Rudepoêma

Rudepoêma (Portuguese: [ˌɦudʒipoˈemɐ], Savage Poem) is a composition by Heitor Villa-Lobos. It was written in Rio de Janeiro from 1921 to 1926 and is the largest and most challenging work Villa-Lobos wrote for the solo piano. It is in one continuous movement and runs about 19–20 minutes. The piece has been described (with license) as "Le Sacre du printemps 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, meaning "rude", "coarse", "uncultured", "discourteous", and poema, "poem". However, the score's dedicatee, Arthur Rubinstein, 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 by the composer, and premiered under his baton in Rio de Janeiro on July 15, 1942.