Biography

Vinicius de Moraes was born on October 19, 1913, in Gávea, Rio de Janeiro. He attended the Faculty of Law, in Rio, and the University of Oxford, where he studied English literature. He is considered one of the main poets in the Portuguese language, with more than 20 books published during his lifetime and translations in several countries. He is the author of Soneto de fidelity, Soneto de separation, Pátria minha and Operário em construction among other enormously popular poems. He was also a chronicler, film critic, playwright and lyricist.

During the staging of the play Orfeu da Conceição, in 1956, he began his musical partnership with Tom Jobim, one of the most important in world popular music. The duo was part of the founders of bossa nova, and created songs of great national and international success, such as “Chega de saudade”, “Insensatez" and “Garota de Ipanema”, one of the most performed songs in the history of the world recording industry. Orfeu da Conceição was adapted for film and won the Oscar for Foreign Film and the Palme d'Or in 1960.

Vinicius left his definitive mark on the Brazilian popular songbook, alongside a vast list of friends and musicians, which includes Baden Powell, Chico Buarque, Carlos Lyra, Edu Lobo and Toquinho. His last work was the musical version of his book of children's poems, Noah's Ark, which generated two albums and a TV program in 1980, which won an Emmy award in 1981.

He died at his home, in Rio de Janeiro, aged 66, on July 9, 1980, in Rio.

 

VINICIUS DE MORAES CHRONOLOGY – LIFE AND WORK

 

1913
Born on October 19th, on Rua Lopes Quintas, in the Gávea neighborhood (currently Jardim Botânico), in Rio de Janeiro. With the baptismal name Marcus Vinitius da Cruz de Mello Moraes (Vinicius de Moraes was only registered at the age of nine), he is the son of Lydia Cruz de Moraes and Clodoaldo Pereira da Silva Moraes.

1916
His family moves to Rua Voluntários da Pátria, 192. It is the beginning of a long relationship between Vinicius and his family with the Botafogo neighborhood. He began to live with his parents and sister Lygia in the house of his paternal grandparents, Maria Conceição de Mello Moraes and Anthero Pereira da Silva Moraes.

1917
His brother Helius is born. Enter Afrânio Peixoto Primary School, on Rua da Matriz, Botafogo.

1922
His parents and siblings move to an address on Cocotá beach, on Ilha do Governador, a neighborhood in the north of Rio. He starts to live between his grandparents' house and his parents' new residence.

1924
He starts secondary school at Colégio Santo Inácio, on Rua São Clemente, Botafogo. Becomes a regular participant in school artistic activities. He is a singer in the church choir, as well as an actor and singer in children's plays.

1927
He forms a small musical ensemble with friends from Santo Inácio to perform at private parties. In addition to the brothers Paulo and Haroldo Tapajós, Maurício Joppert and Moacir Veloso Cardoso de Oliveira took part in the presentations.

1928
Composes his first songs. With Haroldo Tapajós he makes “Loura ou morena” and, with Paulo Tapajós, “Canção da noite”. The two would achieve some success in the early 1930s.

1929
He obtained a bachelor's degree in literature from Colégio Santo Inácio. His family moves from Ilha do Governador to a house on Rua Lopes Quintas, Jardim Botânico, Rio de Janeiro, the same street where the poet was born.

1930
At just 17 years old, he entered the Faculty of Law on Rua do Catete, Rio de Janeiro. At the Academic Center for Legal and Social Studies (CAJU), he met a group of intellectuals who would have a great influence on the creation of his first books. Among these were names such as Otávio de Faria, a kind of Vinicius's first intellectual mentor, and others such as San Thiago Dantas, Américo Lacombe, Hélio Viana, Plinio Doyle, Chermont de Miranda and Antonio Galloti.

1931
Join the Army's Reserve Officer Preparation Center (CPOR).

1932
He publishes a poem of his own for the first time in the pages of A Ordem magazine, October edition. The magazine was edited by the Catholic intellectual and literary critic Tristão de Athayde. His poem was titled “The Transfiguration of the Mountain”.

1933
He graduated in law and finished his course at CPOR. Published by Schmidt Editora (owned by the poet Augusto Frederico Schmidt) his first book of poems: The path to distance.

1935
Through the publisher Irmãos Pongetti, he publishes his second book, Form and exegesis. Wins the prestigious Filipe d’Oliveira Literature Prize.

