Heitor Villa-Lobos

Brazil, 1905–1959

Brazilian composer whose Bachianas Brasileiras applied Baroque contrapuntal procedures to Brazilian folk material, and who wrote extensively for guitar.

MusicRoots documents 2 artists who influenced Heitor Villa-Lobos and 2 artists Heitor Villa-Lobos influenced in turn. Every connection cites a published source.

Who influenced Heitor Villa-Lobos?

• Johann Sebastian Bach — Villa-Lobos personally named his major cycle 'Bachianas Brasileiras' after Bach, explaining it as a direct wish to unite his counterpoint with Brazilian folklore.
• Claude Debussy — Debussy was the harmonic and colouristic model that shaped Villa-Lobos's formative period in Paris.

Which artists did Heitor Villa-Lobos influence?

• Antonio Carlos Jobim — Villa-Lobos showed Jobim how European technique and Brazilian material could be one music rather than two.
• Carlos Chávez — Villa-Lobos was the Latin American contemporary blazing a parallel path of fusing European modernism with national folklore.