Chiquinha Gonzaga

Chiquinha Gonzaga emerged as the preeminent woman in Brazilian popular music history, sustaining herself through her compositions while asserting independence during an era of intense discrimination. Brazil’s first female orchestral director and originator of the marcha carnavalesca form through “Ô Abre Alas,” she also devoted herself to abolitionist and republican efforts. Her pieces achieved massive popularity, supporting an international touring career and keeping numerous works in active repertoire.

Born out of wedlock to field marshal José Basileu Neves Gonzaga and Rosa Maria de Lima, she commenced musical instruction under Maestro Lobo. Her outgoing temperament prompted her parents to arrange a marriage on 5 November 1863 to Jacinto Ribeiro do Amaral, offspring of a commander and scion of a prosperous, prominent household. The paternal gift of a piano became her central pursuit after the wedding. Yet do Amaral despised her musical inclinations and acquired a merchant vessel chartered by the imperial government for service in the Paraguay war of 1864–1870. Forcing his wife to join voyages on that ship and sever ties with the piano, he reacted with fury upon discovering she had obtained a violão; he demanded she select between him and music. Choosing the latter, she was pronounced deceased by her relatives, who barred her from contact with her two young children—soon joined by a third—save for firstborn João Gualberto, already in her care. Cast out from her family, Gonzaga rapidly gained acceptance among musicians and bohemian circles. A key early associate was flutist and composer Joaquim Antônio da Silva Callado Jr., whose rising fame would soon follow. Two years after Callado’s debut composition, he issued the polka “Querida por Todos,” inscribed to Gonzaga; it was quickly succeeded by “Por Todos Querida” and “Pedida por Todos,” likewise dedicated to her.

She subsequently entered a relationship with engineer João Batista de Carvalho Júnior and relocated with him to Minas Gerais to evade contemporary prejudice. Returning to Rio in 1875, they welcomed daughter Alice Maria the next year—the same year Gonzaga ended the liaison. Bereft of family or resources, she settled in the working-class district of São Cristóvão and relied solely on her musical talent for survival, which shielded her from prostitution. Callado assisted her in securing initial piano students. In 1877 her debut work, the polka “Atraente,” received prominent mention in Jornal do Commercio; the piece appeared in fifteen editions within its publication year. Performing with Callado’s ensemble, which included her son João Gualberto on clarinet, she earned sufficient income for modest yet respectable living. By then she had issued numerous compositions across genres including valse, polka, and tango. Her reputation as an autonomous woman, paired with musical distinction, captured popular fancy and imbued her output with an aura of sensuality and passion, even as society continued to marginalize her. The 1878 polka “Sultana” sold two thousand copies in its first printing, far exceeding the typical composer’s one hundred; additional printings followed promptly. In 1879 she released the polka “Camila” via Casa Artur Napoleão. Following Callado’s death the next year, she began piano studies with Artur Napoleão, pianist, composer, and publisher. Callado’s influence as a foundational element of the emerging choro style guided her pursuit of Brazilian idioms amid dominant French and Italian currents. The 1887 premiere of the first operetta bearing clear Brazilian traits, O Rio de Janeiro em 1877, inspired Gonzaga to explore the genre professionally; in 1880 she drafted a one-act libretto with two sketches and began setting it to music under the title Festa de São João, which stayed unpublished for four years. A further attempt in 1883 produced music for Artur Azevedo’s Viagem ao Parnaso, yet the impresario halted the production, doubting a woman’s capacity as composer.

Around 1884 Gonzaga commenced work on novice Palhares Ribeiro’s libretto A Corte na Roça. Opening on 17 January 1885 to fervent acclaim, the production concluded with the then-disdained maxixe, whose sensuous rhythm and choreography the elite rejected. The run established Gonzaga as conductor—Brazil’s first woman in that role—and a resounding success; press accounts hailed her as the “Offenbach in skirts.” That same year she directed and supplied music for A Filha do Guedes, based on a libretto by acclaimed writer Augusto de Castro; audience ovations for her songs prompted a public tribute featuring her first piano performance before listeners, during which a band rendered her pieces and journalists offered congratulations. At this juncture she attained widespread renown and financial security. In December she undertook A Mulher-Homem, sharing scoring duties with Henrique Alves de Mesquita, Carlos Cavalier, Miguel Cardoso, and Henrique Magalhães; the operetta premiered in January 1886. On 15 April she contributed to the comedy O Destino and accepted Zé Caipora, which opened to strong success on 29 January 1887. In 1888 she immersed herself in abolitionist advocacy, peddling sheet music door-to-door to raise funds and emancipate slave musician Zé Flauta; she donated to abolitionist organizations and performed every task for the cause, from cleaning theaters to addressing crowds. She soon became an equally ardent proponent of republicanism. Her schedule remained unrelenting, with the operetta Abolindemrepcochindegó opening in January 1889; A Mulher-Homem returned to the boards that same month. In August she organized a benefit concert for composer and conductor Carlos Gomes, who sought to stage his opera O Escravo for independence commemorations yet lacked support from D. Pedro II. Dominated by Gonzaga’s own works, the program juxtaposed her orchestral pieces with smaller forms that introduced previously proscribed instruments such as the violão and cavaquinho into the formal Teatro São Pedro de Alcântara. Gomes presented her with an inscribed photograph, which she placed above her piano and retained until her death. In 1897 she composed the tango “Gaúcho” for Machado Careca’s play Zizinha Maxixe, achieving success; Careca supplied lyrics in 1901, retitling it “Corta-jaca.” Featured in the revue Cá e Lá, performed in Portugal and at the Palácio do Catete, the song endures in popularity. She authored the first marcha carnavalesca, “Ô Abre Alas,” in 1899. Between 1902 and 1910 she promoted her catalog through European tours spanning Germany, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, England, and Scotland, while composing for multiple Portuguese theatrical works. The operetta Forrobodó, scored by Gonzaga, premiered in 1912 and received 1,500 performances. On 27 September 1917 she joined the founding of the artistic rights collection society SBAT. Her final composition accompanied Viriato Correia’s play Maria. Edinha Diniz published the biography Chiquinha Gonzaga, uma História de Vida (Rosa dos Tempos, Rio) in 1984. During 150th-birth anniversary observances, Dalva Lazarone’s Sofri e Chorei...Tive Muito Amor (Nova Fronteira) appeared alongside two CDs: Chiquinha com Jazz, presenting eight previously unpublished songs arranged by pianist Antônio Adolfo, and Chiquinha Gonzaga, 150 Anos, recorded by pianist Rosária Gatti for Eldorado.