Intertextuality and Narrativity in Villa-Lobos’s First Symphony (“The Unforeseen”)

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present an analysis of Symphony No. 1 (The Unforeseen) by Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887–1959), from formal and narrative perspective. The work was composed in 1916. Symphony No. 1 is based on a text written by the composer, so it was originally a symphonic poem. The literary narrative is covered by another, of a musical character, structured in a cyclic form according to the method of Vincent d’Indy (1909). The analysis search for points of closure and detachment among literary and musical narratives, according to theories of musical form, like Hepokoski and Darcy (2006), Vande Moortele (2009, 2013), and Stoïanova (2000); and theories of musical narrative advanced by Eero Tarasti (1994) and Byron Almén (2003, 2008), as well musical topic analysis, after Leonard Ratner (1980) Wye Allanbrook (1983), and Raymond Monelle (2000, 2006) among others. My goal is to interpret the musically meaningful aspects resulting from intertextuality between music and text. Intertextuality manifests itself in the musical level, in dialogue with Berlioz, Liszt, Wagner, Franck, Nepomuceno, and Debussy; but it also happens with literary sources, like Dante, Camões, Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Graça Aranha, and Haroldo de Campos.

Keywords: Villa-Lobos; Symphony; Narrativity; Topics theory; Musical analysis; Intertextuality