Home

Ruda

Appleby Catalogue W number: 
W504

Ruda, "Dio d'Amore" = "God of Love"

  1. Os maias
  2. Os aztecas
  3. Os incas
  4. Os marajoaras
  5. La vittoria dell'amore nel tropico
  6. Epilogo

The ballet Ruda was supposed to be performed at La Scala in Milan, but had to wait for a premiere performance until 1954 in Paris with the French National Radio Orchestra.

The work is dedicated to Mindinha.

Year Composed: 

1951

Category: 
Orchestral Works
Instrumentation: 

Large orchestra, with a full complement of Brazilian percussion instruments.

From Lionel Salter's February 1997 review of the Marco Polo disc of Ruda:

"I believe the score includes a part for the Sonovox, but I was unable to detect it in the general melee."

This is the complete listing from Villa-Lobos: Sua Obra (1989):

2pic, 2fl, 2ob, c. ing, 2cl, cl baixo, 2fg, cfg, sax sopranino, sax sop, 4 cor, 4trp, 4trb, tuba, timp, tam-tam, bombo, tambor, tambor picollo, surdo, tambor indiano, coco, matraca, guizos, triangulo, chocalho, reco-reco de madeira e de metal, caixa clara, pratos, pandeiro, xil, cel, vide, solovox, 2hp, pf e cordas.

I'm not at all sure exactly what this solovox might be: perhaps the Hammond Solovox, from the 1940s?  See this post in The Villa-Lobos Magazine for more on this interesting orchestration.

Scores: 

The autograph score (215 pp.) is in the Museu Villa-Lobos.

Recordings: 
Performances: 

The premiere was on 30/08/54 at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris.

This work hasn't shown up in the Villa-Lobos Concerts database yet.