Respecting
culture - Petrobras commitment
Petrobras is proud to present the first of a series of nine score books, part of the project Brazilian Music Archives – Restoration and Dissemination, which forms a hitherto unpublished production of our music starting from the colonial period until the early 20th century. This forms yet another significant project which Petrobras is committed to accomplishing in its role as promoter of projects aiming at rescuing and preserving Brazil's historical, cultural and artistic heritage.
The
project touches the soul of Brazilian musicality. Developed in partnership
with the Fundação Cultural e Educational da Arquidiocese
de Mariana (Cultural and Education Foundation of the Archdiocese of Mariana)
and the Bureau Cultural, the primary
goal of the project is the documentation and dissemination of the collection
from the
Mariana
Museum of Music
(MG). This collection is one of the most significant in
the country, not only due to the volume of works it contains, but also
to the numerous unpublished compositions, which can be found only in the
annals of the Palácio Arquiepiscopal (Archiepiscopal Palace).
The project is to be carried out over three years and includes the recovery and cataloguing of the museum's collection, the selection of inedited compositions to be recorded on nine CDs (three a year, with 4500 copies of each), the publishing of the scores corresponding to the material recorded and concerts to be held in Belo Horizonte, Mariana, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
The
research and reorganisation of the collection were entrusted to an outstanding
team
of Brazilian musicologists,
formed exclusively to work on the project. The team adopted a scientific
approach for the project, something which had never before happened in
the country. With this approach, the researchers have committed themselves
exhaustively and wholeheartedly to their work, which has led to the revival
of a practice and musical experience unfamiliar to us in modern times.
It is a great and fascinating challenge. The archives of Mariana bring
together thousands of scores from Brazilian, Portuguese and Italian composers.
The compositions, most of them religious concertos, were most often performed
by choirs in the churches of Minas Gerais.
The CDs and publications were organised in order to give the public a logical, and non-fragmented view of the material available in the museum collection. The first book presents the compositions of glorification of Pentecost, the second comprises pieces for Mass and the third is the music performed on Holy Saturday. Many of these composers had never had a single piece registered.
Petrobras offers the country a project which is considered an important reference for Brazilian musicology. The Ministry of Culture acknowledges the scientific value of the research and restoration work, the pragmatic aspect of its conception and the impact of its content on the country's musical heritage. The project has met with the thorough approval of the Ministry of Culture according to the Federal Law for Incentive to Culture.
The commitment to Brazil has been renewed. Having restored, digitalised and disseminated the scores from the past four centuries, Petrobras has made a decisive contribution to one of the most profound and comprehensive revisions of the history of our music.
Petrobras