The generation of Brazilian artists who came to prominence in the 1900s had to develop a national artistic conscience, and Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887 1959) was the most universally acclaimed of them. Born in Rio de Janeiro, he was the son of an intellectual who taught him to play the cello. After his father s death, young Heitor learned to play the guitar, an instrument associated with the lower ranks of society. In 1906 he embarked on a legendary trip to the north, meeting the humble people and intuitively absorbing their habits and rich musical folklore. Later in life, he would exaggerate facts from this trip, inspired by the scientific expeditions that were taking place at the same time. Back to Rio in 1910, he married a pianist and tried (unsuccessfully) to catch up with his musical education as a serious composer while working as a free-lance musician, playing at the opera house at night and in cafés during the day. His earliest known guitar works, which now comprise the Suite populaire brésilienne, belong to this period.