Traces of brazilian orchestras history in narratives about the colonization period

Abstract

This article presents reflections on the influence of socioeconomic factors from the colonial period until the beginning of the Republic, and their implication on the sociocultural conditions that gave rise to the first Brazilian orchestras. Starting from the mills and missions, where they fulfilled a mainly religious role, colonial musical ensembles grew with the cities, where they become artistic groups. The investigation is directed to narratives and documents of the Brazilian colonial period, one finds descriptions, traces of what musical activity was like since the first years of the establishment of the Portuguese colony. Through historical records about musical activity, it was possible to draw hypotheses about the social roles attributed to the first groups that were created here. Several sources attest that they were groups made up mostly of mulattos, indigenous, mestizos and freed blacks or slaves. We can, then, articulate evidence of how the process of identity formation in Brazilian orchestral music began.