915 was the year when Villa-Lobos first appeared officially as a composer in a series of concerts in Rio de Janeiro. At that time, married to pianist Lucília Guimarães, he earned his living playing cello in orchestras in the theaters and cinemas of Rio while at the same time writing his own music. Newspapers published negative reviews on the modernity of his music. Years later, the composer insisted on explaining:

"I don’t write dissonant pieces to be modern. Absolutely not. The way I write is a cosmic consequence of the studies I’ve done, of the synthesis I’ve arrived at to mirror a Brazilian nature. When I sought to develop my culture, guided by my own instincts and experience, I realized that I could only come to a conclusion of conscious knowledge researching and studying works which, on the surface, were not musical. So my first book was a map of Brazil, the Brazil which I combed through, town by town, state by state, forest by forest, scrutinizing the soul of the land. Then, the character of the people of this land. Then, the natural wonders of this land. I went on, comparing my studies with foreign compositions, and I sought something to support and strengthen my personalism and the inalterability of my ideas.".