Quais fronteiras separam os homens e o que fazer para ultrapassá-las: Dom Helder Câmara e A Sinfonia de dois mundos.

Abstract

In 1979, Dom Helder Camara, then Archbishop of Olinda and Recife, and the Swiss priest and conductor, Pierre Kaelin, decided to make use of a work of religious art as an instrument of awareness for the nations. In this perspective, and working in partnership, they gave life to the “Symphony of the Two Worlds”, which was first performed in March 1980 in Geneva, Switzerland and later, has continued to circulate throughout the world, having been executed forty-four times, in fourteen countries and in thirty-nine cities spread over three continents. Paradoxically, in Brazil (origin country of the text author), because of the military dictatorship, it can only be presented in 1985, after the fall of the regime, on the stages of Theater Paulo Pontes (João Pessoa) and Theater Guararapes (Recife). The research theorizes the connexion between art and religion, and its representations, and tells us the historical contexts, internal and external, in which the “Symphony of the Two Worlds” was born, so that the meanings of the verses that composes it are understood. The Master Thesis demonstrates how art and religion can be used together with the aim of disseminating, in the world, messages of hope and, at the same time, of social criticism, as in the case of the analyzed work, in which through literature and the music, Dom Helder made a synthesis of his thought, in order to clarify once again the division that, in fact, establishes boundaries between men, deriving much more from the way the richeness were distributed (Richest North vs. Poorest South), than from the then existing ideological confrontation (Capitalist West vs. Socialist East). In the arguments he wrote for the "Symphony", he reinforced his preaching throughout his life, in order to encourage the construction of a more just world in which could be implanted a culture of peace. Holdind an exploratory nature, the work required intense bibliographical research and the analysis of public documents and private archives; it was also necessary to use thematic and semi-structured interviews with historians, musicians and members of the clergy. We use the concepts of field, capital and agents, according to Pierre Bourdieu, and a little of the Theory of Social Representations in order to give theoretical basis to our study.