Bandas de música e o cenário musical de Vila Rica/Ouro Preto no século XIX

Abstract

The research entitled “Musical bands and the musical setting in Vila Rica/Ouro Preto in the 19th century”, primarily, tried to understand the different kinds of music performed in distinct events and spots in the village/town; consequently, it analyzes the different models of music teaching/learning techniques in several educational instances in which they happened, besides the strategies used to such purpose. It also tried to figure out how the great variety of cultural/musical activities accomplished in the village/town at that time contributed to the dissemination of local musical education. This study also tried to identify the main changes caused by the decrease in gold exploration in the village/town, at the turn of the 18th to the 19th century and how these changes impacted music and the workers who depended on it to survive; what were the strategies used by the professional musicians to keep work fronts to the working class and the proposal to create Santa Cecilia Brotherhood from Music Art Teachers, based on the model of similar associations already existing in Lisbon and Rio de Janeiro. At last, this study tried to analyze through different sources how the first music bands (militaries and civilians) appeared in the village/town and how they took part in the musical/sound setting of the capital of Minas Gerais; it contrasted the activities developed by the music bands in the 19th century to the other instances of musical education; and It tried to figure out how the musicians training was done in that place, as well as identifying the educational, social and cultural impact of these groups activities in their group members’ and community’ life in general. This study revealed a scenery in which music and musical education occurred in a rich, multiple and broad way (church, schools, squares, living rooms, theaters, yards, streets), and undoubtedly the band was one of the main instances responsible for it. Music bands, both military and civil, played a fundamental role in the formation of new musicians during that period, as well as contributing to the musical education of the community in general.