Preces sem palavras
Preces sem palavras is #23 in the 1952 collection Musica Sacra, vol. 1
Five-part male a cappella choir
Buy from Cantus Quercus Press:
CQ2003 Préces Sem Palavras (Prayers Without Words), TTBarBarB, $1.65
For 5-part male choir (two tenors, two baritones, bass), a cappella. Composed in 1931, out-of-print for nearly 50 years, and now available in octavo for the first time. Approx. 3'0" duration. Vocalese text. "Villa-Lobos has added to the imagery of prayer with this piece. No gentle ascending incense smoke, but rather the whoosh of a fireworks rocket streaking toward the sky, marks the cadence of this wordless, but not inarticulate orison, which may owe more to indigenous native practice than to Christian liturgy."
As of January 2011, there are only two records of performances of this work, by the SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart, which eventually made it to disc.