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Olha a Rosa Amarela

Composer:	Villa-Lobos (1887-1959)	Suppliers:
Editor:	Geoff Grainger	Quartet:	Tenor/Tenor/Bass/Bass
Publisher:	Ditty Box Enterprises	Publication:	DBE 063
MP3:	Audio file information

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Purchasing information Notice for leaders/bass players

In the 1890s Brazil was very much enchanted with French music and fashions which dominated social life, the songs and dances being performed at musical parties. These songs were eventually adapted and sang by mothers and nannies to children in the course of bringing them up. The children quickly picked this up and changed the songs into a new musical form know as cantigas. This recorder adaptation is based on his four-part setting of one such cantiga, the Brazilian lullaby Ohla a Rosa Amarela. The original lyrics were:

Olha a Rosa amarela, Rosa
Tao Formosa, tao bela, Rosa
Olha a Rosa amarela, Rosa
Tao Formosa, tao bela, Rosa

Iá-iá meu lenço, ô Iá-iá
Para me enxugar, ô Iá-iá
Esta despedida, ô Iá-iá
Já me fez chorar, ô Iá-iá

This beautiful short piece should be played softly at a moderate tempo in keeping with the spirit of a lullaby. If the quartet is lucky enough to have a singer in its midst then this piece could be repeated three times, whereby the 1st tenor sings the lullaby instead of playing during the 2nd repeat.

"Olha a Rosa Amarela" has been recorded by:
 Midi Ragtime Recorder Ensemble on "Recorder Ragtime: Curiosities"