1936
Again by the publisher Irmãos Pongetti, he launches his third book, a reprint that contains the long poem entitled “Ariana, the woman”. He met the poet Manuel Bandeira, who would decisively influence his writing from then on. He already has names like Murilo Mendes, Carlos Leão, Pedro Nava, Lucio Costa, Jayme Ovalle and Carlos Drummond de Andrade in his circle of friends. Replaces Prudente de Moraes Neto as representative of the Ministry of Education at the Federal Cinematographic Censorship.

1938
Published by the publisher José Olympio, New poems, his fourth book. He wins a scholarship from the British Council to study English literature at Magdalen College, at the University of Oxford. Leaves in August for England.

1939
Still in England, he married, by proxy, Beatriz Azevedo Mello, Tati, his first wife. With the outbreak of the Second World War, he returned to Brazil.

1940
He lives with Tati in an apartment on Rua das Acácias, Gávea. It is there that his first daughter, Susana, was born. Soon after, the family settles in a house on the corner of Carlos Góis and General San Martin streets, in Leblon. He spent time in São Paulo, where he became close to the writer and ideologue of Brazilian Modernism Mário de Andrade. During this period, he also met young intellectuals from São Paulo, such as Antonio Candido and Paulo Emílio Salles Gomes, of whom he would become an interlocutor and friend.

1941
He began writing film reviews for the newspaper A Manhã and contributed to the “Literary Supplement” of O Jornal.

1942
His second son, Pedro, is born. Throughout the year, he participates in an intense public debate about silent cinema versus talkies. The controversy brought together intellectuals from different areas and occupied the pages of the main newspapers. He was an ardent supporter of silent cinema. He met the American film director Orson Welles, a figure of great importance for his relationship with cinematic language in the following years. He also makes an extensive trip through the North and Northeast regions of Brazil in the company of North American writer Waldo Frank. Subsequently, the poet stated several times the determining influence of this trip for a “turn” in his political thinking and his understanding of Brazilian society. While visiting Recife, Vinicius met the poet João Cabral do Melo Neto, with whom he would become great friends.

1943
Again through the publisher Irmãos Pongetti, he publishes his fifth book, Cinco elegias. Enter, through competition, the diplomatic career.

1944
He works in the bureaucratic services of Itamaraty and directs the “Literary Supplement” of O Jornal, a section that had columns written by names such as Oscar Niemeyer, Pedro Nava, Carlos Leão and Lúcio Rangel, among other young intellectuals of the time.

1945
Escapes death in a serious plane crash. On November 2nd, he embarked with his friends Aníbal Machado and Moacir Werneck de Castro on the French seaplane Leonel de Marnier, flying to Buenos Aires. Despite the disaster, which resulted in one fatality, Vinicius and his friends returned to Rio de Janeiro unharmed.

1946
He assumes his first diplomatic post, as vice consul in Los Angeles, United States. He lives in Hollywood with Tati and her children Susana and Pedro. Publishes, in a deluxe edition with 22 illustrations by his friend Carlos Leão, the book Poems, sonnets and ballads.

1947
He approaches North American cinema through contact with Orson Welles and Gregg Toland. In the following years, he followed from the film set the creation of two of Welles' feature films: The Lady from Shanghai and MacBeth. With Alex Viany, he launches Film magazine, published in Brazil by Bloch Editores.

1949
Through the initiative of João Cabral de Melo Neto, his friend and also an Itamaraty employee, he publishes a special edition of fifty copies of the poem “Pátria minha”. The printing is done on the Pernambuco poet's personal press.

1950
Clodoaldo, his father, dies. Vinicius returns from Los Angeles.

1951
He marries his second wife, Lila Bôscoli, with whom he moves to an apartment on Arpoador beach, Ipanema, Rio de Janeiro. He works as a daily columnist for the newspaper Última Hora.

1952
With his cousins ??Humberto and José Franceschi, he traveled for a month through the historic cities of Minas Gerais, recording and photographing the work of the Minas Gerais artist Aleijadinho, about whom he intended to make a film. During a period in Europe, he began translating his Five Elegies into French with the French poet Jean-George Roueff.

1953
His daughter Georgiana is born. Contributes to the cultural supplement “Flan”, from the newspaper Última Hora. He heads to Paris as second secretary at the Brazilian embassy. “Cinq Élégies” is published in Paris, the French translation of his “Five elegies”. With his friend Antonio Maria, he composed the samba “ Quando tu passas por mim”. The song was recorded by Aracy de Almeida.

