Images of Brazil in the 20th-century classical music: Reflections about Brazilian cultural identities

Abstract

This article discusses the process of image construction in the elaboration of the cultural identity expressed in the Brazilian classical music during the twentieth century. Conceptual issues related to the narrative, image creation, and cultural identity essential to the understanding of Brazilian culture as a system of cultural representations are discussed. Central references on the emergence of significant relationships between certain musical materials and elements of the Brazilian culture (SALLES, 2005; KATER, 2001; CONTIER, 1978) are outlined. Departing from the definitions of subject, identity, sense of belonging, culture and national identity, it explains the process of narrative and image construction around a national cultural identity. Finally, it aims at understanding the relativity of the collective self-images (REZENDE, 2009; ORTIZ, 1994) that have been made present in the Brazilian classical music in that period.