Chôros No. 3

Chôros No. 3, "Pica-pau" (Woodpecker) is a work for male choir or instrumental septet, or both together, written in 1925 by the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos. It forms a 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. 3 is one of the shorter members of the series, a performance lasting about three-and-a-half minutes.

Chôros No. 3
Pica-pau
by Heitor Villa-Lobos
Heitor Villa-Lobos
EnglishWoodpecker (subtitle)
CatalogueW206
GenreChôros
FormChôros
Melody"Nozani-ná", "Noal anaue", and "Ena-mô-kocê" (trad., Pareci tribe, Mato Grosso, coll. 1912 by Roquette-Pinto)
Composed1924 (1924): Rio de Janeiro
DedicationTarsila do Amaral and Oswald de Andrade
Published1928 (1928): Paris
PublisherMax Eschig
Recorded19?? (19??) Louis Cahuzac (clarinet), Hippolyte Poimboeuf (alto saxophone), Gustave Dhérin (bassoon), Edmond Entraigue, Jean-Lazare Pénable, and Mr. Marquette (horns), and Jules Dervaux (trombone), conducted by Robert Siohan (78rpm monaural disc, ?Disque Gramophone GW-914)
Duration3.5 mins.
Movements1
ScoringClarinet, alto saxophone, bassoon, three horns, trombone, and/or four-part male choir (TTBB)
Premiere
Date30 November 1925
LocationTheatro Municipal, São Paulo
ConductorHeitor Villa-Lobos
PerformersAntenor Driussi (clarinet), Mr. Canelle, Mr. Pierre, Martin Palka, Nicola Micelli, Paulo Alpenien, and Frederico del Ré (trombone)

History
Tarsila do Amaral, ca. 1925
Oswald de Andrade in 1922

Chôros No. 3 was composed in São Paulo in 1925, the year after Chôros Nos. 2 and 7 were written, and the score is dedicated to the painter Tarsila do Amaral and the poet Oswald de Andrade. It was premiered 30 November 1925 at the Theatro Municipal in São Paulo by Antenor Driussi (clarinet), Canelle, Pierre, Martin Palka, Nicola Micelli, Paulo Alpenien, and Frederico del Ré (trombone), conducted by the composer. The first European performance took place on 5 December 1927 in Paris, on the second of two concerts dedicated to Villa-Lobos's music, at the Salle Gaveau. The instrumentalists were Louis Cahuzac (clarinet), Hippolyte Poimboeuf (alto saxophone), Gustave Dhérin (bassoon), Edmond Entraigue, Jean-Lazare Pénable, and Mr. Marquette (horns) and Jules Dervaux (trombone), conducted by Robert Siohan (Villa-Lobos, sua obra 2009, 21). A recording by the latter ensemble, including a male choir, appears to have been made shortly after the French premiere and released as a part of a 78 rpm disc [?Disque Gramophone] GW-914 (Villa-Lobos, sua obra 1972, 265).

Analysis
Green-barred Woodpecker—Pica-pau-carijó (Colaptes melanochloros)

Chôros No. 3 is the only major work in Villa-Lobos's catalogue based principally on authentic Amerindian music. Its main musical subject, presented in canon or fugato at the beginning, is a feasting song of the Pareci tribe, "Nozani-ná", which had been collected in the Serra do Norte, Mato Grosso, on a cylinder recording by Edgar Roquette-Pinto in 1912. Villa-Lobos had already used a modified form of a fragment of this theme in Chôros No. 7, and had set the whole song for voice and piano as one of the ten Canções típicas brasileiras in 1919. To this are added fragments from two other Pareci songs from Roquette-Pinto's collection, "Noal anaue" and "Ena-mô-kocê". This section comes to an end with a passage of vocal glissandi, and is followed by the Indianist imitation of a woodpecker that gives the work its subtitle. However, "Nozani-ná" recurs over this ostinato, in longer note values and with some adjustment to the pitches, until the work comes to an end with a unison shout of the word "Brasil!" (Appleby 2002, 81–82; Corbin 2006, 68; Wright 1992, 35, 64–66).

Concerning the sense of the words to "Nozani-ná", opinions differ. According to one authority, "the meaning of the words is unknown, but the sound of the male voices and horns is unique" (Appleby 2002, 81). Another source asserts "the text is 'without sense or meaning imitating the Indian language'" (Corbin 2006, 68), attributing the quotation to Lisa Peppercorn's book where, however, on the very page cited, a full translation is given: "This is the hour of drinking / this is the hour of eating / we eat the Kozetozá [a maize dish] / we drink the Oloniti [wine made from maize]" (Peppercorn 1991, 57n14).

References
  • Appleby, David P. 2002. Heitor Villa-Lobos: A Life (1887–1959). Lanham, MD, and London: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-4149-5.
  • 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.
  • Corbin, Dwayne Vincent. 2006. "The Three Wind/Choral Works of Heitor Villa-Lobos: Quatuor, Nonetto, and Choros No. 3". DMA thesis. Cincinnati: University of Cincinnati.
  • Moreira, Gabriel Ferrão. 2013a. "O estilo indígena de Villa-Lobos, Parte 1: Aspectos melódicos e harmônicos". Per Musi, no. 27 January–June): 19–28.
  • Moreira, Gabriel Ferrão. 2013b. "O estilo indígena de Villa-Lobos, Parte 2: Aspectos rítmicos, texturais, potencial significante e tópicas indígenas". Per Musi, no. 27 January–June): 29–38.
  • Moreira, Gabriel Ferrão. 2014. "A construção da sonoridade modernista de Heitor Villa-Lobos por meio de processos harmônicos: um estudo sobre os Choros". PhD diss. São Paulo: Universidade do Estado de São Paulo.
  • Moreira, Gabriel Ferrão, and Acácio Tadeu de Camargo Piedade. 2010. "Nozani-ná e o elemento indígena na obra de Heitor Villa-Lobos dos Anos 20." Paper presented at the XX Congresso da Associação Nacional de Pesquisa e Pós-Gradução em Música, Florianópolis.
  • 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.
  • Nóbrega, Adhemar Alves da. 1975. Os chôros de Villa-Lobos. Rio de Janeiro: Museu Villa-Lobos.
  • Peppercorn, Lisa M. 1980. "A Villa-Lobos Autograph Letter at the Bibliothèque Nationale (Paris)". Latin American Music Review / Revista de Música Latinoamericana 1, no. 2 (Autumn–Winter): 253–64.
  • 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.
  • Salles, Paulo de Tarso. 2009. Villa-Lobos: processos composicionais. Campinas, SP: Editora da Unicamp. ISBN 978-85-268-0853-9.
  • Santos, Filipe Daniel Fonseca dos. 2009. "Considerações sobre os aspectos estruturais do Choros no 3 de Heitor Villa-Lobos". Simpósio Internacional Villa-Lobos: USP 2009, 43–50.
  • 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, second edition. 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.
  • Wright, Simon. 1992. Villa-Lobos. Oxford Studies of Composers. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-315476-5 (cloth); ISBN 0-19-315475-7 (pbk).

Further reading
  • Demarquez, Suzanne. 1929a. "Les Choros de Villa-Lobos". Musique: Revue mensuelle de critique, d'histoire, d'esthétique et d'information musicales, No. 4 (15 January): 707–13.
  • Demarquez, Suzanne. 1929b. "Villa-Lobos". Revue Musicale 10, no. 10 (November): 1–22.
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