Heitor Villa-Lobos

Brazilian compose Heitor Villa-Lobos is a very well known composer in Latin America. It has been said that he is one of the most significant composers of all time in Brazilian music. Heitor Villa-Lobos was born on March 5, 1887 in Rio de Janeiro. His father was a wealthy man named Raul and he was also a musician. Many changes were occurring during Heitors upbringing and this is reflected in the music he created. Heitor Villa-Lobos died on November 17, 1959 and he is still very well known in Latin America during the present day.

Heitor Villa-Lobos had little training when it came to his music abilities and he used life experiences to create the music that many still love today. When Heitor was younger his dad, Raul, had many musical gatherings and this is one of the ways Heitor learned about music by observing these gatherings. He was often found at the top of the stairs in his home listening to all of the sounds his dad and many other musicians composed and played.

In 1905 Villa-Lobos began to experiment and went out to journey Brazilian life deeper. He came home with a wide assortment of tales that have not been confirmed to this day. He told about his adventure where he escaped from cannibals and this amused many that heard it. When Villa-Lobos returned he started playing music with local street bands. He played with many different street bands over the course of his career. He also explored cinema and dabbled with improvising. He soon returned to his love of music and became a cellist with an opera house in Rio de Janeiro. He met Arthur Napoleao a pianist with the opera company, and Napoleao is the one that encouraged Villa-Lobos to compose music seriously.

Around 1912 Heitor Villa-Lobos married Lucilia Guimaraes a pianist. He then decided to concede traveling and focus on becoming a serious musician and composer. By 1913 Villa-Lobos music was beginning to be published. He was involved with chamber concerts until 1921 mainly in Rio de Janeiro. Artur Rubinstein was a lifelong friend he met in 1918 and he was then more interested in composing piano music because of this friendship.

During Heitor Villa-Lobos first major performance he presented A Prole do Bebe, and the piece was booed. Heitor did not let this affect him and he approached this criticism in a vey positive manner. Many people would have given up right then, but Villa-Lobos took this criticism with stride and conceded that the population was not ready for this type of music yet. This attitude may be one of the things that helped Villa-Lobos to become so successful in the music industry.

After the disappointing performance in Rio de Janeiro, Villa-Lobos decided to tour abroad and made one of his first appearances in Paris. Paris accepted Villa-Lobos with open arms and they were truly ready for the musical experience that Villa-Lobos brought with him. Heitor Villa-Lobos stayed in Paris off and on during his career and he met very famous and inspirational individuals in Paris.

Around 1930 Brazil passed a law which did not allow money to be transferred out of the country and this kept Heitor Villa-Lobos in Brazil for a few years. He began to compose music and present it in Brazil once again and he became involved with composing music for SEMA. It was mostly patriotic music and he did this for a few years. In 1936 Heitor and his wife separated.

In 1945 the war ended and Heitor Villa-Lobos was able to travel abroad again and returned to Paris. He also started traveling to the United States, Great Britain and Israel. This helped to spread the word about his music and thus exposed many more people to his compositions. In 1958 MGM studios approached Villa-Lobos to compose music for the film Green Mansions which starred Audrey Hepburn and Anthony Perkins. He conducted the recording without any assistance. The soundtrack for Green Mansions became intensely popular and this prompted a recording for the public to purchase.

His recordings involved many types of instruments and they are still very popular today. His work can still be heard on the concert scene this very day and there are also many compact discs available that feature some of Villa-Lobos best works. As time has gone by Villa-Lobos has become more popular by connoisseurs of classical guitar music everywhere. Many people will continue to enjoy his music many years from now and this makes him a legendary composer.