Listening Recommendation: "Magdalena" by Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887 - 1959)

 Heitor Villa-Lobos is, of course, best remembered for his sets of "Bachianas Brasileiras" and "Chôros". This comes at no surprise, as the young Heitor was introduced by his father, an amateur musician, into learning the 'cello, but later also taught himself to play the guitar. With the former, his favourite pieces soon became J S Bach's Cello Suites, whilst with the latter, he would play many contemporary pieces then popular in Rio de Janeiro including the so-called choros, a form of folk-like street music. To earn a living, the young musician regularly performed in the coffee houses and cinemas of his home town, where a repertoire of European light music was much in demand. On the other hand, during extensive trips into the Brazilian countryside, including the jungle, it is said that he became familiar with the 'real' music of his country. As a composer, however, Villa-Lobos remained mainly self-taught. 

"Magdalena" CD cover from 1989

Throughout his lifetime, he composed a total of 9 "Bachianas Brasileiras" (literally: "Brazilian Bach-like pieces") and 12 numbered (plus three individually named) "Chôros"*, each in settings for different instruments: from piano, guitar, wind duo, chamber ensemble or chorus to full-scale symphony orchestra with solo piano. It is in those works that the fusion of European classical music and Brazilian folkloristic influences is at its finest, and through which he has emanated his own personal style. Yet Villa-Lobos has written countless works in almost all classical genres: 12 symphonies, symphonic poems, several solo concertos, 17 string quartets, other chamber music, choral, vocal, guitar and piano works, as well as numerous educational pieces, in his function as a national director of the "Superintendence of Musical and Artistical Education" (SEMA) during the presidency of Getúlio Vargas in the decade before WWII. 

Amongst his stage repertoire are the three main operas - Izath (1914), Yerma (1955), A Menina das Nuvens (1957-58) - but there is one notable exception: a digression - or perhaps rather an excursion - into the world of lighter entertainment, in the case of his 'light opera', or operetta "Magdalena: A Musical Adventure" in two acts, which was premiered in Los Angeles in 1948 and followed by a few more performances on New York's Broadway the same year. 

Villa-Lobos with Brazilian instruments

Just like many of its European counterparts, Villa-Lobos' operetta suffers from a confusing story line and a poor libretto (written in English, by Hollywood lyricists Robert Wright and George Forrest) - a tale of love versus jealousy, military power versus religious adoration, greed versus modesty - set partly in the jungles of Colombia (on the banks of the Magdalena river) where precious emeralds are being mined through exploitation of the local people, and partly in the salons of Paris. 

However, it speaks for Villa-Lobos' craftmanship and dramatic talent, that in such a stage work he manages throughout to combine numerous musical influences indicative of his manifold style: a colourful, rhythm-infused "jungle" music**, folkloristic South American tunes, great sweeping melodic lines, a subtle yet profound humour, as well as musical hints at the "Grand Salons" of the European fin de siècle; quite fittingly here, when Madame Teresa sings "Bon Soir, Paris", Villa-Lobos chooses effectively the wistful music from his famous 1932 piano piece Valsa da Dor ("Waltz of Pain").

It is mainly through the immediate appeal of its music rather than courtesy of the libretto, that "Magdalena" has survived and - apart from a recording made in 1989 *** - has seen renewed stage performances in recent years, not only in his native Brazil but in 2010 at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. 

Heitor Villa-Lobos caricature

Although subtitled "A musical Adventure" the work is often cited as a Broadway musical. Whilst certain similarities are undeniable, "Magdalena" remains, at least in our opinion, faithful to the tradition of European opera or operetta rather than that of their North American counterparts, and therefore rightfully claims its place amongst Villa-Lobos' other operas and stage works, as much as amongst other South American contributions to the repertoire.

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* a 13th & 14th "Chôro" are presumed lost.

** i.e. Uirapurú, Amazonas, O Descobrimento do Brazil, Floresta do Amazonas, are amongst other works which feature a variety of poly-rhythms, melodies, harmonies and exotic instruments which depict the composer's own views of the glorious, sprawling nature of his native wilderness and its indigenous people.

*** a suite - arranged and conducted by Andre Kostelanetz - had previously been recorded by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in 1974.