City in Brazil, capital of the state of Bahia. Officially named Salvador da Bahia de todos os Santos, but commonly known as Bahia, it was the capital of the Portuguese colony until 1763, when Rio de Janeiro became the colonial administrative centre. The state of Bahia was the landing place of Álvares Cabral in 1500, Salador the first capital, the first episcopal see and the most active centre of the slave trade, and its importance is paramount for early Brazilian music history. It became a see in 1550 and an archbishopric in 1676. Music at the cathedral occupied a prominent place on special occasions as well as in the regular services. The position of mestre de capela was created in 1559 and held by Bartolomeu Pires (c1560–86), Francisco Borges da Cunha (1608–c1660), Joaquim Corrêa (1661–c1665), Antonio de Lima Carseres (1666–9), João de Lima (1670s), Frei Agostinho de Santa Mônica (c1683–c1703) and Caetano de Mello Jesus (early 18th century). To the latter has been attributed the writing of a recitative and aria for soprano and strings, dated 2 July 1759, the earliest known Brazilian art music composition. The vernacular text and the non-religious character of the piece suggest that cathedral musicians participated in secular musical life, as occurred in Spanish America. The post of organist at Bahia Cathedral was established in 1559, first held by Pedro da Fonseca (1560). Many other organists were active in the various churches and convents of Bahia by the end of the 16th century, particularly the Benedictine monks of the Mosteiro de S Bento. Nicolau de Miranda was organist at the church of Misericordia and the S Casa de Misericôrdia in the early 18th century.
Among the native musicians of the 17th century, several priests are praised in Barbosa Machado’s Biblioteca lusitana (Lisbon, 1747), including Eusébio da Soledade de Matos (1629–92), brother of the famous poet Gregório de Matos. Church music reached its peak at Bahia during the 18th century. The St Cecilia brotherhood (a union of musicians) was established there in 1785 and was active into the next century; among its members were the native composers Damião Barbosa de Araújo (1778–1856) and José Pereira Rebouças (1789–1843).
The first opera houses in Bahia appeared in the early 18th century. The short-lived Teatro da Câmara Municipal (1728) was followed by the Casa da Ópera da Praia (1760) and the Teatro do Guadalupe, where Barbosa de Araújo conducted the orchestra and is said to have performed his opera buffa, A intriga amorosa. During the first half of the 19th century the Teatro S João (inaugurated in 1812) became the most important centre for visiting artists and lyric companies. Other lesser theatres opened during the 19th century, such as Ginásio Bonfim (1867) and Politeama Baiano (1882). The S João theatre was burnt down in 1922 and was not replaced until the 1950s, when the Teatro Castro Alves was built. The theatre is the venue for orchestral concerts, ballet and popular music events; in the 1980s it underwent major repairs, since when it has mounted a number of opera productions.
Although music was taught in the Bahia area from the early 17th century, it was only in 1818 that King João VI, then resident at Rio de Janeiro, created a chair of music to which he appointed José J. de Souza Negrão. He was succeeded in 1832 by Domingos da Rocha Mussurunga, who proposed the first local conservatory of music. With the foundation of the Academia de Belas Artes (1877) music instruction came under the supervision of the state of Bahia. The official conservatory opened in 1897, was reorganized a year later by Silvio Deolindo Fróes, and a few years later became the Instituto de Música da Bahia. It remained the main educational institution until 1934, when the Escola Normal de Música (Escola de Música da Bahia from 1951) was founded under Petro Jatobá. The music educationist Zulmira Silvany contributed to the institute’s excellence. The third important music school, called Seminários Livres de Música, was founded in 1954 at the University of Bahia. Under the direction of the German composer Hans J. Koellreutter (1954–63) it became a dynamic centre for new music during the 1960s; the Grupo de Compositores da Bahia was organized there in 1966 through the efforts of Ernt Widmer, and included young composers such as Jamary Oliveira, Lindembergue Cardoso and Paulo Costa Lima.
The first symphony orchestra in Salvador was organized in 1944 by Father Luiz Gonzaga Mariz and lasted until about 1952. Several instrumental and vocal ensembles as well as a symphony orchestra are active at the Federal University of Bahia. The Orquestra Sinfônica da Bahia, under various local conductors, has given a regular season of concerts since the late 1970s.
Concert-promoting associations have included the Sociedade de Cultura Artística da Bahia (SCAB), founded in 1945, and the Cruzada da Boa Vontade (1956), both merged into the Associação Baiana de Arte in 1958.
Salvador is a particularly important centre of black Brazilian musical culture. A large portion of the city’s population practise African-related religions, generically called candomblé, with rich and varied musical repertories that sustain religious life. In addition, the city has been a major centre in the history of 20th-century Brazilian popular music, generating since the late 1940s some of the most celebrated figures of popular music, from Dorival Cymmi and João Gilberto to Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso. Specific genres, some associated with the celebration of Carnival, such as afoxé, capoeira, bloco afro and timbalada, were created there.
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C. Xavier: A música em 50 anos (Salvador, 1965)
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G. Béhague: ‘Correntes regionais e nacionais na música de candomblé afro-baiano’, Afro-Asia, no.12 (1976), 129
A. Risério: Carnival Ijexá (Salvador, 1981)
P. Verger: Notícias da Bahia, 1850 (Salvador, 1981)
G. Béhague: ‘Patterns of Candomblé Music Performance: an Afro-Brazilian Religious Setting’, Performance Practice: Ethnomusicological Perspectives (Westport, CT, 1984), 222–54
J.C. Diniz: Mestres de Capela da Misericórdia da Bahia, 1647–1810 (Salvador, 1993)
L. Sansone and J. Teles dos Santos, eds.: Ritmos em trânsito: sócio-antropologia da música baiana (São Paulo, 1997)
GERARD BÉHAGUE