Tombeau for a savage artisan: in search of references in

Fernando. Lopes-Graça’s woodwind quintet O Túmulo de

Villa-Lobos

Guilhermina Lopes
Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Brazil/
CESEM, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal
lopes.guilhermina@gmail.com

Biography. Guilhermina Lopes is a postdoctoral fellow at Instituto de Estudos Brasileiros (Institute of

Brazilian Studies) in the University of São Paulo, now working on Mário de Andrade and Fernando Lopes-
Graça’s musical journalism. In 2018 she obtained her PhD at the State University of Campinas, with a
dissertation on Lopes-Graça’s musical works on Brazilian themes. From September 2015 to July 2016, she
did a PDSE-CAPES research internship at CESEM, where she now is a collaborator researcher. She is
assistant editor of the journal Música e Cultura, from the Brazilian Association for Ethnomusicology
(ABET).

Abstract. Spontaneity and irrationality have been prominent words in many narratives concerning Heitor
Villa-Lobos’ biography and style. The rhapsodic character of some works, with cumulative references to
distinct cultural elements, frequent ostinati and rhythmic modulations are often associated to the mentioned
characteristics. His Bachianas Brasileiras, however, are treated as a mark of a neoclassical phase,
characterized by macro and microstructural references to baroque music, mixed with elements of Brazilian
traditional genres, resulting in more concise pieces. In 1970, Fernando Lopes-Graça wrote the wind quintet
O Túmulo de Villa-Lobos. Along with the title, its structure of movements alternating meditative and dance
character allude to the baroque genre tombeau. Graça himself said, in an article, that Villa-Lobos
“composed with the naivety of a primitive”. Nevertheless, he could create a more nuanced portrait of the
honored musician, emphasizing his artfulness in musical aspects normally associated to refinement and
rationality – such as counterpoint and timber combination.

Keywords: Fernando Lopes-Graça; O Túmulo de Villa-Lobos; primitivism

O Túmulo de Villa-Lobos, a Woodwind quintet by Portuguese composer

Fernando Lopes-Graça, was finished in 1970 and dedicated to the American ensemble
Pacific Arts Woodwind Quintet (Caryl Scott, flute, Daniel Gundlach, oboe, William
Dominik, clarinet, George Nemeth, French horn, Donald Da Grade, bassoon). The theme
choice is probably related to the commemoration, in the previous year, of the 10th
anniversary of the composer’s death (1959-1969). In a letter to Lopes-Graça written in
1965, Brazilian composer César Guerra-Peixe recommends him the wind ensemble
Quinteto Villa-Lobos, possibly the first intended addressee of the work, which was
dedicated to the ensemble-in-residence in the University of Pacific, in Stockton, California in
19721. Per both catalogues of Lopes-Graça’s works (Cascudo, 1997; Silva, 2009: 215) its

