Heitor Villa‑Lobos’s Vidapura (Missa Oratório), W155, was composed in 1919 as an expanded, orchestral version of his earlier organ‐accompanied Missa Oratória (W154) and premiered in November 1922 in Rio de Janeiro. Structured in the traditional six sections—Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus, and Agnus Dei—it unfolds as a continuous ritual drama lasting roughly 22 minutes.

Musically, Vidapura blends modal harmony and diatonic clarity with subtle chromaticism, reflecting Villa‑Lobos’s synthesis of Western liturgical tradition and Brazilian sensibility. Choral passages range from chant‑like homophony to more rhythmic declamations, interwoven with orchestral episodes that underscore the text’s ritual gravity without resorting to overt Romantic dramatization. The result is a compact but evocative Missa‑Oratório that stands at the crossroads of sacred tradition and early 20th‑century modernism.