the Conservatoire de Liège, 9–10 September 1980. LP recording, 1 disc: 33⅓ rpm, 12 in., stereo. Ricercar RIC-007. Gütersloh: Sonopress, 1980. Reissued as part of Heitor Villa-Lobos: Choros II, IV, V, VII & XII. The remaining works recorded at the Conservatoire de Liège, 22 December 1986. CD recording, 1 disc: digital, 12 cm, stereo. Ricercar RIC 007010. [France]: Lor-Disc.
  • Villa-Lobos: Introdução aos Chôros; Chôros Nos. 2, 3, 10, 12; Dois Chôros (bis). Fabio Zanon, (guitar); Claudio Cruz (violin) Johannes Gramsch (cello), Elizabeth Plunk (flute), Ovanir Buosi (clarinet), Sérgio Burgani (clarinet), Marcos Pedroso (alto saxophone), Alexandre Silvério (bassoon), Dante Yenque, Luciano Amaral, and Samuel Hamzen (horns), Wagner Polistchuck (trombone), Choir of the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, John Neschling (conductor). Recorded December 2003 (no. 2) and February 2005 (remainder), Sala São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. CD recording, 1 disc: digital, 12 cm, stereo. BIS CD-1520. Åkersberga, Sweden: BIS Records, 2008. Reissued as disc 1 of Heitor Villa-Lobos: The Complete Choros and Bachianas Brasileiras [also including the Complete Solo Guitar Music, played by Anders Miolin]. CD recording, 7 discs: digital, 12 cm, stereo. BIS CD 1830/32. Åkersberga, Sweden: BIS Records, 2009.

References
  • Anon. 1945a. "Heitor Villa-Lobos Will Conduct Here". New York Times (6 January): 15.
  • Anon. 1945b. "Radio Concerts". New York Times (18 February), X6.
  • Appleby, David. 2002. Heitor Villa-Lobos: A Life (1887–1959). Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-4149-9.
  • Béhague, Gerard. 1994. Villa-Lobos: The Search for Brazil's Musical Soul. Austin: Institute of Latin American Studies, University of Texas at Austin. ISBN 0-292-70823-8.
  • Béhague, Gerard. 2001. "Villa-Lobos, Heitor". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan.
  • Durgin, Cyrus. 1945a. "Villa-Lobos, Brazilian Composer, Gives Some Musical Convictions". Daily Boston Globe (20 February): 9.
  • Durgin, Cyrus. 1945b. "Music: Symphony Hall: Boston Symphony Orchestra". Daily Boston Globe (24 February): 6.
  • Negwer, Manuel. 2008. Villa-Lobos: Der Aufbruch der brasilianischen Musik. Mainz: Schott Music. ISBN 3-7957-0168-6. Portuguese version as Villa Lobos e o florescimento da música brasileira. São Paulo: Martins Fontes, 2009. ISBN 978-85-61635-40-4.
  • Neves, José Maria. 1977. Villa-Lobos, o choro e os choros. São Paulo: Musicália S.A.
  • Nóbrega, Adhemar Alves da. 1975. Os chôros de Villa-Lobos. Rio de Janeiro: Museu Villa-Lobos.
  • Peppercorn, Lisa M. 1991. Villa-Lobos, the Music: An Analysis of His Style Translated by Stefan De Haan. London: Kahn & Averill; White Plains, NY: Pro/AM Music Resources. ISBN 1-871082-15-3.
  • Seixas, Guilherme Bernstein. 2007. “Procedimentos Composicionais nos Choros Orquestrais de Heitor Villa-Lobos”. PhD diss. Rio de Janeiro: Universidade Federal do Estado de Rio de Janeiro.
  • Villa-Lobos, Heitor. 1972. "Choros: Estudo técnico, estético e psicológico", edited in 1950 by Adhemar Nóbrega. In Villa-Lobos, sua obra, second edition, 198–210. Rio de Janeiro: MEC/DAC/Museu Villa-Lobos.
  • Villa-Lobos, sua obra. 2009. Version 1.0. MinC / IBRAM, and the Museu Villa-Lobos. Based on the third edition, 1989.
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