1954
Published by A Noite, his poetic anthology. His play Orfeu da Conceição is awarded in the theater competition of the IV Centenary of the State of São Paulo and published in Anhembi magazine.

1955
Meets film producer Sacha Gordine. Together, they develop the project of making a film based on Orfeu da Conceição. In Paris, they composed a series of chamber songs with maestro Cláudio Santoro.

1956
Their fourth daughter, Luciana, is born. He obtains an award license from Itamaraty and returns to Brazil for a brief period to edit Orfeu da Conceição. He invited the young maestro Antonio Carlos Jobim to compose the music for the show, which would feature a set by Oscar Niemeyer and direction by Leo Justi. The cast includes names like Haroldo Costa, Cyro Monteiro and Abdias Nascimento. An album is released with the themes of the play, with arrangements and conducting by Tom Jobim, guitars by Luiz Bonfá, voice by Roberto Paiva and cover art by the artist Raimundo Nogueira. At the end of the year, he returned to his diplomatic post in Paris.

1957
He is transferred from the Brazilian embassy in Paris to the Brazilian delegation at UNESCO, also in the French capital. At the end of the year he was transferred to the Brazilian embassy in Uruguay and spent a brief period in Brazil before heading to Montevideo at the beginning of the following year. He publishes the first edition of his Book of Sonnets by the Rio de Janeiro publisher Livros de Portugal.

1958
Leave for Montevideo. He marries Maria Lúcia Proença, known as Lucinha. He suffers a serious car accident in Petrópolis, but escapes unharmed. The LP Canção do amor loja, by Elizeth Cardoso, is released, with her songs in partnership with Tom Jobim.

1959
The album Chega de Saudade, by João Gilberto, was released, with the song of the same name by the duo Tom Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes, which would be acclaimed in the country during that year. Singer Lenita Bruno records the LP For all my life, just with the duo's songs. Directed by Marcel Camus and based on the play Orfeu da Conceição, the film Black Orpheus won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and the Oscar for best foreign film. He publishes New poems II, by Livraria São José. He composes with Tom Jobim, Sinfonia da Alvorada, for the inauguration of Brasília.

1960
Amid the Bossa Nova explosion, he returned definitively from Uruguay to serve in the Secretariat of Foreign Relations. Published by Editora do Autor (owned by his friends Fernando Sabino and Rubem Braga) the second edition of Antologia Poética, with additions and revisions of poems. Participates for the first time on an album as a singer. It was on the LP Bossa nova, a collection organized by Aloysio de Oliveira. Vinicius debuts singing “Pela luz dos Olhos teus”, which he wrote.

1961
He began new partnerships and began composing with the young Carlos Lyra. Published by Nuova Academia Editrice, in Milan, the Italian translation of Black Orpheus.

1962
He meets and begins to compose with Baden Powell. Performs with Tom Jobim and João Gilberto at the Au Bon Gourmet nightclub, in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro. In the same nightclub, with Carlos Lyra, he presents the show Poor rich girl, starring the young singer Nara Leão. He records his first album as a singer alongside the actress and singer Odete Lara. During the composition of the soundtrack for Sol sob a lama, a film by Alex Viany, he met Alfredo Pixinguinha, his great idol, with whom he became a partner. He also forms a partnership with Ary Barroso. Published by Editora do Autor Para viver um grande amor, the first book in which he places poems and chronicles written by him side by side.

1963
He began composing with Edu Lobo. He also composes with the young Francis Hime (who would remain his partner throughout his life) and Jards Macalé. He marries Nelita Abreu Rocha and leaves again for Paris to take up a diplomatic position with the Brazilian delegation at UNESCO.

1964
He returned to Brazil after the Military Coup and returned to regular journalism, writing weekly columns for the magazine Fatos e Fotos, as well as texts on popular music for Diário Carioca. With Dorival Caymmi and the Quarteto em Cy, he performs at the Rio nightclub Zum-Zum. The show runs for five months and becomes an album, released by the record label Elenco.

1965
“Arrastão”, a song composed with his young partner Edu Lobo and performed by a stunning Elis Regina, is chosen as the best song at the 1st National Festival of Brazilian Popular Music on TV Excelsior. Vinicius also takes second prize with “Valsa do amor que não vem”, composed with Baden Powell and performed by Elizeth Cardoso. He began working with the young director Leon Hirszman on the script for the film Girl from Ipanema. In an edition by the Documentation Service of the Ministry of Education and Culture, it releases the text of the play Cordélia e o Peregrino.

