Antônio Carlos Gomes

Carlos Gomes fototipia)

Antônio Carlos Gomes was born in Campinas on 11 July, 1836, and from an early age, he showed an interest in music, encouraged by his father, Manuel José Gomes, who was also a musician. As a young man, he divided his time between working as a tailor and studying music. 

At the age of 15, he began composing waltzes, polkas, and quadrilles. By the time he turned 18, he had gained recognition with the composition of his first mass, the Missa de São Sebastião. This work, that he dedicated to his father, was imbued with mysticism. In 1857, he released A Cayumba, one of the first classical pieces to incorporate rhythms from African dances into the structure of a ballroom polka.

When he was still young, he moved to Rio de Janeiro to study at the Imperial Conservatory of Music, where he was mentored by renowned masters such as Francisco Manuel da Silva, the composer of the Brazilian National Anthem. In 1861, he premiered his first major work, A Noite do Castelo, at the Lyrico Fluminense Theater, based on the work of Antônio Feliciano de Castilho. Carlos Gomes was acclaimed by an enthusiastic crowd, and Emperor Dom Pedro II, also impressed by the young composer’s success, honored him with the Imperial Order of the Rose.

Carlos Gomes’s talent quickly captivated the court. In 1863, he presented his second opera, Joana de Flandres, with a libretto by Salvador de Mendonça, which also achieved great success. In recognition of his talent, he was selected to receive a scholarship to study in Europe, funded by the National Lyric Opera Company as part of a contract with the Imperial Government.

It is said that Dom Pedro II would have preferred Carlos Gomes to study in Germany, where the maestro, Richard Wagner was prominent, but the Empress, Dona Teresa Cristina, a Neapolitan, suggested Italy instead. Under Pedro II’s patronage, he was admitted to the Milan Conservatory, where, in 1866, he graduated as a master and composer, earning the highest praise from critics and professors alike.

He lived in Milan, but he never forgot Brazil. He was looking for inspiration for a work that would firmly establish his reputation when one afternoon in 1867, while walking through Piazza del Duomo, he heard a boy shouting, “Il Guarany! Il Guarany! Storia interessante dei selvaggi del Brasile!” The poor Italian translation of José de Alencar’s novel piqued the maestro’s interest and at that moment, the idea for his most famous work was born.

Partitura de “O Guarani”, ou “Il Guarany”

The libretto, in Italian, was written by Antonio Scalvini and Carlo D’Ormeville. The opera is important as it was the first Brazilian opera to be acclaimed outside Brazil. O Guarani is revered for its rich orchestration, inspired melodies, and integration of elements of Brazilian Indigenous music, solidifying its reputation as a unique work in the operatic repertoire. The opera followed a contemporary trend in Europe of curiosity about foreign peoples and customs.

O Guarani premiered at Teatro Alla Scala in Milan in 1870. Giuseppe Verdi, who had been an inspiration to the young Carlos Gomes, is said to have remarked that evening: “Questo giovane comincia dove finisco io!” (“This young man begins where I leave off!”). Its overture was later used as the theme for the radio program A Voz do Brasil.

After the end of the Monarchy, the government of the newly established Republic offered Carlos Gomes the sum of 20,000 réis to compose a new national anthem. However, the maestro refused out of respect for the deposed emperor, his friend and patron, who was in exile at that time.

In April 1896, already gravely ill, Carlos Gomes returned to Brazil and took up the role of director at the Carlos Gomes Conservatory in Belém do Pará. He passed away shortly afterwards, on 16 September. The maestro is the patron of seat number 15 at the Brazilian Academy of Music and his name was inscribed in the Livro dos Heróis e Heroínas da Pátria on 26 December, 2017.

Carlos Gomes’s legacy was recognized by UNESCO in 2017 when his work was included in the International Register of the Memory of the World (MOW) Program. For all these reasons, Carlos Gomes is one of the most honored musicians in Brazil. 

In 1959, at the suggestion of the baritone, Paulo Fortes, a proposal was put forward to place a statue of Brazilian composer Carlos Gomes in front of the Rio do Janeiro Municipal Theater, replacing the statue of Frédéric Chopin, which had been placed there in 1939. The monument was intended to mark the beginning of the 1960 national opera season. The statue was unveiled on 16 January, 1960 and was funded by the Secretariat of Transportation and Public Works of the Federal District and installed by the engineer, Elsa Osborne.

The monument is a replica of a statue created by Rodolfo Bernardelli and installed in Largo do Carmo in Campinas, the maestro’s hometown. Bernardelli depicted Carlos Gomes at the end of a performance, signaling the orchestra to be silent for the audience to applaud. Interestingly, inside the Municipal Theater, there is a bronze bust of Carlos Gomes, also sculpted by Bernardelli. It is in the hall leading to the first-floor seating area. There is another bust in his honor on Paquetá Island, as well as a theater named after him located in Praça Tiradentes.

The location of Carlos Gomes’s statue in Cinelândia, an iconic center of cultural life in Rio de Janeiro, emphasizes the impact of his work, the significance of his contribution to Brazilian culture, and his recognition both in Brazil and abroad.