Ela nasceu Francisca Edwiges Neves Gonzaga (1847-1935) no Rio de Janeiro do Segundo Reinado, foi educada como uma sinhazinha e preparada para se tornar uma dama da corte, mas se consagrou como Chiquinha Gonzaga, musicista talentosa que contribuiu para a gênese da música brasileira.
Mulher e mestiça, enfrentou todos os preconceitos da sociedade patriarcal e escravista para se firmar como pianista, compositora, regente e, por fim, líder de classe em defesa dos direitos autorais. Sua obra é estimada em trezentas composições, incluindo partituras para dezenas de peças teatrais. Precursora em várias frentes, Chiquinha foi a primeira mulher a compor para o teatro nacional.
Pioneira, Chiquinha Gonzaga abriu alas para todas e todos, deixando seu exemplo de luta pelas liberdades no Brasil.
Wandrei braga, 2023
Francisca Edwiges Neves Gonzaga nasceu no Rio de Janeiro, em 17 de outubro de 1847, da união de José Basileu Neves Gonzaga, militar de ilustre linhagem no Império, com a forra Rosa, filha de escravizada.
A menina cresceu e se educou num período de grandes transformações na vida da cidade. Além de escrever, ler e fazer cálculos, estudar o catecismo, e outras prendas femininas, a jovem sinhazinha aprendeu a tocar piano. Educada para ser dama de salão, aos 16 anos Chiquinha se casou com o promissor empresário Jacinto Ribeiro do Amaral, escolhido por seu pai.
Continuou dedicando atenção ao piano, para desespero do marido, que não gostava de música e encarava o instrumento como seu rival. Inquieta e determinada, Chiquinha se rebelou e decidiu abandonar o casamento ao se apaixonar pelo engenheiro João Batista de Carvalho, com quem passou a viver.
Com 18 anos de idade, já Sra. Francisca Edwiges Gonzaga do Amaral. O escândalo resultou em ação judicial de divórcio perpétuo movida pelo marido no Tribunal Eclesiástico, por abandono do lar e adultério. A Chiquinha Gonzaga que emerge no cenário musical do Rio de Janeiro em 1877, após desilusão amorosa, maldição familiar, condenações morais e desgostos pessoais é uma mulher que precisa sobreviver do que sabia fazer: tocar piano. Ninguém ousara tanto. Praticar música ao piano, ou até mesmo compor e publicar, não era incomum às senhoras de então, mas sempre mantendo o respeito ao espaço feminino por excelência, o da vida privada. A profissionalização da mulher como músico (e ainda mais aquele tipo de música de dança para consumo nos salões!) era fato inédito na sociedade da época. A atividade exigia talento, determinação e coragem – qualidades que não faltavam a Chiquinha Gonzaga. Sua estreia como compositora se deu com a polca Atraente, cujo sucesso foi mais um fardo para sua reputação. Mantinha-se como professora em casas particulares e pianista no conjunto do flautista Joaquim Callado. Passou a aperfeiçoar sua técnica com o pianista português Artur Napoleão, também seu editor, e a tentar escrever partituras para o teatro musicado.
Em janeiro de 1885, Chiquinha Gonzaga estreou no teatro com a opereta A corte na roça, representada no Teatro Príncipe Imperial, ocasião em que a imprensa se embaraçou ao tratá-la – não existia feminino para a palavra maestro. Ao longo de sua carreira de regente, Chiquinha Gonzaga musicou dezenas de peças de teatro nos gêneros os mais variados. Em 1889, regeu, no Imperial Teatro São Pedro de Alcântara, um original concerto de violões, promovendo este instrumento ainda estigmatizado. Era a mesma audácia que movia a militante política, participante de todas as grandes causas sociais do seu tempo, denunciando assim o preconceito e o atraso social. A abolicionista fervorosa passou a vender partituras de porta em porta a fim de angariar fundos para a Confederação Libertadora e, com o dinheiro da venda de suas músicas, comprou a alforria de José Flauta, um escravo músico.
