Heitor Villa-Lobos wrote three sets of short piano pieces called Prole do bebê, or Baby's Family. This first one was composed the year Villa-Lobos met pianist Artur Rubinstein. The pianist was one of the composer's most important early champions, who thrilled audiences with O Polichinelo.

The "family" in this suite is Baby's collection of dolls of various materials. The second suite, Prole do bebê No. 2 (Os bichinos), which appeared in 1921, concerns Baby's toy animals made of various materials. Prole do bebê No. 3 (Esportes) is a 1926 composition concerned with Baby's games, and is said to have been lost.

The eight dolls in this suite are symbolic of the racial diversity of Brazil. Villa-Lobos treats the racial or symbolic identity of each doll as its name, and, except in one instance (the last number), attaches a diminutive. This carries a sense of sweetness and tenderness in Portuguese. The suite is dedicated to the composer's wife, and it is said that Villa-Lobos was inspired by listening to her play Schumann's Kinderszenen and Album for the Young on piano.

While this music evokes childhood as well as anyone has since Schumann, it is by no means children's music; it is difficult, often virtuosic, piano music.

1. "Branquinha—A boneca de louça (Whitey, the china doll)." The music is gentle and innocent, with a delicate feeling, particularly in the final sonority, which suggests the ringing sound of porcelain.

2. "Moreninha—A boneca de massa (Browny, the papier-mâché doll)." This lively piece is closer to Debussy or Ravel in sound than the opening piece, with a playful melody over rapid sixteenth-note figures that keep the piece moving.

3. "Caboclinha—A boneca de barro (Little Native Brazilian, the clay doll)." Fittingly, the doll that is made of the very earth of the land depicts a Brazilian native or part native. The kind of syncopated melody that Villa-Lobos often uses for his pictures of interior Brazil appears here.

4. "Mulatinha—A boneca de borracha (Little Mulatto, the rubber doll)." The somewhat wistful melody of this piece is expressed in light playful rhythms that are fittingly elastic.

5. "Negrinha—A boneca de pau (Negretta or Little Black, the wooden doll)." This is one of the fastest movements of the set, full of rapidly repeated notes, but with a charmingly simple melody that emerges from that accompaniment most clearly before the end.

6. "A Pobrezinha—A boneca de trapo (The Little Poor One, the patch-work doll)." This quiet piece in restrained colors is the most touching movement, giving the poor doll beauty and dignity of her own.

7. "O Polichinelo (Punch)." No material is specified here; this is presumably an imported Italian doll. The composer encouraged Rubinstein to use it as an encore by authorizing a repeat and adding a rapid glissando at the end.

8. "A Bruxa—A boneca de pano (Witch, the rag doll)." Debussy's whole-tone scale casts an aura of magic over this rapid work, another excellent display piece.

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