Early life Chiquinha Gonzaga was born in Rio de Janeiro, from a
pardo mother and a wealthy
white father – after she was born her father became a
marshal. Her godfather was
Luís Alves de Lima e Silva, Duke of Caxias. For her mother, a mestizo and poor woman, the birth of Chiquinha was a very difficult, in part because of the risk that the father would not recognize the paternity of her daughter. Indeed, José Basileu, the military promising career, from a wealthy family, suffered from the pressure of his parents, who were against his marriage with Rosa. Despite these disagreements, he accepted the child as his daughter and married. Like all girls of a military family in the 19th century, Chiquinha Gonzaga was very well educated. Her father, very strict with her education, prepared her for a successful future: a good marriage that would raise her to the category of "lady". She learned to read and write, do maths and primarily play the piano. Therefore, the music became her sole purpose in life. At age 11, she composed her first musical work, the song "Canção dos Pastores", in a Christmas celebration. In Brazil in the late 19th century, women were often seen on a quasi role of slave; few dared to defy their parents and husbands; when that happened, they were quickly sent to reformatories and convents. However, since 1808 with the
arrival of the Royal Family in Brazil, women began to circulate more in the streets, dancing in receptions, to come to parties at theater and opera.
Rio de Janeiro in those times was already turning into a metropolitan center, gradually growing according to the development of external trade. The usages and consumption were modified. The port of Rio de Janeiro became the financial and commercial center of the
Empire, which were trading coffee, slaves and foreign goods that fascinated the new consumers. The city now had the appearance of a European city. Even with all these social changes, manners were not so advanced. For the young Chiquinha, nothing had changed: she always had to obey the orders of her father.
Marriage and family In 1863, at age 16, Francisca married Jacinto Ribeiro do Amaral, a young man of 24 and an official of the Imperial Navy. Francisca had received the gift of a piano from her father, as a wedding gift. Jacinto do Amareal was chosen by her father to marry Chiquinha even though she had expressed her disagreement with this arranged marriage. Unable to withstand the life on the ship where her husband served (and where he spent more time than with his family), his psychological and physical abuses and humiliation, because he did not agree that she would pursue a musical career, Chiquinha left her husband and asked for divorce, a scandal at the time. She took with her their eldest son, João Gualberto (born in 1864). Her husband, however, did not let Chiquinha take her younger children: their daughter, Maria do Patrocínio (born in 1865) and their other son, Hilário (born in 1867). After leaving her husband, Chiquinha was “declared dead and of unpronounceable name” by her father. In 1870, Chiquinha moved to
Minas Gerais with the engineer João Batista de Carvalho, with whom she had a daughter, Maria Alice (born in 1876). As Chiquinha could not accept his extra-marital betrayals, she split and again lost a daughter. João Batista did not let Chiquinha keep Maria Alice. In 1876, Chiquinha Gonzaga, 29 years old, lived in Rio de Janeiro with her eldest son, João Gualberto, to work as an independent musician and initiate her successful career as a pianist and composer. In 1899, after decades dedicated mainly to her music, Chiquinha met João Batista Fernandes Lage, a young Portuguese musician. They fell in love but the age difference was too large and would cause more prejudice and suffering in the life of Chiquinha. She was 52 years old and João Batista Fernandes Lage was only 16. Chiquinha adopted him as a son in order to be able to live this great love. This decision was taken to avoid the scandals regarding her own children and the society of the time, and to not affect her brilliant career. For this reason also, Chiquinha and João Batista moved to
Lisbon (
Portugal) where they lived several years away from the acquaintances in Rio de Janeiro. At first, her children did not accept the couple, but soon they realized the importance of João Batista for Chiquinha's music and life. After a few years, the couple returned to Brazil without arousing any suspicions to be living as husband and wife. Chiquinha never admitted publicly her relationship with João Batista, which was only discovered after his death, through letters and photos of the couple. She died in 1935, during the beginning of a new
Carnival. She was buried in the cemetery of São Francisco de Paula, district of Catumbi, in Rio de Janeiro. == Career ==