Scope and Content Note
The Luiz Heitor Corrêa de Azevedo Papers document the career and life of Luiz Heitor Corrêa de Azevedo (1905-1992), a Brazilian musicologist, folklorist, music critic, and educator. Azevedo's papers reveal his decades of intense scholarship; close relationships with Brazilian composers, performers, and musicologists; and consistent engagement with Brazilian culture while living abroad. The collection materials span from circa 1865 to 1990 with the bulk of the materials dating from 1930 to 1980.
The Correspondence primarily contains personal and professional correspondence of Luiz Heitor Corrêa de Azevedo. Some additional correspondence is of Violeta Corrêa de Azevedo or sent jointly to both Luiz Heitor and Violeta. Correspondents include ambassadors, composers, performers, conductors, folklorists, and musicologists from mostly the years 1938-1985.
The Writings, Scholarly Presentations, and Teaching Material documents Azevedo’s decades of scholarly output in three subseries. The Writings subseries contains alphabetical and chronological files of notes with drafts and published versions of his articles, reviews, conference lectures, program notes, dictionary and encyclopedia entries, lesson transcripts, and radio program scripts. Scholarly Presentations contains drafts and final versions of speeches, lectures, and conference presentations. Teaching Materials contains drafts and final copies of lecture notes, course syllabi, degree program requirements, and personnel files from Azevedo’s faculty positions.
Azevedo’s 135 Notebooks and Diaries are arranged in two subseries. Azevedo used items in the Notebooks subseries for research, lectures, and lesson plans. The Diaries subseries contains daily calendars of his appointments, activities, and travels.
Azevedo used his Research and Subject Files to maintain reference information and engage with, document, and research Brazilian culture. Materials include concert programs, clippings, publicity materials, correspondence, resumes, photographs, biographical notes, and printed ephemera. The first two subseries consist of Azevedo’s original sets of alphabetical files: Composers and Performers, Teachers, Musicologists. The third subseries, Miscellaneous Subjects, incorporates additional files such as Azevedo’s extensive genealogy research.
Azevedo’s bound Scrapbooks of materials dating from 1919 to 1989 contain published reviews and articles, concert programs, and messages from friends. Loose materials that duplicate or contain similar content in the scrapbooks are also in this series.
The Photographs, Negatives, and Iconography series is arranged in five subseries. Photograph Albums contain images of Azevedo’s travels related to research, leisure, professional conferences, and vacations in retirement. The Group Photographs subseries contains images of Luiz Heitor and Violeta Corrêa de Azevedo in attendance at events related to professional conferences and organizations, many of which are signed by the individuals in the photographs. Photographs, lithographs, copy prints of drawings, and negatives within the Individuals and Subjects subseries depict performers, composers, conductors, music educators, ethnographers, folklorists, and scholars. Many photographs include inscriptions to the Azevedos. Subjects include institutions and organizations such as the Escola Nacional de Música in Rio de Janeiro, the International Music Council, and UNESCO. Illustrations contain ethnographic photographs, copy prints, and negatives used by Azevedo in scholarly communication. Miscellaneous Artwork contains three items, including a commemorative portrait of Frédéric Chopin from the Fryderyk Chopin Institute.
The Music series is further arranged in two subseries. Music by Luiz Heitor Corrêa de Azevedo contains Azevedo’s holograph scores, sketches, and arrangements dating from 1922 to 1937. Music by Others contains compositions, arrangements, and published scores by composers in holograph, facsimile, copyist manuscript, and printed formats. Most composers are Brazilian with additional works by composers from Mexico, Argentina, Cuba, and throughout Europe. This subseries also includes harmonized Brazilian folk songs and rare Brazilian and Mexican imprints of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century music.
Awards and Diplomas include certificates awarded to Luiz Heitor Corrêa de Azevedo from institutions in Brazil and France, including the 1980 Villa-Lobos Medal.
The Collected Publications series contains published material annotated by Azevedo and inscribed monographs and journal article offprints from their respective authors to Azevedo.