1958
Life
- Villa-Lobos in Paris: "Visiting Villa-Lobos at the Hotel Bedford in Paris in May 1958, we found ourselves in the presence of a man of typically Brazilian cordiality who knew at once how to set his companions at ease." - Pierre Vidal, from his notes to Villa-Lobos par lui-même.
- Inter-American Music Festival in Washington, where String Quartet #15 and Symphony #12 were premiered. The Julliard String Quartet concert at the Library of Congress & the NSO concerts are pictured below (from the Guillermo Espinosa collection at the Latin American Music Centre).
- Villa-Lobos in Hollywood - & see this post at The Villa-Lobos Magazine
- Villa-Lobos receives an honourary doctorate from New York University on Dec. 3rd - "5 Brazilians get honors at NYU", NY Times, Dec. 4, 1958, p. 17. His new work Bendita Sabedoria is played at the reception at Vanderbilt Hall.
Works
- A Menina das Nuvens - Girl in the clouds, opera (Max Eschig)
- Bendita sabedoria (Max Eschig)
- Fantasia Concertante for an orchestra of cellos (Max Eschig). First performance with The Violoncello Society (Villa-Lobos conducting) at the Town Hall, New York, in December, 1958. Dedicated to and written for the Society. This piece calls for an orchestra of 32 cellos "na minimo". We need a modern recording of this!
- Magnificat Alleluia (Max Eschig)
- Sailing Boats, for voice and orchestra (Robbins)
- Songs of the Tropical Forest
- Fantasia em Três Movimentos
- Forest of the Amazon, for orchestra, solo soprano and male choir (P. Robbins). First performance November 21, 1969, in Rio's Teatro Municipal. This is based on the Green Mansions soundtrack.
- Francette et Pia (orchestration of the piano work)
- Veleiros
[picture to the right] Villa-Lobos and Mindinha arrive in New York in 1958. A picture from the Museu Villa-Lobos (from the amazing TVCultura Villa-Lobos site).
The World
- Death of Villa's close friend, the French composer Florent Schmitt
- Death of Ralph Vaughan Williams
- Brazil beats Sweden to win the World Cup
- The beginning of Bossa Nova
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