Na virada do século XIX para o XX, Chiquinha Gonzaga criou a marchinha carnavalesca, compondo a música que a popularizaria, Ó abre alas, e obtendo com isso um reconhecimento eterno, pois o carnaval jamais a esqueceu. Aos 52 anos de idade, já consagrada, Chiquinha conheceu aquele que iria se tornar seu companheiro até o final da vida, o jovem português de 16 anos João Batista Fernandes Lage, mais tarde João Batista Gonzaga.
O nome da compositora esteve também envolvido em escândalo, desta vez político, quando seu tango Corta-jaca foi executado no Palácio do Catete, em 1914. Como autora de músicas de sucesso, sobretudo pela divulgação nos palcos populares do teatro musicado, Chiquinha Gonzaga sofreu exploração abusiva de seu trabalho, o que fez com que tomasse a iniciativa de fundar, em 1917, a primeira sociedade protetora e arrecadadora de direitos autorais do país, a Sociedade Brasileira de Autores Teatrais (Sbat).
Chiquinha Gonzaga teve seu trabalho reconhecido em vida, sendo festejada pelo público e pela crítica. Personalidade exuberante, ela foi dos compositores brasileiros a que trabalhou com maior intensidade a transição entre a música estrangeira e a nacional. Com isso, abriu o caminho e ajudou a definir os rumos da música propriamente brasileira, que se consolidaria nas primeiras décadas do século XX. Atravessou a velhice ao lado de Joãozinho, a quem a posteridade agradece a preservação do acervo da compositora.
Chiquinha Gonzaga faleceu no Rio de Janeiro, em 28 de fevereiro de 1935, aos 87 anos de idade.
Fonte: Edinha Diniz, 2011 Autora da biografia Chiquinha Gonzaga: uma história de vida.
Acesse também
She was born Francisca Edwiges Neves Gonzaga (1847-1935) in Rio de Janeiro during the Second Reign, raised as a young lady and prepared to become a court dame, but she became known as Chiquinha Gonzaga, a talented musician who contributed to the genesis of Brazilian music.
As a woman of mixed race, she faced all the prejudices of the patriarchal and slave-holding society to establish herself as a pianist, composer, conductor, and ultimately, a leader advocating for copyright rights. Her work is estimated to comprise three hundred compositions, including scores for dozens of theatrical plays. Chiquinha was the first woman to compose for the national theater.
A pioneer, Chiquinha Gonzaga paved the way for everyone, leaving behind her example of fighting for freedoms in Brazil. (Wandrei Braga, 2023)
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Biographical text on Chiquinha Gonzaga in English, by Wandrei Braga English translation: Frederico Fonseca de Almeida
Gonzaga, Chiquinha (1847–1935) Brazilian pianist, composer and conductor. Born in Rio de Janeiro on 17th October1847, during the Brazilian monarchy and slave regime years, Gonzaga faced the prejudices of a patriarchal and sexist society. She fought for social freedom and actively participated in the abolitionist and republican movement. The explicitly national qualities of Brazilian music was of extremele importance to her. Francisca, baptized Francisca Edwiges Neves Gonzaga, was the daughter of José Neves Gonzaga Basileu (1817-1891), a military man of noble family and Maria Rosa de Lima (1828-1896), a mestiza daughter of a slave. The infant Gonzaga was the third daughter of a relationship considered illegitimate, but within a few years, Gonzaga’s birth parents officially married. The small Francisca became her father’s legitimized daughter. Educated to attend the noble halls of the Court, Chiquinha, as she was called, received instruction from the best teachers in Rio de Janeiro, the capital of the Brazilian empire (1822-1889). For the piano lessons her father hired a renowned conductor . At age sixteen, Francisca married a successful officer of the merchant navy chosen by her father. A year later, their first child was born: João Gualberto followed by Maria, and five years later, Hilário. This was a perfect family of the Brazilian empire, if not for some details. Her husband, Jacinto Ribeiro do Amaral (1839-1884), hated music. He ordered his wife to choose between him and the music. Chiquinha did not hesitate, stating “Well, sir, my husband, I do not understand life without harmony.” And in search of harmony, which was not at home, she left the marriage and, consequently, her children. Chiquinha paid a very high price for her decision, and the scandal of a divorce with Jacinto was reason enough to have her name unspeakable and to be considered dead by her family. Her father never forgave her. Rejected by her family, Chiquinha Gonzaga was welcomed by the musicians of the Brazilian capital. She enthusiastically participated in the artistic world she longed