SÍtio Burle Marx, Guaratiba, Rio de Janeiro 

Colóquio internacional 2004

Global Studies: Culture Nature

I Brazilian Music Week in Germany

City of Leichlingen

Department of Culture

School of Music

Music Week:

September 26-30, 1981

in cooperation with the

Brazilian Society of Musicology

supporters:

Brazilian Embassy in Bonn

Brazilian Consulate General in Düsseldorf

Cologne Institute of Musicology

Cologne University of Music

Rhenish School of Music

Saarland University of Music

Inter-American Institute of Musicology (Montevideo)

German-Brazilian Society

Rio de Janeiro Choral Singing Association

Brazilian Folklore Association

Leichlingen established a School of Music that, under Brazilian direction, was open to new musical and pedagogical trends. Among these, those aimed at overcoming conventional repertoires, extra-European cultures, media, and new trends in popular music stood out. The School of Music sought to become an experimental and model center for the application of an inter- and transcultural musical education approach, suitable for the growing cultural plurality in German society.

The School of Music could continue, at an international level, the reflections on an orientation directed towards cultural processes already underway in Brazil. To this end, a biannual Music Week within the Forum would contribute, in which music teachers, instrumentalists, singers, and musicologists would discuss, from multilateral perspectives, the relationships between music research oriented towards cultural processes and Music Education. Instrumental and vocal teaching, as well as the repertoire to be practiced in the School of Music's courses, should be thematically oriented according to the themes respectively addressed in the Forum. Teachers and students would be confronted, in practice, with musical currents from different cultural contexts and their interactions. This procedure should contribute to a broadening of perspectives, the appreciation of cultural diversity, and the overcoming of stereotypes.

Music Week

The Week, as part of the Forum, was introduced on September 25th with a commemorative act at the Julius Pohlig monument, celebrating the bridge then being established between Germany and Brazil. The inaugural session took place in the city auditorium, presided over by Mayor Karl Reul (1922-2015), who highlighted the significance of multilateral perspectives in the musical education of new generations in the face of Europe's socio-cultural transformations with the arrival of immigrants from different countries and the role of media in disseminating music and new ways of life.

Following greetings from diplomatic representatives, the Brazilian Society of Musicology, and the German-Brazilian Society, the theme "Music Pedagogy and Research in Global Processes: Multilateral Relations in an Era of Interactions" was discussed. This was followed by a study by Thomas Freund (1958-2019) entitled On Culture and Art, which highlights the need for a Human Rights-based approach to Cultural Studies, Musicology, and Education.

On September 26th, an exhibition of artworks with Brazilian themes by Luís Antonio de Castro Mendes opened in the foyer of the municipal auditorium. Following this, a multimedia work entitled "Brazil - a country and its music," resulting from the project "Diversity in Musicology and Cultural Studies," conducted during trips to various regions of Brazil in 1979/1980, was presented. The presentation considered aspects of music, culture, and education in the states of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, Bahia, Alagoas, Sergipe, Pernambuco, Paraíba, Rio Grande do Norte, Ceará, Maranhão, Pará, Amazonas, Paraná, Santa Catarina, and Rio Grande do Sul.

On September 27th, under the title "Music of the World," lectures of a historical and ethnomusicological nature were given, considering Brazil within global contexts and its transformations in space and time. One of these exhibitions dealt with the History of Music from the perspective of German-Brazilian relations, highlighting the need for a historiography focused on processes and valuing diversity. It presented a synthesis of the various themes discussed during the Forum on German-Brazilian relations in different historical periods and in various Brazilian regions and contexts.

On September 29th, a concert commemorating the first anniversary of the Brazilian Society of Musicology was held in the municipal chamber music hall. The program consisted, in its first part, of works by Franz Schubert (1797-1829) - Sonata "Arpeggione" in A minor - and by Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959) - Suite Pequena; in the second part, of works by Edino Krieger (1928-) - Seresta (Homage to Villa-Lobos) - and Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) - Sonata in E minor op. 38 - , performed by Matias de Oliveira Pinto (cello) and Huigiong Suh (piano)

On September 30th, the theme "World Music" continued with a presentation on indigenous music and music from groups of African descent in Brazil, given by Tiago de Oliveira Pinto.

