A história da flauta transversal na capital do Império brasileiro (1822 a 1859): uma pesquisa hemerográfica

Abstract

This dissertation deals with the incorporation of the modern Boehm flute during the 19th century in Rio de Janeiro, which was the capital of the Brazilian Empire. Information contained in local newspapers published between 1822 and 1859, enabled the elaboration of a research based on Brazilian National Library historical newspaper collection, focused in leading flute players who lived in Rio de Janeiro during this time. With those pieces of information, we discuss the relationship of these flute players and the innovations of Theobald Boehm (1794-1881), inventor of the modern flute. Comparing the literature on the subject with the information extracted from the Rio de Janeiro press, one can see how fast the technological innovations related to the flute arrived in Brazil. The work is divided into three chapters. The first is related to the period of the reign of Dom Pedro I, from 1822 to 1831. Coincidentally it is also the period when Boehm had not yet released his first model of flute. In the second chapter, we discussed the Rio musical depression, from 1832 to 1843. At this time, the end of the São Pedro de Alcântara Theater Orchestra and the several reductions in players working at the Imperial Chapel orchestra, would impose a new labor reality to those flute players. In this context we discussed the first experiments with Boehm flute model of 1832 in Rio de Janeiro. In the third chapter we studied the period between 1844 and 1859, when the arrival of the Boehm metal flute, model of 1847, happened in Rio. Finally, it is considered that, although the flute Boehm quickly gained space in Rio de Janeiro, the transition from one system to another was not immediate. The process involved disputes for professional positions between player from abroad and Brazilians, and between the “old” and “new” school of flute.