Symphony No. 4 is a composition by the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, written in 1919. This symphony is subtitled A Vitória (The Victory), while its predecessor and successor are subtitled A Guerra (War) and A Paix (Peace), respectively. It is also the fourth in a cycle of five symphonies in the style of Vincent d'Indy.
Villa-Lobos composed his Fourth Symphony in Rio de Janeiro in 1919, beginning in October, as the second in a trilogy of programmatic symphonies based on arguments by . It was first performed at the Theatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro, together with the Third Symphony, in September 1920 by the Orchestra do Theatro Municipal conducted by the composer.
A recording conducted by the composer lasts just over 30 minutes.
Recordings From 10 to 13 June 1955 Villa-Lobos made a recording of this symphony at the Salle de la Mutualité in Paris with the Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française. 1996, Diemecke, Dorian (dist. Naxos) 1997, St. Clair, CPO 2012, Karabtchevsky, Naxos
Instrumentation The symphony is scored for a large orchestra and brass band.
The orchestra consists of 2 piccolos, 3 flutes, 2 oboes, cor anglais, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, 3 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, tuba, percussion (timpani, cymbals, bass drum, drum, side drum, tam-tam, bells, sistrum, small frame drum, chocalho, sleigh bells, triangle, and xylophone), celesta, 2 harps, piano, and strings. The wind band consists of E clarinet, soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, euphonium, cornets, bugles, horn, 1 or more saxhorns, bass trombone, contrabass trombone in E, contrabass trombone in B, and bass drum. There is also a concertino ensemble made up of E clarinet, soprano, alto, and tenor saxophones, euphonium, small frame drum, triangle, cymbals, and bass drum.
Analysis The work is in four movements:
The Fourth Symphony employs the principle of cyclic form. The main theme of the first movement recurs in all of the following movements, with the aim of providing unity to the whole work. Moreover, themes from Villa-Lobos's Third Symphony are also quoted here, which has sometimes incorrectly been assumed to imply that these two symphonies were originally a single work.
References
Cited sources
Further reading Béhague, Gerard. 1994. Villa-Lobos: The Search for Brazil's Musical Soul. Austin: Institute of Latin American Studies, University of Texas at Austin, 1994. . Salles, Paulo de Tarso. 2009. Villa-Lobos: processos composicionais. Campinas, SP: Editora da Unicamp. .