String Quartet No. 16 (Villa-Lobos)

String Quartet No. 16 is the penultimate of seventeen quartets by the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos. Villa-Lobos composed his Sixteenth Quartet in Paris in 1955.

It was first performed by the Rio de Janeiro String Quartet (also known as the Iacovino Quartet) on 3 September 1958 in Rio de Janeiro.^[1] The first British performance was given at the College of Further Education Hall, as part of the Bromsgrove Festival of Music, on 25 February 1964.^[2]^[1]

A typical performance lasts approximately 20 minutes.

The quartet consists of the traditional four movements:

Allegro non troppo
Molto andante (quasi Adagio)
Vivace (Scherzo)
Molto allegro

For its voice leading and tonal balance, the Sixteenth Quartet is regarded as one of the composer's best, particularly the first movement.^[3]

Discography

Chronological, by date of recording.

Villa-Lobos: String Quartet No. 16; Radamés Gnattali: Four Nocturnes, for piano and string quartet; José Vieira Brandão, Miniatura; César Guerra-Peixe: String Quartet No. 2. Quarteto Brasileiro (Santino Parpinelli and Jacques Nirenberg, violins; Henrique Nirenberg, viola; Eugen Ranevsky, cello). LP recording. CBS 60041. Brazil: CBS, 1966. Reissued on CD as Brazilian String Quartet. 1 disc: digital, 12 cm, stereo. Albany TROY420. Albany, NY: Albany Records, 2000.
Villa-Lobos Concurso Internacional de Quarteto de Cordas, 1966. Quartet No. 11 (Quarteto Mario Andrade), Quartet No. 16 (Quarteto Rio de Janeiro). Recorded live at Sala Cecília Meireles, Rio de Janeiro. LP recording, 1 disc: 12 in., 33⅓ rpm, stereo. Museu Villa-Lobos MEC/DAC/MVL-013. Disco é cultura. Rio de Janeiro: Tapecar Gravações, 1975.
Heitor. Villa-Lobos: String Quart No. 16; Henrique Oswald: Quarteto Brasileiro in E Minor, Op. 39. Quarteto Brasileiro da UFRJ. LP recording, 1 disc: analog, 33⅓ rpm, 12 in., stereo. CBS 160174. [S.l.]: CBS, 1971.
Concurso Internacional de Quarteto de Cordas (1977: Rio de Janeiro). Heitor Villa-Lobos: String Quartets Nos. 16 and 17. Quarteto de Cuerdas de la Universidad Nacional de La Plata; Audubon Quartet. Recorded live at the Sala Cecília Meireles, Rio de Janeiro. LP recording, 1 sound disc: analog, 33⅓ rpm, 12 in. Tapecar MEC/DAC/CFC/MVL 020. Rio de Janeiro: Tapecar Gravações, 1977.
Villa-Lobos: Quatuors a Cordes Nos. 15/16/17. Quatuor Bessler-Reis (Bernardo Bessler, Michel Bessler, violins; Marie-Christine Springuel, viola; Alceu Reis, cello). Recorded at Studios Master in Rio de Janeiro, August–November 1988. CD recording, 1 disc: digital, 12 cm, stereo. Le Chant du Monde LDC 278 948. [S.l.]: [S.n.], 1989.
- Also issued as part of Villa-Lobos: Os 17 quartetos de cordas / The 17 String Quartets. Quarteto Bessler-Reis and Quarteto Amazônia. CD recording, 6 sound discs: digital, 12 cm, stereo. Kuarup Discos KCX-1001 (KCD 045, M-KCD-034, KCD 080/1, KCD-051, KCD 042). Rio de Janeiro: Kuarup Discos, 1996.
Heitor Villa-Lobos: String Quartets Nos. 11, 16 and 17. Danubius Quartet (Judit Tóth and Adél Miklós, violins; Cecilia Bodolai, viola; Ilona Wibli, cello). Recorded at the Hungaroton Studios in Budapest, 15–16 October 1990, 28–30 January, and 11–15 February 1991. CD recording, 1 disc: digital, 12 cm, stereo. Marco Polo 8.223390. A co-production with Records International. Germany: HH International, Ltd., 1992.
Villa-Lobos: String Quartets, Volume 4. Quartets Nos. 2, 12, 16. Cuarteto Latinoamericano (Saúl Bitrán, Arón Bitrán, violins; Javier Montiel, viola; Alvaro Bitrán, cello). Recorded at the Sala Blas Galindo of the Centro Nacional de las Artes in Mexico City, November and December 1998. Music of Latin American Masters. CD recording, 1 disc: digital, 12 cm, stereo. Dorian DOR-93179. Troy, NY: Dorian Recordings, 1998.
- Reissued as part of Heitor Villa-Lobos: The Complete String Quartets. 6 CDs + 1 DVD with a performance of Quartet No. 1 and interview with the Cuarteto Latinoamericano. Dorian Sono Luminus. DSL-90904. Winchester, VA: Sono Luminus, 2009.
- Also reissued (without the DVD) on Brilliant Classics 6634.

v t e Heitor Villa-Lobos
List of compositions
Opera	Magdalena: a Musical Adventure Yerma
Orchestral works	Chôros No. 6 Chôros No. 8 Chôros No. 9 Chôros No. 10 Chôros No. 11 Chôros No. 12 Chôros No. 13 Chôros No. 14 Symphony No. 1 (The Unforeseen) Symphony No. 2 (Ascension) Symphony No. 3 (War) Symphony No. 4 (Victory) Symphony No. 5 (Peace) Symphony No. 6 (On the Outline of the Mountains of Brazil) Symphony No. 7 (Peace Odyssey) Symphony No. 8 Symphony No. 9 Symphony No. 10 (Sumé, Father of Fathers: Amerindian Symphony with Chorus) Symphony No. 11 Symphony No. 12 Uirapuru
Concertante	Cello Concerto No. 1 Cello Concerto No. 2 Fantasia for saxophone, three horns, and strings Guitar Concerto Piano Concerto No. 1 Piano Concerto No. 2 Piano Concerto No. 3 Piano Concerto No. 4 Piano Concerto No. 5 Momoprecoce
Chamber music	Nonet Miniaturas Modinhas e canções String Quartet No. 1 String Quartet No. 2 String Quartet No. 3 String Quartet No. 4 String Quartet No. 5 String Quartet No. 6 String Quartet No. 7 String Quartet No. 8 String Quartet No. 9 String Quartet No. 10 String Quartet No. 11 String Quartet No. 12 String Quartet No. 13 String Quartet No. 14 String Quartet No. 15 String Quartet No. 16 String Quartet No. 17
Piano works	A prole do bebe Rudepoêma
Works for guitar solo	Chôros No. 1 Étude No. 1 Étude No. 2 Étude No. 3 Étude No. 4 Étude No. 5 Étude No. 6 Étude No. 7 Étude No. 8 Étude No. 9 Étude No. 10 Étude No. 11 Étude No. 12 Prelude No. 1 in E minor Prelude No. 2 in E major Prelude No. 3 in A minor Prelude No. 4 in E minor Prelude No. 5 in D major Suite populaire brésilienne
Other compositions	Bachianas Brasileiras Introdução aos Chôros Chôros No. 2 Chôros No. 3 Chôros No. 4 Chôros No. 5 Chôros No. 7 Chôros bis Quinteto (em forma de chôros) The Little Train of the Caipira
Film score	Green Mansions
Related articles	Modern classical guitar Music of Brazil
Category

String Quartet No. 16 (Villa-Lobos)

Discography

Filmography

References

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