The Coral Singing Association and the cultural policies of the Estado Novo regime (1941-1946)

Abstract

This study examines the emergence of the Choral Singing Association during the Estado Novo period, using a micro-historical approach to analyze the contextual factors of the time. It argues that the Association received extensive support from the academic intelligentsia associated with the press, which held a Eurocentric cultural bias. Drawing on the concepts of Anderson Benedict and Walter Benjamin, the research relies on press-related documentation. The study highlights the significance of Cleofe Person de Mattos in the choral artistic scene and intellectual community, through her musicological studies connected to Father José Maurício Nunes Garcia, thus exemplifying female emancipation in the Brazilian music landscape. Additionally, the study demonstrates that, under the Estado Novo regime, governmental policies started to pay greater attention to culture by incentivizing historical heritage. The modernist ideals persist in the repertoire approach of the Choral Singing Association, influenced by the practices of orfeonic singing and the nationalist approaches typical of the modernist movement. Furthermore, the study underscores the challenges in bridging the gap between symphonic traditions and the consumer market, based on the historical trajectory of the Choral Singing Association.