Comparative analysis of topical structures in musical discourse: the Requiem Mass of João Domingos Bomtempo and sacred music in Europe and in colonial Brazil in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries

• Grant number: 12/11288-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: May 01, 2013
• End date: December 31, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Arts - Music
• Principal Investigator: Diósnio Machado Neto
• Grantee: Ágata Yozhiyoka Almeida
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This Scietinfic Iniciation projet will approach some theories developed from the second half of the twentieth century, since the study of Leonard G. Ratner as a pioneer on the topic signification in the musical discourse. The aim of this project is to correlate the use of musical topics with the comprehension of the musical discourse in the moving parts (Introits, Sequentia, Offertorium and Communio) of the Requiem Mass (Op.23) by João Domingos Bomtempo, a portuguese composer. Thus, it will be capable to find possible recurrences of topic patterns in works of composers from Europe and colonial Brazil from the late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century. For this purpose, it is intended to develop a mapping of the topic structures in musical discourse, in European and Brazilian sacred music, in order to pursue certain recurring patterns in the compositional process in Requiem Masses. Due to the lack of the topic studies in Portuguese-Brazilian musicology, it will study and systematize the particularities of this theory and its application in works such as João Domingos Bomtempo. The development of this research will enable to verify the recurrences of cases of topic theory, making it possible to locate the compositional characteristics of Bomtempo within the musical discourse, correlating the reflections or the musical reception of that era and its presence in the European musical rhetoric tradition in Portugal and in colonial Brazil.