Vinicius de Moraes
Marcus Vinitius da Cruz e Mello Moraes was a poet, a diplomat, a composer of songs and a writer of lyrics. His presence in Brazil’s musical scenery was outstanding, as was that of his partners Antonio Carlos Jobim, Baden Powell, Edu Lobo, Carlos Lyra, Toquinho and several others.
This is not a biography of Vinicius, which can be easily found. It is rather a collection of things that happened in his life and that I can assure you are all true – either I saw them happen or I was told them by close personal friends.
José Marques da Costa (Zequinha) was one of Vinicius’ very special friends; whenever he came to São Paulo he would stay at Zequinha’s house. Both Zequinha and his wife Regina were also very special friends of my wife and I.
Whenever Vinicius came to São Paulo, Regina would call my wife on the phone and say, “Vinicius is here. Please come and join us.” So we would drive to Zequinha’s beautiful apartment and spend many hours enjoying the company of these friends. We would arrive about 9 or 10 PM and stay as long as there was music. I remember that on one occasion we went home at noon on the following day. Very often there would be other people present, people like Baden Powell, Toquinho, Francis Hime... Very often we would hear their songs before they were recorded.
I remember a night in which Vinicius and I were talking about marriages – he had 9 wives. “The difficult thing,” he told me, “is that I had to buy five collections of Encyclopedia Britannica ...” In this age of computers and internet having an Encyclopedia Britannica at home is definitely unessential, but during his life span one could not live without it.
I think that this topic will give you an idea of how “detached” this people were. In 1964 Vinicius and Carlos Lyra decided to write a musical, named “Pobre Menina Rica (Poor Rich Girl).” They wrote the songs but never wrote the dialogues. But they decided to exhibit it anyway. In a small theater in Copacabana, Vinicius narrated the story and a group of singers, including Carlos Lyra, sang the songs, which were then recorded. One night, in my home, I played this record to Regina and Zequinha. A week later Zequinha asked me: “Can you make three cassette recordings of ‘Pobre Menina Rica?’ I do not have it, Vinicius does not have it and Carlos Lyra does not have it...”
Vinicius was a close friend of Pablo Neruda, the famous Chilean poet. Zequinha told me of a night in Rio in which Neruda, Vinicius and Zequinha got together for a few drinks. Then Vinicius invited another friend, Brazilian singer Ciro Monteiro, to join the group. Ciro was a specialist in clichés, those ready made sentences about poor philosophical subjects. And Neruda hated clichés. And every time Neruda said something Ciro would add a cliché. Approximately one hour after Ciro joined the group Neruda pulled Vinicius apart and said, “I can’t stand this guy any more!” Ciro, Vinicius and Zequinha laughed and laughed, which made Neruda understand that they had really been harassing him.
It was also in Rio that a journalist found Vinicius in a bar, sipping some scotch, and decided to interview him. Vinicius was quite addicted to scotch whisky, he considered it “man’s second best friend, a dog in a bottle.”
They talked and talked, till Vinicius looked at his watch and said, “Oh, my God, it is past midnight. I am late!”
“Do you want me to take you home?”
“Oh, no, I am not at home. I am at the Samaritan Hospital. I am receiving a detoxicating treatment, they think I am drinking too much.”
Regina witnessed an occasion in which Vinicius was being visited by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Chico Buarque de Holanda. All of a sudden he took his guitar and began to play “Eurydice’s Waltz,” a beautiful composition for which he wrote words and music. It is one of the compositions of a wonderful play, “Orfeu da Conceição,” that Vinicius wrote and the music – except “Eurydice’s Waltz – was composed by Jobim. Hearing the waltz, Jobim and Chico had one of those brief moments of envy, the good type of envy, and cried out together: “You do not know one single music note, how could you compose this?”
Zequinha enjoyed producing shows, and organized a special night dedicated to Vinicius in São Paulo’s Municipal Theater. He asked a famous Brazilian musician, Radamés Gnatalli, to orchestrate Eurydice’s Waltz for a symphony orchestra and invited Baden Powell as the guitar soloist. At the rehearsal Zequinha noticed that the musicians of the State Symphony Orchestra were not happy to play a “popular” song. Their faces showed very clearly that they were disliking their task. But the orchestration was beautiful and Baden was a fantastic guitar player and very gradually the musicians’ faces changed to admiration as they began to play this beautiful waltz with enthusiasm.
Zequinha was starting to write a play called “The Poet and the Sailor,” to honor Vinicius and our great composer of songs of the sea, Dorival Caymmi. I was supposed to be the narrator.
