Ravinia 2023 Issue 3

Part III. Harriet & Lakshmibai TOGETHER We looked at our hands to see If we were still who we used to be. The sun rose golden o’er the trees, As if in heaven, at last we’re free. Apricot heat-haze, invincible fire, To free our people is our sole desire. For the taste of freedom, the final test, We rise to be the bravest and the best. LAKSHMIBAI I cross the lines of battle … HARRIET I cross the lines of dreams … LAKSHMIBAI I am at war for righteous grievance … HARRIET I am at peace with all. LAKSHMIBAI In death they shall not take me … HARRIET I cannot die but once. LAKSHMIBAI My flames shall rise, escaping fly … HARRIET The Lord shall know my time. LAKSHMIBAI Jaya, jaya, Mahadev … TOGETHER Every great dream begins with a dreamer, The strength, the patience, the passion within. Reach for the stars and change the world: For the taste of freedom, the final test, We rise to be the bravest and the best. Atoto wore sane. Hara, Hara Mahadev! Author’s Note: Lines in italics are derived from quotes from both women. HEITOR VILLA-LOBOS (1887–1959) Chôros No. 10 ( Rasga o Coração ) Scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, alto saxophone, two bassoons and contrabassoon, three horns, two cornets, two trombones, timpani, large field drum, snare drum, side drum, caxambu (Afro- Brazilian single-headed barrel drum), two puita (friction drums), caisse en bois (small and large), reco-reco (scraper; large and small), wood and metal chocalhos (shakers), bass drum, large tam-tam, piano, harp, strings, and chorus Brazilian composer Villa-Lobos created a se- ries of 14 compositions inspired by the chôros , popular urban instrumental serenades that merged European dances—polkas, mazurkas, schottisches, and waltzes—with Afro-Brazil- ian rhythms and popular songs during the 1920s. Remnants of this musical tradition survive in the samba. The majority of Villa- Lobos’s 14 chôros (plus three additional un- numbered chôros ) originated between visits to Paris in 1923–24 and 1926–30. When Villa-Lobos left on his first sojourn, many Brazilian artists were still grappling with the after-effects of the Semana da Arte Moderna of 1922. Held in the artistically pro- gressive city of São Paulo rather than con- servative Rio de Janeiro, this event is widely considered the birth of the modernist artis- tic movement in Brazil. Coinciding with the centenary of Brazil’s independence, the Sem- ana da Arte Moderna offered a forum where artists and speakers debated the relationship between European-inspired modernism and Brazilian nationalism. Organizers devoted one full day to specific art forms: painting and sculpture (February 13), poetry and literature (February 15), and music (February 17). Vil- la-Lobos’s compositions featured prominent- ly on the final day. Villa-Lobos traveled to Paris in June 1923, not to absorb its modernist influences (Igor Stra- vinsky, Sergei Prokofiev, and Darius Milhaud resided in the city) but to promote and pres- ent his recent compositions inspired by Bra- zilian culture. At about this time, Villa-Lobos envisioned a “new form of musical composi- tion” that would embody Brazilian modern- ism for the concert stage—the chôros . Having exhausted his funding, he returned to Brazil by the end of 1924 and began composing. Nine chôros for various solo instruments, in- strumental ensembles, and, occasionally, cho- rus, were completed by the time Villa-Lobos returned to Paris two years later. Villa-Lobos wrote Chôros No. 10 for orches- tra and chorus in 1926 and programmed its premiere on a tribute concert for President Washington Luis given at the Teatro Lírico de Rio de Janeiro on November 11, 1926. The composer conducted the Grand Orquestra da Empresa Viggiani, Coro de Artistas Bra- sileiros, and Deutscher Männerchor in what would be his final performance before leav- ing Brazil a second time for Paris. “This work represents the reaction of a civilized man to stark nature; his contemplation of the valleys of the Amazon, and the land of Mato Grosso and Pará,” Villa-Lobos wrote in his program Heitor Villa-Lobos (ca.1922) notes. “The vastness and majesty of the land- scape enrapture and captivate him. The sky, the waters, the woods, the birds fascinate him. But little by little his humanity asserts