Scope and arrangement
The collection primarily consists of handwritten parts and fragments for music to be performed as part of Catholic church services, identified as being from Mariana, Brazil. The particular church (or churches) from which this collection originates is unknown, though many pages indicate that it was a "cathedral." Though the majority of the works contained are unattributed, four of them are indicated as being composed by Raphael Coelho Machado, Silvestre Joze da Costa, David Peres, and Felipe Nunes, respectively.
Arrangement
The collection consists of one series and is arranged roughly alphabetically by composer or title, with the exception of a group of miscellaneous fragments in the beginning of the series and a group of four works by European composers (Haydn and Rossini) at the end of the series.