But the play was never completed. Regina and Zequinha died in a car accident.
We will never forget Regina, Zequinha, Vinicius. They remain a part of our lives. A part filled with friendliness, and companionship, and music.
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| Vinicius de Moraes - (Ricardo Alfieri, via Wikimedia Commons) |
José Marques da Costa (Zequinha) was one of Vinicius’ very special friends; whenever he came to São Paulo he would stay at Zequinha’s house. Both Zequinha and his wife Regina were also very special friends of my wife and I.
Whenever Vinicius came to São Paulo, Regina would call my wife on the phone and say, “Vinicius is here. Please come and join us.” So we would drive to Zequinha’s beautiful apartment and spend many hours enjoying the company of these friends. We would arrive about 9 or 10 PM and stay as long as there was music. I remember that on one occasion we went home at noon on the following day. Very often there would be other people present, people like Baden Powell, Toquinho, Francis Hime... Very often we would hear their songs before they were recorded.
I remember a night in which Vinicius and I were talking about marriages – he had 9 wives. “The difficult thing,” he told me, “is that I had to buy five collections of Encyclopedia Britannica ...” In this age of computers and internet having an Encyclopedia Britannica at home is definitely unessential, but during his life span one could not live without it.
I think that this topic will give you an idea of how “detached” this people were. In 1964 Vinicius and Carlos Lyra decided to write a musical, named “Pobre Menina Rica (Poor Rich Girl).” They wrote the songs but never wrote the dialogues. But they decided to exhibit it anyway. In a small theater in Copacabana, Vinicius narrated the story and a group of singers, including Carlos Lyra, sang the songs, which were then recorded. One night, in my home, I played this record to Regina and Zequinha. A week later Zequinha asked me: “Can you make three cassette recordings of ‘Pobre Menina Rica?’ I do not have it, Vinicius does not have it and Carlos Lyra does not have it...”
Vinicius was a close friend of Pablo Neruda, the famous Chilean poet. Zequinha told me of a night in Rio in which Neruda, Vinicius and Zequinha got together for a few drinks. Then Vinicius invited another friend, Brazilian singer Ciro Monteiro, to join the group. Ciro was a specialist in clichés, those ready made sentences about poor philosophical subjects. And Neruda hated clichés. And every time Neruda said something Ciro would add a cliché. Approximately one hour after Ciro joined the group Neruda pulled Vinicius apart and said, “I can’t stand this guy any more!” Ciro, Vinicius and Zequinha laughed and laughed, which made Neruda understand that they had really been harassing him.
It was also in Rio that a journalist found Vinicius in a bar, sipping some scotch, and decided to interview him. Vinicius was quite addicted to scotch whisky, he considered it “man’s second best friend, a dog in a bottle.”
They talked and talked, till Vinicius looked at his watch and said, “Oh, my God, it is past midnight. I am late!”
“Do you want me to take you home?”
“Oh, no, I am not at home. I am at the Samaritan Hospital. I am receiving a detoxicating treatment, they think I am drinking too much.”
Regina witnessed an occasion in which Vinicius was being visited by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Chico Buarque de Holanda. All of a sudden he took his guitar and began to play “Eurydice’s Waltz,” a beautiful composition for which he wrote words and music. It is one of the compositions of a wonderful play, “Orfeu da Conceição,” that Vinicius wrote and the music – except “Eurydice’s Waltz – was composed by Jobim. Hearing the waltz, Jobim and Chico had one of those brief moments of envy, the good type of envy, and cried out together: “You do not know one single music note, how could you compose this?”
Zequinha enjoyed producing shows, and organized a special night dedicated to Vinicius in São Paulo’s Municipal Theater. He asked a famous Brazilian musician, Radamés Gnatalli, to orchestrate Eurydice’s Waltz for a symphony orchestra and invited Baden Powell as the guitar soloist. At the rehearsal Zequinha noticed that the musicians of the State Symphony Orchestra were not happy to play a “popular” song. Their faces showed very clearly that they were disliking their task. But the orchestration was beautiful and Baden was a fantastic guitar player and very gradually the musicians’ faces changed to admiration as they began to play this beautiful waltz with enthusiasm.
Zequinha was starting to write a play called “The Poet and the Sailor,” to honor Vinicius and our great composer of songs of the sea, Dorival Caymmi. I was supposed to be the narrator.
But the play was never completed. Regina and Zequinha died in a car accident.
We will never forget Regina, Zequinha, Vinicius. They remain a part of our lives. A part filled with friendliness, and companionship, and music.
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