Biography

1847 - Francisca Edwiges Neves Gonzaga (Chiquinha Gonzaga) was born in the City of Rio de Janeiro, then a city of the Brazilian Royal Court, first daughter of Rosa Maria de Lima and the officer José Basileu Neves Gonzaga.

1858 - At eleven years of age composes and plays on the piano her first song - Canção dos Pastores (Song of the Shepherds) - during a Christmas party held at home; her uncle Antônio Eliseu plays the flute to accompany her.

1863 - At 16 marries Jacinto Ribeiro do Amaral, a Merchant Marine officer chosen by her father. From this union João Gualberto, Maria do Patrocínio and Hilário were born. Compelled by Jacinto to stay away from the piano she follows him on his ship - along with part of the Army Corps - to the war that was then being waged against Paraguay. During the trip she rebels and leaves her husband.

1869 - The flutist Joaquim Antônio da Silva Callado dedicates the polka Querida por todos (Cherished by Everybody) to her, as a personal tribute. This is the first composition to be printed in the name of the famous flutist.

1876 - Alice is born -- a daughter from her union with João Batista de Carvalho -- an engineer she meets in Rio de Janeiro’s bohemian circles and starts living with, this time truly in love. However, after a scene of jealousy, Chiquinha decides to leave him.

1876 - Composes and has the polka Atraente (Attractive) printed, which launches her as a pioneer composer and instrumentalist of ballroom popular music, but stirs up a scandal in the Royal Court of Dom Pedro II. As a pianist, she is a member of the Callado Group, called Choro Carioca (The Rio de Janeiro Choro).

1885 - Debuts as a conductor on January 17. After some years struggling for a chance to write for the musical theater, she manages to write the music for the operetta of manners A Corte na Roça (The Royal Court in the Countryside), which is staged at theTeatro Príncipe Imperial (Imperial Prince Theater). During this entire period she actively campaigns for the abolishment of slavery, which only takes place in 1888.

1899 - Composes the march Ó Abre Alas (Please Make Way), the first song especially written for the Brazilian Carnival, and her most popular work. In that same year, meets the young Portuguese-born João Batista Fernandes Lage, thirty six years younger than her, who becomes her partner for the rest of her life.

1902 - First trip to Europe. A second will take place two years later and a third in 1906, when she settles in Lisbon, where she acts professionally and remains until 1909.

1912 - First performance of her burlesque comedy of Rio de Janeiro manners called Forrobodó, her greatest theater hit. She intensifies her activities as a conductor and writes music for popular theater plays staged at movie-theaters located at Praça Tiradentes.

1914 - Her tango Corta-Jaca (a step of a Brazilian dance in which the dancer twists and moves the foot as if cutting jackfruit), also known as Gaúcho (a cowboy of the South American grassland plains - pampas), is performed by the first lady at an official reception held at the Catete presidential office. The fact creates a scandal, since it was the first time a popular musical piece would enter the elegant and ceremonious Royal Court-saloons of the country.

1917 - Establishes the first entity engaged in collecting and defending the copyrights of composers and playwrights – the Brazilian Society of Theater Authors - SBAT, after campaigning for some years.

1933 - At 85 years of age she writes her last score for the theater: Maria.

1935 - In January, fifty years after her debut in the theater with the operetta of manners A Corte na Roça, celebrates the artistic jubilee of her career as a conductor.

Chiquinha Gonzaga passed away on February 28, 1935, at 87 years of age, leaving dozens of scores for the musical theater and hundreds of songs of the most varied forms: polkas, Brazilian tangos, waltzes, habaneras, schottisches, mazurkas, modinhas (variety of traditional urban Brazilian song), etc.