Heitor Villa-Lobos was, and still is, Brazil’s national musician. Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1887, he died there in 1959. Omnivorous as few composers before or after him, he travelled the length and breadth of his vast country to absorb all its styles of folk music. He wrote numerous orchestral, chamber, instrumental and vocal works. His music was influenced by both Brazilian folk music and by stylistic elements from the European classical tradition, as exemplified by his Bachianas brasileiras ("Brazilian Bach-pieces").