October 1st was dedicated to a presentation by students who had studied works by Brazilian composers. The aim of the performance was to highlight and value a repertoire that is often overlooked in Brazilian music schools and ignored by German listeners. As promoted since 1968 by the Center for Musicological Research in São Paulo, this approach, based on processes that transcend borders, also implies transcending the boundaries of classical and popular music.

Under the title "Salon and Popular Music in the Tropics," the concert, conducted by Sueli Bispo-Steden, opened with compositions by Arthur Napoleão (1849-1925), accompanied by commentary on the significance of this pianist, composer, and publisher, born in Portugal and deceased in Brazil. His work *Estrella Chilena*, Op. 73, served as a basis for considerations on the relationship between domestic musical practice and the music of South American countries. This was followed by the polka *Garbosa* by Aurélio Cavalcanti (1874-1915), which presented the current state of research on this pianist and composer. Other composers considered in the program were Luís Júnior with the modinha *A Flor da Pitangueira*, José Leocádio with the choro *Paraquedista*, and Zequinha de Abreu (1880-1935) – *Tico-Tico no Fubá*, *Choro Sapeca* – which was accompanied by expositions on the modinha and choro within their global contexts.

The second part of the concert was dedicated to more recent popular music. German students presented compositions by A. Carlos Jobim (1927-1994) - samba-canção "É preciso dizer Adeus" and "Chega de Saudade" - João Mello (1921-2010) - "Sambou…" - , Roberto Menescal (1937-) - "O telefone" - , Dorival Caymmi (1914-2008) - "Doralice" -, Baden Powell (1937-2000) - "Deixa" -, Chico Buarque de Holanda (1944-) - "Tem mais samba" -, Toquinho (1946-) - "Como dizia o poeta". These composers had been considered in theoretical classes dedicated to choro, samba, and bossa nova in Brazilian popular music according to the current state of studies.

The closing concert of the Music Week consisted of two parts. The first part was dedicated to compositions by Ernst Mahle (1929-) and Osvaldo Lacerda (1927-2011). Performed by the instrumental ensemble of the School of Music under the direction of Inge and Willi Hopstätter. The aesthetic orientation of these composers within the context of didactic literature was considered above all.

The second part was dedicated to questions of 19th-century historical musicology, exemplified by the "Matins of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ for 4 voices and small orchestra" by Father José Maria Xavier (1819-1887), a work printed in Munich in 1885. This work – previously presented in Brazil during the International Symposium on Sacred Music and Brazilian Culture – was now to be performed in the country where it was printed by Germans. The event was prepared in the context of Forum sessions dedicated to the History of Music in Brazil, focusing on processes in global contexts. Among the themes considered, studies of the German presence in 19th-century Brazil and the state of research corresponding to musical relations between Brazil and Germany were highlighted. The significance of a research trip to cities in Minas Gerais undertaken in 1969 by representatives of the Center for Research in Musicology of the New Diffusion was recalled, aimed at developing reflections and studies on the need for a renewal of research through a scientific-cultural orientation directed at processes.

Germany/Brazil and the Christmas Cycle

The work that concluded the Week – José Maria Xavier's Christmas Matins – served to introduce the final sessions of the Germany-Brazil Forum in December. Since it ended during Advent, the themes considered were dedicated to aspects of Christmas cycle traditions in both countries and their educational dimensions. The study began with Gregorian Chant at Christmas, discussed from the perspective of popular traditions and performance practices studied in empirical research in various regions of Brazil. The central interest of the sessions was the traditions of the Christmas cycle in Brazil in parallel with German traditions and their educational implications. These debates revisited a theme addressed in 1971 in Alagoas during Christmas time by representatives of the Brazilian Folklore Association and local researchers.