Musica Viva. Órgão oficial do Grupo “Musica Viva”
- Place of Publication: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Language: Portuguese
- Date of Publication: 1940-1941
- Editor: Hans Joachim Koellreutter
- Publishers: Grupo Música Viva
- Type: Citation Only
- Prepared by: Mariana Calado
In 1937, the composer Hans-Joachim Koellreutter (1915-2005) emigrated from Germany to Brazil, were he established himself in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo as a music teacher, musician, and conductor. Not long after, in 1939, he founded the group “Música Viva,” shortly followed by the journal with the same name. Música Viva was published for a year, between May 1940 and April/May 1941. It was eight to twelve pages long and had three columns, later two columns, per page, plus a music supplement. A second series would appear in 1946/1947, for five more issues.
As the official bulletin of the group, Música Viva disseminated information about its activities and ideology. Koellreutter was a fervent defender of contemporary music and this marked the identity of the journal. It published several articles about the creation of a Brazilian national music, based on folk material and in relation with modern aesthetics, and about the development of dodecaphonic technic and atonal music. It published the profiles of contemporary Brazilian composers such as Camargo Guarnieri, Luiz Cosme, Arthur Pereira, and Hans-Joachim Koellreutter, and one issue was specially dedicated to the analyses of Heitor Villa-Lobos’s life and work, recognizing his key role in the definition of Brazilian music. Each issue was completed with a music supplement that further emphasized the works of Brazilian and Latin-American composers. It published short music works for piano solo, voice and piano, flute and piano, wind trio, and guitar by Fructuoso Vianna, Brasílio Itiberê, Max Brand, Camargo Guarnieri, Luiz Cosme, Koellreutter, Villa-Lobos, Arthur Pereira, and Juan Carlos Paz.
Música Viva received the collaboration of preeminent figures of Rio de Janeiro’s music scene, some of them were participants of the activities of the group “Música Viva”. Octavio Bevilacqua (1887-1969) was a music professor and music critic and assumed the direction of the journal Música Viva. Amongst the editors were Luiz Heitor (musicologist), Egydio de Castro e Silva (pianist and composer), Brasílio Itiberê (professor and composer), Eurico Nogueira França (music critic), and Andrade Muricy (music critic).
Música Viva published articles, reviews of the concerts organized by the group “Música Viva” and a news section, regarding the activities of musicians, associations and composers from European countries and North and South America, plus a final section with a list of new publications (music scores, books and discs). The contact list of musicians and professors from Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo closed almost every issue.
The index was prepared from the copies of the first series (1940-1941) held by the Library of Congress.