itself: there are living people in this land, even though they are savages. Their music is full of nostalgia and of love; their dances are full of rhythm. The Brazilian song ‘Rasga o Coracão’ is heard, and the Brazilian heart beats in uni- son with the Brazilian earth.” Chôros No. 10 is divided very broadly into two large sections. The purely instrumental first section evokes the “primitive” natural world through coloristic percussion, folk-like me- lodic fragments, an actual birdsong identified variously as belonging to the bem-te-vi (great kiskadee) or azulão de mata (blue-black gros- beak), and short, repeated rhythmic patterns. Silence separates this introduction from the expansion of its motives, building steadily from sparse instrumental solos to ffff cho- ral-orchestral chords. Solo bassoon opens the second section with an animated, rhythmic line in preparation for the entrance of the chorus, which sings rapid-fire onomatopoeic sounds. Sopranos rise above these choral vocalizations with a slow-moving rendition of the popular schot- tische “Yára” by Anacleto de Medeiros (1866– 1907), which the basses and baritones con- tinue. (Medeiros composed this rondo-like instrumental dance as a musical tribute to the champion boat at a regatta off the coast of Paquetá Island.) The rhythmic choral singing subsides temporarily for virtuosic solos by cornet and flute/clarinet that highlight signif- icant lines of poetry. The chorus and orches- tra return to full rhythmic form for the final stanza and thrilling conclusion. Catulo da Paixão Cearense (1863–1946), the musician, poet, playwright, and friend of Villa-Lobos, added lyrics to “Yára” after Me- deiros’s death. His new vocal version, entitled “Rasga o Coração” (“Tear Out MyHeart”), was recorded by Mario Pinheiro in 1910 and rose to number 8 on Brazil’s charts two years later. Villa-Lobos evoked the vitality of urban life in Rio de Janeiro by incorporating Medeiros’s melody with Catulo’s lyrics in Chôros No. 10. According to one contemporary account, Ca- tulo attended the first performance and was moved to tears by Villa-Lobos’s setting. Ja-ka-tá ka-ma-ra-já, Ta-ya-pó ka-ma-ra-jó, Ti, Tú, Ti, Tó, Ti, Tú, Ká-yá! Té-ké-ré ki-mé-ré-jé, Uê, tô, cê, tá, tô-rê. Kai-á Ma-ra-cá, Ti Tó Ka-ou-êh! Tó, té, ti, mê, tô-rê, Tá-ya, Tá-ya, Sa-ba-rimba ka-ma-rimba ma-ra-jó, Hu! Hu! Hu! Ká-lú-rú! Ká, Tú, ly, kaou êh … hê … Hy-já, Jé-ki-ri tú-mú-rú-tú-iá, Ah! Ta-pi-tó pa-la-pa-tá, Já-tá-dé-a Já-tá-dé-iá, Se tu queres ver a imensidão do céu e mar, Refletindo a prismatização da luz solar, Rasga o coração, vem te debruçar, Sobre a vastidão do meu penar! Sorve todo o olor que anda a recender pelas espinhosas florações do meu sofrer! Vê se podes ler nas suas pulsações brancas ilusões e o que ele diz no seu gemer e que não pode a ti dizer nas palpitações! Ouve-o brandamente, docemente palpitar. Casto e purpural, num treno vesperal, mais puro que uma cândida vestal! Rasga -o, que hás de ver lá dentro a dor a soluçar Sob o peso de uma cruz de lágrimas, chorar! Anjos a cantar preces divinais, Deus a ritmar seus pobres ais! Rasga que hás de ver! Ah! Ja-ka-tá ka-ma-ra-já, Ta-ya-pó ka-ma-ra-jó, Ti, Tú, Ti, Tó, Ti, Tú, Ká-yá! Té-ké-ré ki-mé-ré-jé, Uê, tô, cê, tá, tô-rê. Kai-á Ma-ra-cá, Ti Tó Ka-ou-êh! Tó, té, ti, mê, tô-rê, Tá-ya, Tá-ya, Sa-ba-rimba ka-ma-rimba ma-ra-jó, Hu! Hu! Hu! Ká-lú-rú! Ká, Tú, ly, kaou êh … hê … Hy-já, Jé-ki-ri tú-mú-rú-tú-iá, Ah! Ta-pi-tó pa-la-pa-tá, Já-tá-dé-a Já-tá-dé-iá, If you wish to see the immensity of sky and sea, reflecting, like prisms, the rays of the sun, tear out my heart, come and lean over, before the vastness of my pain! Inhale all the fragrance that is released by the thorny flowerings of my suffering! See if you can read in its pulsating beats pure illusions, things its sighs convey, and what it cannot tell you in its quivering! Listen as it gently, sweetly trembles. Chaste and violet, in an evening lament, purer than a vestal virgin! Tear it out, you will see the sobbing pain inside, crying under a heavy cross of tears! Angels singing holy prayers, God beating time to its sad woes! Tear it out, you will see! Ah. –Program notes and translations © 2023 Todd E. Sullivan MARIN ALSOP, conductor For Marin Alsop’s biography, see page 45. RAVINIA.ORG • RAVINIA MAGAZINE 33