String Quartet No. 4 (Villa-Lobos)
Villa-Lobos composed his Fourth Quartet in 1917, in Rio de Janeiro, but the work remained unperformed until 1949, at which time the composer revised the score. This version was premiered by the Borgerth String Quartet (also known as the Carioca Quartet) on 8 October 1949 in Rio de Janeiro. The score is dedicated to Frederico Nascimento Filho. The quartet consists of four movements:
# Allegro con moto 
# Andantino (tranquillo) 
# Scherzo (Allegro vivace) 
# Allegro 
The Fourth Quartet marks the end of Villa-Lobos's early period of exploration of the form. It is somewhat simpler than its three predecessors, and the parts move more independently and expressively. The main theme of the first movement strongly recalls the opening measures of the First and Second Quartets, but the second movement introduces a Brazilian character with a cello melody that avoids the second scale degree, like the Afro-Brazilian Xangô tunes. In order of dates of recording.
History
String Quartet No. 4 is the fourth of seventeen works in the genre by the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, written in 1917 and revised in 1949.