Symphony No. 2 (Villa-Lobos)
| Symphony No. 2 | |
|---|---|
| Ascensão | |
| by Heitor Villa-Lobos | |
Heitor Villa-Lobos
|
|
| English | Ascension |
| Catalogue | W132 (Op. 160) |
| Genre | Symphony |
| Composed | 1917–1944: Rio de Janeiro |
| Published | 1978: New York |
| Publisher | Belwin Mills |
| Recorded | 6 May 1944 |
| Duration | 35 mins. |
| Movements | 4 |
| Scoring | Orchestra |
| Premiere | |
| Date | 6 May 1944: |
| Location | Rio de Janeiro |
| Conductor | Heitor Villa-Lobos |
| Performers | Orquestra Sinfônico de Rádio Nacional |
Symphony No. 2, Asenção (Ascention) is a composition by the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, written between 1917 and 1944.
Contents
History
Villa-Lobos composed (or began composing) his Second Symphony in Rio de Janeiro in 1917, but the score was not completed until late in 1943 or early in 1944 (Peppercorn 1991, 94). It was first performed on 6 May 1944 in a radio broadcast by the Orquestra Sinfônica da Rádio Nacional, conducted by the composer. The first North American performance took place a little more than six months later, on 26 November 1944 in Philharmonic Auditorium, Los Angeles, by the Janssen Symphony of Los Angeles, conducted by Villa-Lobos. It is the second in a cycle of five symphonies written in the style of Vincent d'Indy (Villa-Lobos, sua obra 2009, 41–42).
Instrumentation
The symphony is scored for an orchestra consisting of 2 piccolos, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, cor anglais, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, tuba, tímpani, tam-tam, bass drum, cymbals, side drum, tambour de basque, celesta, 2 harps, and strings.
Analysis
The symphony is in four movements:
- Allegro non troppo
- Allegretto scherzando
- Andante Moderato
- Allegro
The principal, first theme of the opening movement returns in all of the subsequent movements as a cyclic theme. It appears twice in the development section of the second movement (b. 93 and 168, both times in the low strings), at the beginning of the development in the third movement (b. 32) in the low woodwinds, and in the fourth movement in the development or episodic section, first in the bass clarinet, then with the addition of the bassoons and contrabassoon (Enyart 1984, 90).
The third, slow movement is a monothematic sonata-allegro form, with a shift from B minor to D major marking both the exposition and the couirse of the work as a whole (Enyart 1984, 107).
References
- Béhague, Gerard. 1994. Villa-Lobos: The Search for Brazil's Musical Soul. Austin: Institute of Latin American Studies, University of Texas at Austin, 1994. ISBN 0-292-70823-8.
- 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, NY: Pro/Am Music Resources Inc. ISBN 1-871082-15-3 (Kahn & Averill); ISBN 0-912483-36-9.
- Salles, Paulo de Tarso. 2009. Villa-Lobos: processos composicionais. Campinas, SP: Editora da Unicamp. ISBN 978-85-268-0853-9.
- Villa-Lobos, sua obra. 2009. Version 1.0. MinC / IBRAM, and the Museu Villa-Lobos. Based on the third edition, 1989.
