“Representante digno e nobre do nome brasileiro”: Carlos Gomes nas Relações Culturais Internacionais do Império do Brasil entre 1863 e 1878

Abstract

Between the beginning of the 1860s and the end of the 1870s, Antonio Carlos Gomes went from a young promise of the Brazilian music scene to one of the most performed composers in the most prestigious opera theater in Italy, a fact that justifies his wide recognition as the main opera composer of the Americas in the nineteenth century. The extensive literature on the maestro, combined with the consultation of official documents and letters of the time, reveals that his international projection was the result of cultural actions promoted by the Brazilian imperial government and its authorities – notably Emperor Pedro II. Thus, this research aims to investigate the position occupied by maestro Carlos Gomes in the International Cultural Relations of the Empire of Brazil during the period in which the composer was officially funded by the State (1863 to 1878), highlighting his relevance for the transplantation of European cultural traditions in Brazil and for the projection of Brazilian culture abroad. Through the Documentary Research, we note that Gomes’ international prominence was an unexpected result of cultural initiatives aimed at the domestic sphere; at the same time, his success allowed the political authorities of the Empire of Brazil to see the relevance of the cultural dimension for the construction of a positive image of the country abroad, selecting Carlos Gomes’ music for pioneering initiatives to that end. It can also be seen that the maestro's career marks a period of transition between the patronage promoted by the Brazilian emperor and the origins of a Cultural Diplomacy aimed at disseminating cultural expressions that reiterated the country's adherence to the European ideal of civilization without renouncing the definition of a Brazilian national culture.