1
Letters from William Dominik to the composer indicate that the ensemble had first received Lopes-
Graça’s other quintet [Sete Lembranças para Vieira da Silva, composed in 1966] and performed it in March
1972. In a letter written in April 1972, Dominik asked Lopes-Graça if he had other works for the same
instrumentation. In June, he thanks Graça for the new composition and informs the intention to include it
in the next season.
first audition took place in Cinema Tivoli, in Lisbon, in June 28th,1973, in a Juventude
Musical Portuguesa concert, directed by Silva Dionísio. The performers were Hélder
Ribeiro, flute, Caldeira Lopes, oboe, Agostinho Romero, clarinet, Mendes do Carmo,
French Horn and Jacinto Moniz, bassoon.
In this paper, I aim to present the trajectory of an analysis, still in progress2, that
started not from the “text” of the work (its score or recording), but from its paratext, that
is, in the words of the creator of the term, Gérard Genette (1987:3), “an ensemble of
productions, verbal or non-verbal, that surround and prolongate the text to present it and
to make it present”. I start, more specifically, from the title.
Let’s begin with the Portuguese word túmulo, that means “tomb” or “grave” in
English. It suggests a reference to the Tombeau (that means “tomb” in French), a baroque
genre that consists of an instrumental piece or group of pieces in the character of a lament,
commemorating the death of a master or notable personality. According to Edmundo
Hora (2009), it is connected to the lute music. The earliest example seems to be the
Tombeau de Mezangeau (1638) by Ennemond Gaultier (c.1575-1651), that has the form
of an Allemande. In France, the genre was strongly influenced by literary models,
particularly memorial poems that were popular in the XVIth and XVIIth centuries. We
can mention famous baroque Tombeaux as the Tombeau fait à Paris sur la mort de
Monsieur Blancrocher, for harpsichord, by Johann Jakob Froberger, also written in the
form of an Allemande, but with the instruction of playing without observing the measure,
the Tombeau de Chambonnières, by D’Anglebert, in the form of a Gaillarde or the
Tombeau de Sainte-Colombe, for bass viol, by Marin Marais, in the manner of a fantaisie.
There are also famous 20th Century re-readings of the genre, as the Tombeau de
Debussy, a collective work published in 1920 in the Revue musicale, containing pieces in
one movement each for piano, guitar solo and several chamber formations by different
composers as Dukas, de Falla, Bartók, Satie, Ravel and Stravinsky. The latter is a piano
reduction of the Symphonies d’instruments à vent, originally composed for an ensemble
of brass and wind instruments. This work may have been a reference in Lopes-Graça’s
development of O Túmulo, beginning with the similarity of instrumentation and the
presence, in both works, of solemn/choral and humorous/dance-like moments3.
We should consider also Le Tombeau de Couperin, by Maurice Ravel, first
written for piano solo in 1917, in six movements, all of them alluding to baroque forms:
Prelude, Fugue, Forlane, Rigaudon, Menuet and Toccata. In 1919, only the dance forms
(plus the Prélude) were orchestrated by the composer. This suite-like version became one
of his most popular works.
Lopes Graça’s choice and disposal of movements in his “Tombeau” seems to
combine references to the meditative character of the baroque tombeaux and the suite
character of its most famous re-reading. The eleven movements are organized in a
symmetrical way: The last movement, Poslúdio, mostly homophonic, solemn, as a

2
A later and more complete version of this analysis can be found in my PhD. Dissertation (Lopes, 2018).
3
I thank Professor Paulo Ferreira de Castro for pointing out, during the presentation of this paper, the
circumstance and instrumentation similarities between the two works and the possibility of Stravinsky’s
Symphonies being a reference for the composition of O Túmulo. This question was developed in more detail
in Lopes, 2018.
 chorale, is based on the same traditional melody that the more humorous first movement,
Prelúdio: Iemanjá Otô, a candomblé (afro-Brazilian religious) song collected in Bahia
by Brazilian composer Camargo Guarnieri. There are four meditations, intercalated with
movements based on traditional Brazilian genres.
All of them, as Iemanjá Otô, were extracted from the compilation Música Popular
Brasileña (1947), by Brazilian folklorist Oneyda Alvarenga. Although they allude to
folkloric genres, Lopes-Graça gave to these movements more generic titles that don’t
refer directly to specific manifestations. The movements are developed from fragments
of the original melodies, whose titles are not indicated in any place of the score. In the
following table, I indicate them Fragments of Iemanjá Otô are also quoted in all
meditations.

Table 1: structure of movements and folkloric themes in O Túmulo de Villa-Lobos

Movement Folkloric Melody Genre/Context State

Prelúdio Iemanjá Otô Ponto de candomblé Bahia

Ritual Eu bem que te Canto de pajelança Maranhão

disse, ó mamãe

Meditação Primeira Iemanjá Otô Ponto de candomblé Bahia

Pastoril Seu presidente, Reisado (do Zé do Vale) Bahia

meu dinheiro vale

Meditação Segunda Iemanjá Otô Ponto de candomblé Bahia

Baile Gigante/Oh, minha Rancho de boi de S. Rio Grande do

iaiá de ouro Gonçalo/Bumba meu boi Norte/Pernambuco

Meditação terceira Iemanjá Otô Ponto de candomblé Bahia

Acalanto com três Nigue nigue ninhas Acalanto Paraíba

variações

Meditação quarta Iemanjá Otô Ponto de candomblé Bahia