Étude No. 1 (Villa-Lobos)
| Étude No. 1 | |
|---|---|
| Étude by Heitor Villa-Lobos | |
.jpg) Heitor Villa-Lobos | |
| Key | E minor |
| Catalogue | W235 |
| Form | through-composed |
| Composed | 1928: Paris |
| Dedication | Andrés Segovia |
| Published | 1953: Paris |
| Publisher | Max Eschig |
| Recorded | 27 June 1949 Andrés Segovia (issued on Villa-Lobos: Two Studies [Nos. 1 and 8]. 1 disc, 78rpm, 12 inch, monaural. Columbia L.X. 1229 (matrix nos. CAX 10567; CAX 10570). England: Columbia Records. |
| Duration | 2 mins. |
| Movements | 1 |
| Scoring |
|
| Premiere | |
| Date | 5 March 1947: |
| Location | Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachusetts |
| Performers | Andrés Segovia, guitar |
Heitor Villa-Lobos's Étude No. 1, part of his 12 Studies for Guitar, was first published by Max Eschig, Paris, in 1953.
History
The first public performance of this étude (together with those of Études 7 and 8) was given by Andrés Segovia on 5 March 1947 at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts (Villa-Lobos, sua obra 2009, 152).
Structure
The piece is in E minor and is marked Allegro non troppo. A strong presence of J. S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier suggests a miniature Bachianas Brasileiras (Santos 1985, 22).
The tempo (Allegro non troppo) can be misinterpreted as a fast, lively tempo, but its correct definition is "Fast, but not too fast."
Analysis
Étude No. 1 is an arpeggio study focusing on right-hand technique (Santos 1985, 22), but includes challenging left hand chord patterns. The same right-hand pattern is used through most of the piece while the left hand moves from open positions to capoed positions up the neck. In the 24th measure, there is a break from the right-hand pattern and a descending line leads back into the fixed pattern we see mostly throughout the étude. In measure 32, 3 bars from the end, harmonics are used to lead into the fermata held on an E. In a Lento tempo, there is a sweep into an A9 chord and in the last bar there is a sweep into an E chord with a B harmonic attached.
References
- Santos, Turibio. 1985. Heitor Villa-Lobos and the Guitar, translated by Victoria Ford and Graham Wade. Gurtnacloona, Bantry: Wise Owl Music.
- Villa-Lobos, sua obra. 2009. Version 1.0. MinC / IBRAM, and the Museu Villa-Lobos. Based on the third edition, 1989.
Further reading
- Wright, Simon. 1992. Villa-Lobos. Oxford Studies of Composers. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-315476-5 (cloth); ISBN 0-19-315475-7 (pbk).
