''Rudepoêma'' (, ''Savage Poem'') is a composition by

Heitor Villa-Lobos Heitor Villa-Lobos (March 5, 1887November 17, 1959) was a Brazilian composer, conductor, cellist, and classical guitarist described as "the single most significant creative figure in 20th-century Brazilian art music". Villa-Lobos has become the ...

. It was written in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of the same name, Brazil's List of Brazilian states by population, third-most populous state, and the List of largest citi ...

from 1921 to 1926 and is the largest and most challenging work Villa-Lobos wrote for the solo

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a musica ...

. It is in one continuous movement and runs about 19–20 minutes. The piece has been described (with license) as "''

Le Sacre du printemps , image = Roerich Rite of Spring.jpg , image_size = 350px , caption = Concept design for act 1, part of Nicholas Roerich's designs for Diaghilev's 1913 production of ' , composer = Igor Stravinsky , based_on ...

'' meets the Brazilian jungle". For the title of this work, as he also did for other compositions, such as ''Vidapura'' and ''Momoprecoce'', Villa-Lobos compounded two words together: ''

rude Rudeness (also called effrontery) is a display of actual or perceived disrespect by not complying with the social norms or etiquette of a group or culture. These norms have been established as the essential boundaries of normally accepted beha ...

'', meaning "rude", "coarse", "uncultured", "discourteous", and '' poema'', "poem". However, the score's dedicatee,

Arthur Rubinstein Arthur Rubinstein ( pl, Artur Rubinstein; 28 January 188720 December 1982) was a Polish-American pianist.

, explained, "The 'Rude' of the title did not have the English meaning. In Brazil it meant 'savage'. When I asked him if he considered me a savage pianist, he said excitedly, 'We are both savage! We don't care much for pedantic detail. I compose and you play, off the heart, making the music live, and this is what I hope I expressed in this work'". ''Rudepoêma'' was later

orchestrated Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra (or, more loosely, for any musical ensemble, such as a concert band) or of adapting music composed for another medium for an orchestra. Also called "instrumentation", orch ...

by the composer, and premiered under his baton in Rio de Janeiro on July 15, 1942. The piece was intended as a tonal portrait of the Polish-American pianist Arthur Rubinstein, who premiered the work at the

Salle Gaveau The Salle Gaveau, named after the French piano maker Gaveau, is a classical concert hall in Paris, located at 45-47 rue La Boétie, in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. It is particularly intended for chamber music. Construction The plans for th ...

in Paris on 24 October 1927, on the first of a pair of concerts devoted to Villa-Lobos's compositions. The (Portuguese) dedication of the score to Rubinstein reads, "My true friend, I do not know if I can have fully assimilated your soul with this ''Rudepoema'' ot italicised in the source but I swear with all my heart that I have the impression in my mind of having recorded your temperament and of having mechanically transcribed it on paper, like an intimate

Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...

. Therefore, if I have succeeded, you will be the true author of this work". It is rhapsodic in style and elastic in its structure. It is filled with varied rhythms and dynamic

tempo In musical terminology, tempo ( Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (ofte ...

changes which are meant to portray Rubinstein's brilliant and varied personality. The two main themes of the work are presented at the outset, the first one in the bass register in the left hand, the second answering it in the right hand. Fragments of both themes are clearly audible throughout the composition, which reaches its climax only five bars from the end, with the right hand raining four fortissimo blows on three low notes, C, B, and A.

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Further reading