Vasco Mariz | |
|---|---|
| Born | January 22, 1921 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| Died | June 16, 2017 (aged 96) Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| Alma mater | Brazilian Conservatory of Music |
Vasco Mariz (Rio de Janeiro, January 22, 1921 — June 16, 2017) was a Brazilian historian, musicologist, writer and diplomat.
He received his musical training at the Brazilian Conservatory of Music and graduated in law from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in 1943, and two years later he began his diplomatic career. Completing a further course in Diplomatic History in 1947, he was soon appointed vice-consul in Porto, later serving in various roles and positions in Rosario, Naples, Washington, D.C., New York City, Rome, until reaching the rank of minister in 1967, promoted by merit, and ambassador in 1971, appointed to represent Brazil in Ecuador and successively in Israel, Peru and East Germany, retiring in 1987.
In his career as a diplomat, before becoming ambassador, he played the role of Brazilian delegate to several important international organizations – such as the UN, FAO, the OAS, GATT, UNESCO – and on several occasions such representations had clear cultural purposes, developing in the area of history, folklore, art and music. He was head of the cultural department at Itamaraty Palace.
He was a member emeritus of the Brazilian Historic and Geographic Institute, the PEN CLUB do Brasil and the Brazilian Academy of Music (president in 1991), member of the Technical Council of the National Confederation of Commerce and other national and foreign institutions such as the Inter-American Musician (former president). He was also an advisor to the National Museum of Fine Arts.
He died at the age of 96 at the Hospital Samaritano in Rio de Janeiro from pneumonia.[1]
Until 2010, Vasco published 58 books, including nine outside of Brazil: two in the United States and one in France, the Soviet Union, Italy, Portugal, Argentina, Peru and Colombia, including: