ritten in 1917, "Uirapuru" is one of the first masterpieces of Villa-Lobos, and inaugurated a typically Villa-Lobos orchestral language. The score portrays the atmosphere of the Brazilian jungle and its natural inhabitants, the Indians, with an impressive richness of detail. The story line which served as the basis for this symphonic poem is by Villa-Lobos himself, and tells the story of a bird, the uirapiru (in Indian mythology considered the god of love) who turns into a handsome Indian, desired by all the maidens who cross his path. One jealous Indian, unable to stand all the adoration heaped upon the uirapuru slays him with his bow and arrow. He thereupon turns back into a bird, but becomes invisible, and we can only hear his song which disappears into the silence of the forest.
ritten in 1917, "Uirapuru" is one of the first masterpieces of Villa-Lobos, and inaugurated a typically Villa-Lobos orchestral language. The score portrays the atmosphere of the Brazilian jungle and its natural inhabitants, the Indians, with an impressive richness of detail. The story line which served as the basis for this symphonic poem is by Villa-Lobos himself, and tells the story of a bird, the uirapiru (in Indian mythology considered the god of love) who turns into a handsome Indian, desired by all the maidens who cross his path. One jealous Indian, unable to stand all the adoration heaped upon the uirapuru slays him with his bow and arrow. He thereupon turns back into a bird, but becomes invisible, and we can only hear his song which disappears into the silence of the forest.
