Mário de Andrade and the formation of Brazilian Musical Critique in the Press

Abstract

This article examines the importance and how Mario de Andrade represented himself within cultural Brazilian journalism in the first half of the 20th century. Through text analysis, we can see an insertion of a profound aesthetics in order to interpret the musical element, thus for him, “the art of criticism is developed through the passionate efforts to love and to comprehend”. Therefore, an important change between two moments of cultural journalism in the country stands out: the passage of a cultural journalism with literary characteristics and an aesthetic character based on values - such as Mario de Andrade’s work - to the present journalism with a format influenced by the cultural industry, whose character is ideological and seeks to deliver information on a determined product rather than search for an understanding of the work.
Keywords: Musical critique; Cultural journalism; Brazilian music; Critical audience.