Villa-Lobos: Prelude No. 5 – In Homage to Social Life (June 23rd) Questions / Suggestions
Hi everyone!
Villa-Lobos is said to have passed an exuberant personality and an infectious sense of humour which enabled him to befriend the most diverse range of people. What better piece to reflect his gregarious nature than his Prelude No. 5 in D major – In Homage to Social Life?
This prelude also encapsulates so many of Villa-Lobos’ characteristic and contrasting musical traits which include a gift for writing passages full of lyricism and at other times virtuosity, always underpinned by a knowledgable and effective use of the guitar’s idiom.
Join me to explore the wealth of musical and technical insights which await to be unveiled in Villa-Lobos’ Prelude No. 5, a work that reminds us of the central place social life occupies in the human condition.
See you there!
Emmanuel
Find the start time in your time zone by clicking the photo or following this event link:
https://app.tonebase.co/guitar/live/player/villa-lobos-prelude-5
We are going to be using this thread to gather suggestions and questions!
- What questions do you have on this topic?
- Any particular area you would like us to focus on?
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Undoubtedly, one of the best lessons I have attended on Tonebase. Highest reccomendation!
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Bill Young Yes, that was outstanding! I only wish he could have spent more time with all of the musicality at the end. That was pure gold flying by at light speed. That piece is my new goal now.
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Bill Young That's very kind of you to say – thank you!
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Eric Phillips Thank you, Eric! Really glad you found the lesson useful. It was great to hear from your email that you've almost completed learning the Prelude. I'll try my best to balance the musical point a little more for the next one:)
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I was only able to catch a few minutes and really enjoyed and NEEDed this. Is it available still?
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Paul Kennedy Yes it is, Paul. Just click on the link above the picture of Villa-Lobos above.
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Eric Phillips Thank you Eric
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Really glad you enjoyed the lesson, Paul!
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Hi Emanuel, I was wishing to replay this lesson but I am unable to download the score and background information. Please let me know how I can do this. Thanks
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Brian Hi Brian. I do have the score with Emmanuel's fingerings. I've attached it below. I highly recommend watching the lesson. It's outstanding.
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Eric Phillips Thank you!
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A belated thank you, Eric , for helping Brian with the annotated score!
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Thank you very much Eric. I definitely intend watching his lesson.
Best
Brian
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Emmanuel A bit late to this but I just watched this and thank you for such a great lesson. Discovered something interesting on measure 11 which you had changed the note. I was reading on a forum on delcamp on this piece and someone said "Laurindo Almeida -- a close friend of Villa Lobos -- advised that the E was an error, and the C# is the correct note. Carlos Barbosa-Lima said the same thing in another masterclass in the early 1990s."
But in one of the original manuscript in the Villa Lobos museum, it shows the C# crossed out and replaced with a E. Not sure who made the change but thought I shared this since you mentioned it in your lesson.
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don Thank you for your insightful comment! I'm so glad to hear you enjoyed the lesson and also fascinated by what you pointed out. I don't recall hearing any of these arguments before and only suggested swapping out the E based on the fact that it seems disproportionately trickier to play that corner than the surrounding passages. Some might even say a bit anti-natural, technically, if one hopes to optimise the legato in the chromatic bass and the consistency of tone in the melody vs accompaniment textures.
That there should be three different sources –one of them being Villa-Lobos' manuscript– pointing in the same direction is exciting to learn. Thank you!
For the sake of providing an alternative argument, I should mention that the unique colours produced by playing a melody on a lower string (such as the 2nd string here) with an accompaniment on open higher strings (the 1st here) –as would result from playing the printed E in the score– could be considered a feature which often appears in V-L's music. Anyone who believes or feels this is the right path and is able to play the position shift without hindering the musical flow should definitely give it a go! At the end of the day, what's most important is that we ourselves as players are fully convinced and committed to what we are executing and are able to pull it off persuasively.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who would be curious to read through Villa-Lobos' manuscript. Do you know where we might be able to access it?
Thanks again for your valuable contribution!
With best wishes, Emmanuel
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Emmanuel Hi Emmanuel, I'm not sure. But the Villa Lobos museum would be my best bet. In the Zigante edition, he mentioned Prelude 5 has the most changes from source materials and the autographed manuscripts and the published manuscript. Measure 11 being one of them. I found a copy online. the last 2 pages on the differences in Prelude 5.
Hope you find this useful.
https://vietnamclassical.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/five-prelude-heitor-villa-lobos.pdf
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