Born in Rio de Janeiro, Vinicius de Moraes was one of the most important Brazilian artists. Over his nearly 67 years, he has created an array of memorable literary and musical productions. In addition to one of the most famous names in Brazilian Popular Music (MPB), was a writer, poet, journalist, film critic, diplomat and much more. In short, he was one of the great names in Brazilian culture in the 20th century.
Vinicius de Moraes is also known as “little poet", nickname given by your great partner Tom Jobim, with whom he wrote the most famous Brazilian music in the world and one of the icons of Bossa nova, “Girl from Ipanema”.
See too: Brazilian culture: habits, customs and influences
Biography
Marcus Vinicius da Cruz de Melo Moraes was born on the day October 19, 1913, in the Jardim Botânico neighborhood, in the South Zone of the Rio de Janeiro. At the age of three, his family moved to the neighborhood of Botafogo.
The artist's parents were called Clodoaldo Pereira da Silva Moraes, civil servant and poet, and Lydia Cruz de Moraes, pianist. He had three brothers: Lygia, Helius and Laetitia.
Poetry began to flow early in the veins of the man who nine yearsstarted to write putbut. According to studies, the verses were written for a girl. At the age of 15, he composed his first songs. The following year, the artist graduated with a bachelor's degree in Letters at Colégio Santo Inácio.
![Vinicius de Moraes is better known as the “little poet”. [1]](/f/0ffaaaaf5847d0e01eb815ade12abde7.jpg)
In the late 1920s, Vinicius joined the course in Right of the National College of Rio de Janeiro, today the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). He completed the course in 1933, the year he released his first book: the way into the distance.
From the 1930s onwards, the writer began to attend literary and bohemian circles in Rio de Janeiro. At that time, he met the poets Carlos Drummond de Andrade and Manuel Bandeira. The latter became one of his best friends throughout his life.
"Life is the art of meeting, although there is so much mismatch for life.” (Vinicius de Moraes)
In 1938, Vinicius de Moraes won a British Council scholarship to study English Literature at Magdalen College, Oxford University, UK.
In 1943, the artist passed a competition from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Itamaraty) to act as a diplomat. He has worked in the United States, France and Uruguay. However, in 1969, at the behest of President Arthur Costa Silva, he was dismissed along with other employees for not being aligned with the Dictatorship Military.
Know more:Costa e Silva government - period of greatest repression of the Military Dictatorship
Personality
Those who lived with Vinicius de Moraes said he was a sweet, loving person, not only with women but with friends. A characteristic remembered by acquaintances was that he liked to use the words in the diminutive.
The little poet was happy, friendly and had a sense of humor verified. From a young age, he joined the bohemian lifestyle, carefree, unconventional, with irreverent habits. A frequent visitor to several cultural spots in Rio, such as bars, he participated in literary and musical circles.
Vinicius de Moraes found it very easy to make friends. He strengthened friendship ties with great names in Brazilian literature and music and even with foreigners, such as the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda and the American filmmaker Orson Welles, Movie's director citizen Kane.
According to studies, the bathroom was the favorite place of the artist's house. He even liked to write sitting in his bathtub.
Also according to surveys, Vinicius I loved to cook. he also liked smoke and drink whiskey. The artist said that this drink was the most “noblest”, and he defined it as man's best friend. “It's the bottled dog,” he used to say.
Love life
Vinicius was married nine times. romantic and seductive, the little poet used various artifices to conquer women. Friends of the time claimed that when he fell in love it was for real.
The spouses of Vinicius de Moraes were: Beatriz Azevedo (Tati), Regina Pederneira, Lila Bôscoli, Maria Lúcia Proença, Nellita de Abreu, Cristina Gurjão, Gesse Gessy, Marta Rodrigues, and the last one, to whom he was married until his death, Gilda Bushy.
The artist had five children: Susana and Pedro (sons of Beatriz), Georgiana and Luciana (daughters of Maria Proença) and Maria (daughter of Cristina).
Read too: Five love poems by Vinícius de Moraes
Death
Vinicius de Moraes died in on July 9, 1980, because of a pulmonary edema. Reports say that he was found in his bathtub, lifeless, by his musical partner Toquinho.
Constructions
Considered one of the most important Brazilian artists, Vinicius de Moraes was a writer, lyricist, diplomat, playwright, singer, literary and film critic, among others. His extensive work is recognized worldwide.
Most of Vinicius' poetry talks about the love, at women and the friends, but there are some that deal with national themes.
![Vinicius de Moraes composed several MPB songs. [2]](/f/3819ab09995c59381e3a70de3b2c6897.jpg)
Check out the most remembered poetry by Vinicius de Moraes of all times, written for his first wife:
Faithfulness Sonnet (1939)
From everything to my love I will be attentive
Before, and with such zeal, and always, and so much
That even in the face of the greatest charm
Of him my thoughts become more enchanted.
I want to live it in every moment
And in your praise I will spread my song
And laugh my laugh and shed my tears
Your grief or your contentment
And so, when you come to me later
Who knows the death, anguish of those who live
Who knows loneliness, end of those who love
I can tell myself about the love (that I had):
That it is not immortal, since it is flame
But let it be infinite while it lasts.
