# Antônio Carlos Gomes (1836-1896)



## Jorge Hereth

*Antônio Carlos Gomes* (Campinas, SP: July 11, 1836 - Belém, PA: September 16, 1896), is had as Brazil's most important composer so far. It was basically him who musically placed Brazil on the world map. And he did so March 19, 1870 at the Teatro alla Scala in Milano (Mi), Italy, with the premiere of his most known opera, _Il Guarany_.

Born Monday, July 11, 1836 in a humble house at Rua da Matriz in Nova Vila de São Carlos, Province of São Paulo, Empire of Brazil - the current data are: Rua Regente Feijó in Campinas, São Paulo State, Federal Republic of Brazil - to Manuel José Gomes (known as _Maneco Músico_) and Fabiana Jaguari Cardoso Gomes, he would - like all his 25 siblings - make his first steps into music in his father's orchestra. But only he and one brother of his, José Pedro de Sant'Anna Gomes (in modern orthography _José Pedro de Santana Gomes_) would become famous as musicians. But while searching for perfection he would be working as an apprentice at a tailor's store.

At the age of 15, Carlos Gomes composes his first waltzes, quadrilles and polkas, and with 18 his first mass, the _Missa de São Sebastião_. When 21 years old he composes his famous modinha _Suspiro d'Alma_ on the words of a poem by the Portuguese Romantic poet Almeida Garrett (João Baptista da Silva Leitão de Almeida Garrett, 1799-1854).

The [i[Mass of São Sebastião[/i] as performed by Campinas Symphony Orchestra July 2005:





Suspiro d'Alma:





Despite he would become famous for his operas, Carlos Gomes also composed sacred music, hymns, modinhas, lundus (the latter two are kinds of saloon music pretty popular in 19th Century Brazil), and two revue shows which some musicologists prefer to refer to as operettas.

Round 1859, with the help of friends in São Paulo city Carlos Gomes flees from his family to Santos, SP, where he takes a steamer to Rio de Janeiro, RJ, and there matriculates at the Imperial Conservatory where he graduates with honors.


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## Jorge Hereth

Wednesday, September 04, 1861 Carlos Gomes premieres his first opera, _A Noite do Castelo_, with the libretto by Antônio José Fernandes dos Reis (1830-????) at Teatro Lírico Fluminense (former Teatro Provisório) in Rio de Janeiro, RJ, and the success is immense.

Here the Prelude to _A Noite do Castelo_, from that one on you can listen to the entire opera:





Two years later, Tuesday September 15, 1863 Gomes premieres is second opera, _Joanna de Flandres_, also known as _A Funileira_, or still as _A Volta do Cruzado_, with the libretto by Salvador de Mendonça (Salvador de Menezes Drummond Furtado de Mendonça, 1841-1913), again at the Teatro Lírico Fluminense in Rio de Janeiro, and the success is even huger.

Here the first part of _Joanna de Flandres_ as performed at Teatro Alfa in São Paulo city, SP, July 2005, the other parts you can watch from it on:





After his first two operas premiered with huge success in Rio de Janeiro (in 1861 and 1863, respectively), emperor Pedro II awards him with a 1$800:000 stipend for perfecting his techniques in composition in Germany. That seems to have been a huge amount, having in sight one would have to own a fortune of at least $400:000 to apply for the right to vote and of at least $800:000 in order to candidate for a seat in the parliament. But back to the stipend, empress Teresa Cristina was a born Neapolitan and wanted Gomes sent to Italy, Naples to be exact. Together, emperor Pedro II nominated Gomes' father master of music to the Imperial Chapel in Rio de Janeiro.

For a compromise between the imperial spouses Carlos Gomes opted for Milan where he arrived in the beginning of 1864. Not officially eligible for Milan's Conservatory any longer for already being out of age, the Conservatory's director Lauro Rossi showed so amazed with Gomes' talents that he admitted him in nevertheless. Rossi would also be of importance in protecting Gomes and recommending him to others.

In 1866 Gomes receives his diploma _summa cum laude_ in conduction and composition. And January 1st, 1867, his first composition made in Italy premieres at Teatro Fossati in Milan: the revue show _Se Sa Minga_ (= _It's Unknown_ in Milanese dialect) with the libretto by Antônio Scalvini (1835-1881). It was a huge success, despite some people joked Carlos Gomes had accidentally composed an operetta for the revue...

_Se Sa Minga_'s Overture:





_Se Sa Minga_'s title song in a simplified theater presentation:


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## Jorge Hereth

In 1868 follows the operetta, or revue show, whatever _Nella Luna_, again with a libretto by Scalvini, and Saturday March 19, 1970 with the libretto still started by Scalvini but finished by Carlo d'Ormeville (1840-1924), premieres _Il Guarany_ at Milan's Teatro alla Scala, the opera which would immortalize Antônio Carlos Gomes and put Brazil on music's world map. And at emperor Pedro II's birthday, Friday December 2, 1870, _Il Guarany_ has its Brazilian premiere at Teatro Lírico Fluminense, the former Teatro Provisório, in Rio de Janeiro. The success was such that after the presentation people carried Carlos Gomes - who was present - through Rio de Janeiro's streets in triumph.

