Chiquinha Gonzaga

Chiquinha Gonzaga (1847–1935) was a Brazilian composer, pianist, and conductor whose popular music helped shape choro and whose carnival march “Ó Abre Alas” became a landmark of Brazilian popular music.

Joaquim Antônio da Silva Callado: A Brazilian flutist and composer, widely regarded as a founder of choro. His ensembles and compositions helped establish the musical world Gonzaga entered.
Ó Abre Alas: A 1899 carnival march by Chiquinha Gonzaga, often regarded as Brazil’s first marchinha de carnaval. This enduring song is the clearest example of her influence on carnival music.
Choro: A Brazilian instrumental music genre known for intricate melodies, syncopation, and virtuosic ensemble playing. Gonzaga composed and performed within the urban musical culture that helped choro take shape.
Sociedade Brasileira de Autores Teatrais: A Brazilian organization founded in 1917 to protect the rights of theatrical authors and composers. Gonzaga helped found the society to defend creators’ rights to payment for their work.
Ernesto Nazareth: A Brazilian pianist and composer whose works joined European dance forms with Brazilian rhythms. Like Gonzaga, he brought urban Brazilian music into concert and piano repertories.
Forrobodó: A Brazilian musical comedy with a score by Chiquinha Gonzaga and a libretto by Carlos Bettencourt and Luís Peixoto. Its popular success demonstrated Gonzaga’s ability to write for the urban musical theater.
Maxixe: A Brazilian partner dance and musical style that developed in the late nineteenth century. Its syncopated rhythms connect Gonzaga’s theater and dance music with Brazil’s changing popular sound.
Copyright: A legal framework granting creators rights over the reproduction and use of their original works. Her advocacy for composers’ compensation linked her musical career to Brazil’s emerging copyright institutions.
Darius Milhaud: A French composer whose music drew extensively on Brazilian rhythms and melodies. His later international interest in Brazilian music reflects the reach of the tradition Gonzaga helped popularize.
Atraente: A polka by Chiquinha Gonzaga, published in 1877 and associated with the early history of choro. Its reception helped establish her reputation as a composer of popular piano music.

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History of Rio de JaneiroRelated: Her career reflects the city’s musical culture during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.