Also know the main poems by Vinicius de Moraes:
To a woman (1933)
Separation Sonnet (1938)
Tenderness (1938)
My homeland (1949)
The happiness
Total Love Sonnet (1951)
The Rose of Hiroshima (1954)
Women's Recipe (1959)
Poem of the Beloved's Eyes (1959)
The verb in infinity (1962)
Noah's Ark (1970)
See also the main poetry books by Vinicius de Moraes:
Form and Exegesis (1935)
Ariana the Woman (1936)
Five Elegies (1943)
Poems, sonnets and ballads (1946)
Poetic Anthology (1954)
Book of Sonnets (1957)
Noah's Ark (1970)
Other works
Journalism
In 1939, Vinicius started working as a journalist, working at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in London. In 1940, he began writing a column about cinema for the newspaper A Manhã.
In the 40s and 50s, he also worked in newspapers and magazines, such as: O Jornal, Diário Carioca, Diretrizes, A Vanguarda, Última Hora, and Fatos e Fotos. The artist also wrote for weeklies such as: Flan, Senhor, and Pasquim.
Throughout his career as a journalist, Vinicius produced several prose texts on Brazilian daily life, which were compiled in these books:
To live a great love (1962)
For a Girl with a Flower (1966)
theater
the play Orpheus of the Conception, based on the Greek myth Orpheus, is a milestone in the history of Vinicius de Moraes. This was the first work he did with the musician Tom Jobim, starting a fruitful and very rewarding partnership, one of the most important in MPB.
According to studies, in just 15 days both produced the entire soundtrack of the show, with iconic songs such as “Lamento do morro” and “If everyone were equal to you”.
The play premiered on September 25 at the Municipal Theater in Rio de Janeiro. Some friends of Vinicius and important names in Brazilian culture collaborated so that the project had considerable success. One of the friends was the architect Oscar Niemeyer,that stayed responsible for the scenario.
According to surveys, in the play Orpheus of the Conception it was the first time that black actors stepped on stage at the Teatro Municipal. The play became a movie and won the Palme d'Or of 1959 at the Cannes Film Festival and the Best Foreign Film award at the oscar and in the Golden Globe of 1960.
Read too: Tom Jobim's life and work
MPB
Vinicius de Moraes will always be remembered as one of the main names in MPB. The song “Chega de saudade”, for example, with its striking guitar beat, became world famous and became another of the symbols of bossa nova songs.
In 1965, the artist composed, together with Edu Lobo, the song “Arrastão”. Performed by Elis Regina, the song won TV Record's First National Festival of Brazilian Popular Music.
See MPB classics written by Vinicius de Moraes with partners:
I know I will love you (1959)
Folly (1961)
Girl from Ipanema (1962)
Samba da benção (1967)
Afternoon in Itapoã (1970)
By the light of your eyes
The Tonga of Mironga do Kabuletê (1970)
The house (1980)
Watercolor (1983)
girl from ipanema
Along with Tom Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes definitely put his name on the Brazilian Popular Music with the song “Girl from Ipanema”, which became the greatest anthem of bossa nova.
Jobim created some sketches of the song's lyrics and showed them to his friend Vinícius, who also made some tidbits. Thus, in 1962, the famous song was born.
Check out the video for “Girl from Ipanema”:
The song's lyrics are true and were inspired by Helô Pinheiro, a young woman who passed in front of the Veloso bar, in Ipanema, literally “on her way to the sea”.
The song “Girl from Ipanema” was recorded over 200 timesaround the world. There are even music scholars who say that this was the second most played song in the 20th century, second only to the Beatles' song “Yesterday”.
Partnership with Toquinho
In addition to the famous friendship he had with Tom Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes established another long and fruitful partnership with musician Antonio Pecci Filho, known as toquinho. They were presented in Italy, in 1970, through the singer and composer Chico Buarque.
The then young Toquinho, aged just 23, followed the little poet for 11 years, until his death. Together, they performed several shows, especially in 1975 and 1976, and over 15 albums, including the iconic Ark of Noah, geared towards children.
![Vinicius de Moraes and Toquinho, in 1973 [3]](/f/8072eb14463319ad92bfb108c1525135.jpg)
Released in October 1980, practically three months after the poet's death, the album Noah's Ark it is the materialization of an old dream of him and Toquinho. The songs were interpreted by big names in MPB, such as Chico Buarque, Milton Nascimento, Elis Regina, Ney Matogrosso, among others.
Other highlights of the partnership between Vinicius de Moraes and Toquinho are the production of soundtracks for soap operas the beloved, from Rede Globo, and our daughter Gabriela, from TV Tupi, in 1972. The following year, they made a version of the Brazilian adaptation of the musical Jesus Christ superstar.
See too:Toquinho Biography
Tributes
Until 1980, a street in the Ipanema neighborhood, in the South Zone of Rio de Janeiro, was called Montenegro, but after Vinicius de Moraes died, it was named after him. The street lined with bars and restaurants is also home to Toca do Vinicius, a record store specializing in Bossa Nova.
In addition, on the corner of Vinicius de Moraes and Prudente de Morais street, you will find the former Veloso bar (today, Girl from Ipanema bar), where the poetinha and Tom Jobim created the famous homonymous song. The bar has a decor inspired by the theme and is very popular, especially by tourists.
When he was married to the Bahian actress Gessy Gesse, Vinicius de Moraes lived for about six years on Itapuã beach, in Salvador (BA). As a way to honor him for his 90 years, in 2003 a sculpture of Vinicius seated, in bronze and in life size, was created in a square on the site. Tourists take the opportunity to take pictures with the monument.
Image credit
[1] Public domain / Wikimedia Commons
[2] Public domain / National Archives Collection
[3] Public domain / National Archives Collection
By Silvia Tancredi
Journalist
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/biografia/vinicius-moraes.htm