Still in Rio de Janeiro, Gomes premieres the operetta _Telégrafo Elétrico_ and returns to Italy February 1871. Back there he marries Adelina Peri with whom he'll have five children with four of them dying early. Only his daughter Ítala is to survive.

The next years Carlos Gomes will spend his time composing, and six operas go to premiere, four in Italy and two in Brazil, with different levels of success.

Carlos Gomes was not yet entirely satisfied with something about _Il Guarany_: its start. So he removed the original Prelude and replaced it by the Protophony, the Overture he then composed for it, and this new version premiered at Teatro alla Scala Saturday, September 02, 1871 for the opening of an international industrial exposition in Milan.

Here _Il Guarany_ in its famous presentation done in Sofia, Bulgaria, in 1996:





In Sunday, February 16, 1873 the opera _Fosca_, with its libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni (1824-1893), premieres at Teatro alla Scala in Milan, but it's so unsuccessful the theater removes it from its schedule. So Carlos Gomes rewrites it and a new premiere, again at Teatro alla Scala, occurs Thursday, February 07, 1878. This time it's a success, but Carlos Gomes will rewrite it twice more until as well he as also the audience would be satisfied, with the respective premieres Sunday, February 10, 1889 at Teatro Comunale in Modena, and at a day not found out yet which in November 1890 in Milan again, but that time at Teatro Dal Verme.

Here _Fosca_ as performed at Sofia Opera House in 1997:





Succesful again is Carlos Gomes next opera, premiered Saturday, March 21, 1874 in Genova at Teatro Carlo Felice, and with its libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni (1824-1893): _Salvator Rosa_. That one was a better success again.

You can hear the _Salvator Rosa_ Overture here, and from there on the following parts of the opera:





Gomes back to the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, his next opera is _Maria Tudor_, which lots of enthusiasts have as Carlos Gomes' very masterpiece, and it premieres Thursday, March 27, 1879. But _Maria Tudor_ had a difficult birth. Not the queen, but the opera what I'm talking about. It needed four librettists to work on it, Emilio Praga (1839-1875), Arroigo Boito (1842-1918), Ferdinando Fontana (1850-1919), and in the end Angelo Zanardini (1820-1893), until there'd come out something one could call a suitable libretto. Then the orchestra complained the score were too complicated and they wouldn't play, but the conductor solved that one with some additional essays and had them playing. And its premiere: a complete desaster.

Carlos Gomes is said to have been walking around in his cabin, smoking one cigar after the other, observing the audience and after seeing the result unable to leave his bed for two days. Several friends of his, musicians themselves, told him the music was too advanced and the audience would need another two or three times to get used to that opera. Besides, they also told him the premiere's reaction was predictable, him and the librettists having chosen a theater piece by Victor Hugo as the opera's base despite the anti-French feelings in Italy at that time... Nevertheless, Teatro alla Scala would basically keep _Maria Tudor_ in that opera season, and two days later, March 29, was the next performance. It was a major success as hardly ever seen. Gomes' friends had been right and the audience had learned something new had definitively shown up in Italian opera.

Here _Maria Tudor_ as performed at Sofia Opera House in 1998 (wished Bulgaria had cameramen just as great as their opera professionals LOL):





Carlos Gomes' next opera to be executed is _Lo Schiavo_, _The Slave_, with its libretto by Rodolfo Paravicini (1828-1900), and which for several reasons could not be presented in Italy. So it premiered Friday, September 27, 1889 at Imperial Teatro D. Pedro II, some seven weeks later renamed into Teatro Lírico, in Rio de Janeiro. At the very date of the premiere, it was one year, four months and fourteen days Brazil had abolished slavery, and 49 days were lacking for Brazil to dethrone the emperor and proclaim the Republic. So if a premiere in Italy had been impossible, in Brazil mentality was right under measure for receiving _Lo Schiavo_.

And here _Lo Schiavo_ as placed in scene by Teatro da Paz in Belém, PA (Brazil), in 1999:


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## Jorge Hereth

It was again Teatro alla Scala in Milan inscenate Saturday, February 21, 1891, Gomes' next and - for the time being - last opera to be premiered: _Condor_ also known as _Odaléa_ and _Odaleia_, with its libretto by Mario Canti, a guy I could not find out anything but his libretto authorship for _Condor_. Maybe somebody from Italy here might be helpful to me?

Here the Prelude of _Condor_, or _Odaléa_, with the remaing parts to be listened from it on:





For the last Carlos Gomes opera, _Colombo_, he wouldnt make it to get it to the opera. Wednesday, October 12, 1892, Rio de Janeiro's Teatro Lírico (former Imperial Teatro D. Pedro II) would premiere his Vocal-Symphonic Poem in 4 parts _Colombo_ within the celebrations of the 4th Centenary of the American Continent's discovery. A libretto had been written by an Italian who had signed it under the pseudonym Albino Falanca, but it's known that as a matter of a fact that guy was Angelo Zanardini (1820-1893), the same one who had already completed the libretto to Maria Tudor. Nevertheless, there are suspicions the librettist might have been Aníbal Falcão who for being a politician could not sign it, or even by Carlos Gomes himself.

