O Canto do Cisne Negro (Song of the Black Swan)

About this piece

Villa-Lobos drew O Canto do Cisne Negro from his symphonic poem Naufrágio de Kleônicos (W111). The 1917 first edition by Casa Arthur Napoleão in Rio de Janeiro is headed "Poema – Ballo mímico … Extraído do Naufrágio de Klionikos … (Rio, 1917)" and was written for "Violino ou Violoncello" with piano (catalogued as W122 for cello and W123 for violin). It is a short, single elegy marked Adagio non troppo: the piano keeps up a rippling, arpeggiated A-minor accompaniment marked "sempre ondulando" throughout, under a long-breathed, molto espressivo cello melody. Alfred's listing for the Faber collection Cello World calls it Villa-Lobos's "rippling Song of the Black Swan." It appears on the ABRSM Grade 6 cello list. It has been recorded by Steven Isserlis with Thomas Adès, Julian Lloyd Webber with John Lenehan, and Antonio Meneses. The cello part appears in Steven Isserlis's Cello World (Faber), Julian Lloyd Webber's Cello Song (Chester) and a separate LudwigMasters edition edited by Emilio Colón, and a free typeset cello part edited by Bruno Lima is on IMSLP.

Technical overview

A single movement of about three minutes (roughly 34 bars), Adagio non troppo in A minor, in common time. The cello part lies high and is written in treble clef (tenor clef in the LudwigMasters edition). It spans about A3–C5, so it needs secure upper neck positions on the A string, reaching to the edge of thumb position. Other demands are expressive grace-note glissandi into phrases, long legato lines with sf swells, and a sustained morrendo ending; the piano carries continuous arpeggios.

Technical focus

• A String Notes
• Shifting
• Legato
• 2 Note Slurs
• 3 Note Slurs
• 4 Note Slurs
• Dynamics
• Hairpin Dynamics
• Rubato