for. She eventually met and fell for João Batista de Carvalho, a wealthy railway engineer. Chiquinha and João had a daughter, Alice, born in 1875. Yet just a year later, this second union ended crumbled. Alice was left in the care of her father. Chiquinha began to survive as a teacher of Portuguese language, mathematics, history, geography and piano. Finding herself teaching in a small makeshift room, Gonzaga was then invited by Joaquim Antônio da Silva Callado (1848-1880), a famous flutist, to join the musical group Choro Carioca as a pianist for the bookings at parties. Her debut as a composer came in 1877 with the polka Atraente (Attractive), composed during a roda de choro (TRANSLATE ) in the house of the composer Henrique Alves de Mesquita (1830-1906) Atraente was a huge success and the name of Chiquinha Gonzaga became famous, but by challenging the family patterns of the time, she still suffered severe prejudice. In 1885, Gonzaga debuted as conductor alongside famous authors of plays, a unique event in Brazil at the time. In addition to the scandal of having a woman as an orchestra conductor and composer, the Brazilian press did not know how to register the word for a female conductor. So, the word was borrowed by the Italian vocabulary and incorporated into Portuguese: maestrina. In 1899, Chiquinha composed Ó Abre Alas (Oh open the Way), an unpretentious song that would be acclaimed as the true anthem of Brazilian carnival. Since her life story was rediscovered by the biographer Edinha Diniz in 1984, Chiquinha’s personal life became better known than her music production. At age of 52, Chiquinha met João Batista Lages, a young sixteen-year old Portuguese, who became her companion until the end of her life, being, however, shown as her son to society in order to prevent prejudiced attacks. What few may know is that her work is as bold as her personality, which made her one of the most important composers of her time. Chiquinha composed in every music genre available at her time. Her early work focused primarily on instrumental pieces for solo piano and vocal and piano. With professional success as a composer and aiming for new challenges, she decided to compose for theatrical plays. Thus her work spread to other instrumental formations, such as orchestra, band, duo, trio, and other arrangements for solo instruments such as flute and saxophone. In 2011, a key part of her work was recovered. More than three hundred scores were edited, revised and are now available, free of charge, at the Digital Archive Chiquinha Gonzaga. Although it does not represent the definitive catalog of her work, the 262 compositions uploaded as of 2013 confirm the versatility of her composition by the variety of rhythms and styles. There are some works which we could highlight such as songs, fados, habaneras, duets, ballads, sacred pieces, nocturnes, marches, serenades, barcarolles, modinhas, mazurkas and an expressive number of waltzes, polkas and Brazilian tango. The full extent of Chiquinha’s musical production remains unknown, and with the except of the play Forrobodó (1912), the contents of sixty-two known theatrical plays are yet to be restored. Chiquinha Gonzaga contributed to the nationalization of music in Brazil, considering that, at the time, the society only appreciated European music. She incorporated African rhythms and developed a Brazilian way to compose. Thus her work was the basis for the first steps towards a new musical language, typically Brazilian. Chiquinha Gonzaga, the first woman to succeed as a pianist and composer, first woman to conduct an orchestra in Brazil, composer of the first song dedicated to Carnival, the first female pianist of the Brazilian music genre of choro and founder of the first protective Brazilian Society of Authors Theatre, society for copyrights . Implacable defender of human rights, Chiquinha fought for her freedom and helped to modernize the cultural landscape of Brazil at the time. In 1914, her composition Gaúcho, Corta-Jaca (1895) was performed on acoustic guitar by the First Lady Nair Tefé (1886-1981) in a presidential reception, marking the first time that the Brazilian popular music was performed in an elite venue. Almost one hundred years later, in 2012, the first woman president of Brazil, Dilma Rosseff (1947-), sanctions law number 12.624, establishing the Day of Brazilian Popular Music, celebrated on October 17 in honor of the birthday of Chiquinha Gonzaga. Her courage and determination made her a personality ahead of her time. Her life story is an example of perseverance, struggle and success. Chiquinha composed until the end of her life. In Rio, She died on 28th February at the age of 87.