Heitor Villa-Lobos - String Quartet No. 5 (1931) "Quatetor Popular No. 1"

Heitor Villa-Lobos (March 5, 1887 – November 17, 1959) was a Brazilian composer, described as "the single most significant creative figure in 20th-century Brazilian art music". Villa-Lobos has become the best-known South American composer of all time. A prolific composer, he wrote numerous orchestral, chamber, instrumental and vocal works, totaling over 2000 works by his death in 1959. His music was influenced by both Brazilian folk music and by stylistic elements from the European classical tradition, as exemplified by his Bachianas Brasileiras (Brazilian Bachian-pieces). His Etudes for guitar (1929) were dedicated to Andrés Segovia, while his 5 Preludes (1940) were dedicated to Arminda Neves d’Almeida, a.k.a. "Mindinha." Both are important works in the guitar repertory.

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String Quartet No. 5 ("Quarteto popular no. 1") (1931)
Dedicated to João Alberto Lins de Barros Governor (Interventor) of the State of São Paulo from 26 November 1930 to 25 July 1931.

1. Poco andantino (0:00)
2. Vivo e energico (6:01)
3. Andantino – tempo giusto e ben ritmato (9:16)
4. Allegro (12:53)

Cuarteto Latinoamericano (Mexico City)

The Fifth Quartet is unusual in Villa-Lobos' works in this medium for using genuine folk material, albeit in modified form (Tarasti 1995, 305).

Over the course of the first movement the tempo changes many times, ranging from Lento to Presto. The long Lento section in b. 90 to 136 is characterised by lyrical melodic writing in the first violin accompanied by a complex rhythmic pattern in the other instruments (Farmer 1973, 26, 28).

The second movement's predominantly fast tempo is also interrupted after eleven bars by a Lento section featuring double stops in all four instruments and sul ponticello tremolo effects in the two violins. After eight bars, the opening tempo is resumed for the remainder of the movement, save for a concluding Molto lento coda of five bars (Farmer 1973, 30–31).

The third movement inverts the relationship found in the first two movements by interrupting a predominantly slow tempo after only two bars with a fast and light-hearted section (Tempo giusto e ben ritmato) of sufficient length to make the opening material sound merely like a slow introduction. After twenty-three bars, however, a slow tempo (Adagio) is resumed, eventually giving way to the original Andantino (Farmer 1973, 31–32). The short opening Andantino motive, played in unison, is one that Villa-Lobos often uses to suggest Indian music (Tarasti 2009, 236).

The finale, in contrast to the earlier movements, maintains a steady Allegro tempo throughout (Farmer 1973, 32). After a brief introduction in parallel fourths, the main theme from the first movement returns, at double its original tempo but in the same key. A series of children's themes taken from Villa-Lobos's collection, Guia prático, provides the substance for the rest of the movement. The central section is based on the song "O Bastão ou mia gato" (The Stick or a Cat's Meow), played in harmonics in all four instruments, after which the opening section, minus the introduction, is repeated to create an ABA ternary form (Tarasti 2009, 236).