Theatres of Brazil

n March 3rd 1869, when today´s State of Pará was still a province - that of Grão-Pará - in the Empire, the foundation stone of the Teatro da Paz was laid; the name, "Peace", refers to the period following the war against Paraguay.
The stone, placed in the excavations for the foundations of the buildings and cemented with mortar, increased the opportunities of cultural growth and maturity for the people of Pará, at the time governed by José Bento Cunha Figueiredo. Artists disembarking in Belém, from São Luís and Recife, would find new chances of work and professional satisfaction. Work began in early July 1869, and finished on January 13th 1874.

For the four years following, the population of Belém lived with a situation unknown anywhere else in Brazil. They could admire - they did admire - in the Praça da República the Theatre, entirely finished, yet they could not frequent it.

Political and party intrigue and accusations against the builders of the Theatre ended up in an administrative enquiry. Slow investigation of irregularities only allowed the building to be opened on February 15th 1878, when Dr. João Capistrano Bandeira de Mello Filho was President of the Province of Grão-Pará.

The actor Vicente Pontes de Oliveira, coordinator of a local dramatic company, put on A. Dannéry´s play "As Duas Irmãs" ("The Two Sisters"), with Manuela Lucci, Emilia Câmara, Maria Bahia and Xisto Bahia.
Maestro Francisco Libânio conducted the Theatre Orchestra, which played the Grão-Pará March, composed by himself for the occasion.

From then on, the Paz Theatre has known glory and abandonment, according to the interest or otherwise of State and Federal authorities and, naturally, according to the direction taken by the history of the country.

Abandonment reached a peak in the ´50s, when the proscenium curtain "Allegory of the Federal Republic", painted in Paris by the scenographer Carpezati and sent to Belém in 1890, was found in the dustbin, on the orders, it is said, of the director of the institution to which the Theatre was subordinated.
Maestro Waldemar Henrique, director of the Paz Theatre at the time, was on a business trip to Rio de Janeiro when this happened, and only found out on his return.

Had chance not favoured saddened, if dedicated, Maestro, nothing could have been done further except to note the ignorance underlying so irresponsible an attitude.

However, on discovering that the curtain had disappeared, he also found out that the garbage collectors were late, because of problems with their truck!

The backdrop was recovered, and put on public exhibition in the Theatre´s majestic great salon, together with six crystal mirrors and the busts, in Belgian marble, of composers Carlos Gomes and Henrique Gurjão.

On the ceiling of the great salon there were formerly paintings by De Angelis, the artist whose work can today still be seen on the ceiling of the hall.

If the painter carried out these works at the same time, how might we explain the loss of one but not the other? Painting in oils will resist ravages of time if applied to stucco. On wood or canvas, however, it will disappear. When De Angelis was invited to paint the two ceilings, he demanded that the local authorities should remove the wood from the ceiling and replace it with stucco, as he insisted on painting in oils.
Whether they doubted the artist´s word or whether they were not interested in the lasting qualities of the work is not known. Whichever it was, the authorities did half the job. Time has shown who was right.
The former main entrance door was closed off, and a valuable Venetian mirror put in its place. This change allowed the public to use the side doors, with improving effect on the acoustics.
The last of a series of reforms, during the government of Aloísio Chaves, allowed the Theatre to be reopened for its centenary, in 1978.

In almost 120 years of existence, the Paz Theatre has seen great cultural and artistic events, domestic and international. The people of Pará could delight in Carlos Gomes´ opera "O Guarany", in 1880; they could enjoy Pablo Lópes Companhia Espanhola; they could enrich themselves with the 1953 international opera season - "Il Trovatore", "La Traviata", "Rigoletto"; they could admire pianist Arthur Moreira Lima, in 1949 only nine years old!; or they could rejoice in well-known artists of the stamp of Anna Pavlova, Maria de Nunzio, Ângela Pinto, Menelau Campos, Magdalena Tagliaferro, and so many more. On June 21th 1963, the Historical, Artistic and Cultural Heritage Department brought the Paz Theatre under a conservation order.