1966
The album Afro-sambas, by Vinicius and Baden Powell, was released by the Forma record label. Vinicius becomes a character in documentaries for American, German, French and Italian television. He participates alongside Gilberto Gil and Maria Bethânia in the show Pois é, with a script by Torquato Neto, Caetano Veloso and José Carlos Capinam, produced by his daughter Susana Moraes, and general direction by Nelson Xavier. Published by Editora do Autor For a girl with a flower, a book that brings together chronicles published in newspapers between 1941 and 1966.

1967
The film Girl from Ipanema, directed by Leon Hirszman, is released. He records and releases a solo album through Elenco, simply titled Vinicius, with a repertoire dedicated almost entirely to his partnerships with Baden Powell. The sixth edition of his Poetic Anthology and the second (expanded) edition of his Book of Sonnets are released by the publisher Sabiá.

1968
He lost his mother, Lydia de Moraes, on February 25th. The first edition of his poetic work is published by Companhia Aguilar Editora. The organizational work is carried out by literary critic Afrânio Coutinho. He also publishes, with his son Pedro, the book of poems and photos The Diver.

1969
After a direct order from President Arthur da Costa e Silva, Vinicius is dismissed from Itamaraty. He marries Christina Gurjão. In Lisbon, he performs alongside fado singer Amália Rodrigues. The show generates the title Amália and Vinicius. In Italy, he recorded with the singer Sergio Endrigo and with his friend and translator, the octogenarian poet Giuseppe Ungaretti, the famous album La vita, amico, è l’arte dell’incontro.

1970
Maria, Vinicius' fifth daughter, is born, with Cristina Gurjão. Starts a partnership with the young guitarist Toquinho. One of his first shows with Toquinho is in Buenos Aires, alongside singer Maria Creuza. The recording of the show is released by Diorama on the album Vinicius de Moraes en “La Fusa” with Maria Creuza y Toquinho. On tour alongside Marília Medalha and Trio Mocotó, Vinicius and Toquinho travel to thirty cities in Brazil in 45 days, playing to an extremely young audience. The tour is a huge success. Releases his collection of children's poems A Ark de Noé through Editora Sabiá. He marries the Bahian actress Gesse Gessy.

1971
Moves to Itapuã beach, in Bahia. With his partner Toquinho, he achieved great popular success with the song “Tarde em Itapuã”. He spent a season alongside Toquinho performing shows between Buenos Aires and Mar del Plata, in Argentina.

1972
In Italy, he recorded the album Per vivere un grande amore with Toquinho. The duo also releases, with Maria Creusa, the album Eu sei que vou te amar, a Brazilian version of the show that the trio performed the previous year at the Argentine nightclub La Fusa. With Marília Medalha, he released the album Marília e Vinicius – encounters and disagreements. Alongside Toquinho and Clara Nunes, they present the show O Poet, A Moça e o Guitar, at Teatro Castro Alves, in Salvador.

1973
Vinicius and Toquinho provide the soundtrack for the soap opera O bem-amado, on Rede Globo de Televisão.

1974
Vinicius and Toquinho produce another soundtrack for a Rede Globo soap opera, Fogo sobre terra. Published in a handcrafted edition, by Edições Macunaíma, Natural History by Pablo Neruda – the elegy that comes from afar.

1975
He records two albums with Toquinho in Italy: Toquinho, Vinicius de Moraes and Ornella Vanoni and The poet and the guitar, as well as another album in Brazil, entitled Vinicius e Toquinho.

1976
With Edu Lobo, he produces the soundtrack for the musical Deus him paga. He marries Argentine Marta Rodrigues Santamaria.

1977
He takes part in the show Tom, Vinicius, Toquinho and Miúcha, which runs for seven months at the Rio music venue Canecão. He went on tour with Toquinho and Maria Creusa across Europe, with shows in Italy, France and England. The album Antologia Poética is released, with poems by Vinicius recited by himself.

1978
Marries Gilda Mattoso. The documentary Vinicius, a family boy, directed by his daughter Susana Moraes, is released.

1979
At the invitation of the then São Paulo ABC union leader Luis Inácio Lula da Silva, he read his poem “Worker in construction” during an assembly at the Metalworkers Union of São Bernardo. The reading is acclaimed by trade unionists. He suffers a stroke during a flight back from a trip to Europe.

1980
He died of pulmonary edema on July 9 at his home in Gávea, Rio de Janeiro.