Here _Colombo_ as broadcasted from Rio de Janeiro's Teatro Municipal in 1972:





For _Colombo_ as the very opera Carlos Gomes had planned to do, we must be thankful to Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959) who was so kind to do the job and premiere it October 27, 1936 at Teatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro. Regrettably that one's unfindable.

In 1890 or 91 Carlos Gomes is diagnosed with an evil tongue and throat cancer. He returns to Brazil, accompanies a Brazilian committee to Chicago, IL (USA) in 1892, once more back to Brazil he returns to Italy as for his 1863 stipend by the former emperor and for having lived in another monarchy (Italy) he won't be welcome to the Republic's music world. But the diagnoses by Italian doctors make him decide to give up his life in Italy and to die in Brazil. Meanwhile Carlos Gomes receives an invitation from Pará state's governer Lauro Sodré (1858-1944): the governor had founded a conservatory in Belém, PA, and was willing to give its entire direction to Gomes. So 1894/95 he leaves Italy forever, heading to Lisbon (Portugal) by train. But he won't make it to the ship for the time being. April 8, 1895 he suffers the first surgical intervention for his tongue cancer. The surgery is not successful, the doctors don't want to hear about him leaving, but Gomes does not want to hear about staying. He takes a ship to Brazil and assumes the direction of the State Conservatory in Belém in the measure he's still able to work. He deceases in Belém do Pará Wednesday, September 16, 1896.

Últimos Dias de Carlos Gomes - Intendência Municipal de Belém

His body is nowadays buried at Largo do Carmoin Campinas.

To finish this post, three recordings of Antônio Carlos Gomes' famous song _Quem Sabe?_ (=_Who Knows?_) which in 1859 he wrote on the words of a poem by Francisco Leite de Bittencourt Sampaio (1834-1895) after having lost a woman called Ambrosia, who appears to have been the love of his life, to marriage. Of that one:

1. Here a conservative recording by Adriana de Almeida:





2. Here a Sertanejo (= Brazilian Country Music) way recording by Ricardo Machado:





3. Here a more modern style recording from 1969 by Brazilian chansonnier Agnaldo Timóteo:


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## GioCar

I regret of not being able to listen to the YT samples you provided , at least till next week when I'll be back home.

Shame on me...although born and living in Milan, I've never heard of _Se sa minga_ before (and never listen to _il Guarany_, not to speak of his other works...)

Thanks a lot for introducing me to Carlos Gomes!

:tiphat:


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## Jorge Hereth

Come on GioCar, I know Italy is in plain summer holidays while at our end of the world here we're slightly starting to get out of winter... I pretty could need a tin of Nastro Azzurro somewhere in Olbia, Sassari, Santa Teresa di Gallura or Cagliari at a sound by Lucio Dalla, Led Zeppelin, Verdi or Carlos Gomes right now...

And next week is not too much time, right? By the way, about Carlos Gomes, I've found a German one page only publication - you read German or have someone to tell you what it says? - written by a woman called Chris Tina Tengel: Zwei Opern-"Italiener" aus Brasilien, in which she makes a very good description of Carlos Gomes and Antônio Francisco Braga (1868-1945), another guy worth a thread.

While several Brazilian authors on Carlos Gomes use to claim he stayed for too much time in Romanticism, Tengel hears his operas much more in a way of Carlos Gomes being already preparing the track to Verism. She even goes as far to state:
"_An interesting phenomenon: Sometimes Antônio Carlos Gomes' music already sounds after 'Verism' despite Mascagni, Leoncavallo, Puccini had not even entered the ring yet_". And a paragraph before she already refers to _Lo Schiavo_ as Verism the Brazilian way, if I've understood her right.

Well, you never listened to _Il Guarany_ before, here two more awesome presentations of it:

1. About this one here recorded in Bonn (Germany) in 1994, Brazilian newspapers stated Europe was rediscovering Carlos Gomes; a bit exaggerated maybe, but at least Bulgarians did, as you can see from the videos in my starting thread posts, where you can see three very presentable _Il Guarany_ videos being Bulgarian productions. Now here that German recording; audio only I regret, but with Plácido Domingo, Veronica Villaroel and Carlos Álvarez, and with Brazilian conductor, John Neschling:





2. And this one - just say WOW! - an awesome presentation made up by Teatro da Paz in Belém, PA (Brazil), in August 2007; note the museum scenery with a Carlos Gomes statue in the back the presentation is started with:


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## Sloe

There is also this video of Fosca from 1973:


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## Jorge Hereth

Famous that one! It was filmed and transmitted by São Paulo's TV Cultura in 1973. It has also been released as a record at that time, you can download it here: (4) Fosca (1973-Belardi).

By the way, TV Cultura apparently have lost their films of the presentation.

And a curitosity: Teatro Municipal de São Paulo had already done that presentation in 1966. When comparing the infos, you'll realize only Sérgio Albertini had been replaced by Zaccaria Marques for the 1973; even the 1966 stage scenery has been reused.

For the 1966 presentation, it has been recorded and released on LPs at that time:


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