Two friends: Villa-Lobos & Edgard Varèse in a photo from the Museu Villa-Lobos photo archive. They’re at a reception at the home of Consul General Dora Vasconcelos, following a New York Philharmonic concert at Carnegie Hall, March 29, 1957. Heitor and Edgard go way back; they were close friends in Paris in the 1920s.

From the Museu Villa-Lobos photo archive, this notice of a concert in Paris on April 23, 1952. Anna Stella Schic plays the 2nd Piano Concerto, & Villa-Lobos conducts. Also with Bachianas Brasileiras no. 7. the symphonic poem Erosion and Choros no. 6. A very fine programme!

Later that year, in June, Villa conducted the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in a concert in Tel Aviv that also included the 2nd Concerto and Choros no. 6. I’m not sure if Schic was along on that tour; she was a very close friend of Heitor & Mindinha.

Another inscribed photo from the Museu Villa-Lobos. Igor Stravinsky writes:

“A Heitor Villa-Lobos avec mes ? cordieles I. Stravinsky Nov 44 Hollywood”

Villa-Lobos was in Los Angeles that month, on his very first visit to the United States. On November 19 he conducted his own music with the Janssen Symphony Orchestra.

From the Museu Villa-Lobos photo archive, this inscribed photo to Villa from Pablo Casals:

“A Heitor Villa Lobos -  avec mon amitié à l’homme et mon admiration au grand musicien, Pablo Casals Xalapa, Janvier 1959″

From one cellist to another! 

This was less than a year before Villa’s death. Casals was 9 years older than the composer, but lived 13 more years; he died at 96.

Another remarkable photograph from the Museu Villa-Lobos:

In August 1941, Villa-Lobos presents a map of Brazil to a special visitor. It’s Walt Disney, in Rio as part of the “Good Neighbor Policy”, designed to keep Latin America away from the influence of the Axis powers. Walt had a number of meetings with Villa, but unfortunately the two couldn’t put together something they could both work on.

A very cool photograph from the collection of the Museu Villa-Lobos:

Villa-Lobos and Arminda with employees of SEMA, the Superintendence of Musical and Artistic Education, the Rio de Janeiro city ​​government agency responsible for the formulation and execution of public music education policies. Of this group, I recognized a number of names, including José Vieira Brandão and João Pernambuco. This is from c. 1935-40.

Don’t touch that dial, Heitor!

A great photo from 1958, from the photo archives at the Museu Villa-Lobos website.

Villa-Lobos & Arminda arrive in Paris, via Panair do Brasil. No date for this photo from the Museu Villa-Lobos, but it looks like it’s from the early to mid-1950s.

Villa takes a nap. He’s with the singer Annette Celine, daughter of the pianist Felicja Blumental.

Another great photo from the Museu Villa-Lobos.

Heitor Villa-Lobos conducts the OSN in Lisbon, June 25, 1952. This concert included the premiere performance of Villa’s Ouverture de L’Homme Tel, written earlier that year in Paris.

This concert took place three days before I was born!

Photo: from the Museu Villa-Lobos website.

The Houston-based Kinetic Ensemble play Bachianas Brasileiras no. 9. This is from a May 2019 concert.

This review of a 1927 Villa-Lobos concert at the Salle Gaveau in Paris is by Florent Schmitt. Most composers go a lifetime without a critic calling them a “three-fourth god with incandescent eyes and teeth of crocodile.”

Canção do Poeta do Século XVIII, a lovely song by Villa-Lobos, sung by Fernando Portari, with Paula da Matta at the piano.

Recorded at the 54th Villa-Lobos Festival, Rio de Janeiro, 2016 

Thanks to Rodrigo Roderico for this!           

Villa-Lobos & Arminda hanging out at the Alrae Hotel, their New York residence, in 1959. It’s now the Hôtel Plaza Athénée, on East 64th Street. As always, a lovely couple.

Photo: Museu Villa-Lobos

A 1956 portrait of Heitor Villa-Lobos by Studio Harcourt in Paris. Their distinctive style, combining formality with a touch of glamour, was a good match for this world-famous composer who almost always made the best of his photo ops. Studio Harcourt continues to do what they do best today!

The Second Piano Concerto of Villa-Lobos, written in 1948, played by Fernando Lopes with the Orquestra Sinfônica Municipal de Campinas (OSMC), conducted by Benito Juarez. OK, it’s not The Emperor, but I find this music quite charming!

From Quinta Essentia Quartet, Brazilian music for recorders. With some very clever Villa-Lobos arrangements.

https://amzn.to/2vfjBp7