Life | Vinicius de Moraes

1980

Even experiencing health problems, he releases with Toquinho, by the record label Ariola , his last album, “Um Pouco de Ilusão” (A Little Illusion).

He dies of pulmonary edema on July 9 at his home in Gávea, in company with his partner Toquinho and Gilda Mattoso.

1979

Vinicius e Toquinho celebrate their successful partnership in the album 10 anos de Toquinho e Vinicius (Philips Record label).

At the invitation of the then union leader of ABC Paulista, Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, he reads, in an assembly, his poems in the “Sindicato dos Metalúrgicos de São Bernardo “ (Metalworkers Union of São Bernardo). Among the poems, an acclaimed recital of "O Operário em Construção” (The Laborer in Construction).
Returning from a trip to Europe, he suffers a stroke due to his diabetes and loses the originals of his never finished and cherished book “Roteiro Lírico e Sentimental da Cidade de São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro” (Lyrical and Sentimental Itinerary of the City of São Sebastiao of Rio de Janeiro).

1978

The releasing of the books “O Falso Mendigo, Poemas de Vinicius de Moraes” (The Fake Beggar, Vinicius de Moraes’s poems); a numbered edition of 200 copies with woodcuts of Luis Ventura, printed by Fontana Publishing house; and “Amor Total” (Total Love), a book dedicated to a famous sonnet of the author, edited by Record Publishing house.

It is the première of the documentary film Vinicius, um rapaz de família, (Vinicius, a family boy) directed by his daughter Susana de Moraes.

He starts living with Gilda de Queirós Mattoso, his last wife.

1977

Together with Tom Jobim, Toquinho and Miúcha, he takes part in the outstanding concert “Tom, Vinicius, Toquinho and Miúcha”; a success that was presented for seven months at the show house in Rio called Canecão. The album, released by Philips record house in the same year, becomes essential in the Brazilian popular music. The concert still has some brief excursions to Sao Paulo and other countries.
He takes an European tour with Toquinho and Maria Creusa, with concerts in Italy and France, besides some concerts in England.

It is released by Philips Record label, the album “Antologia poética” (Poetic Antholovy), with Vinicius’s poems.

1976

In a year without working with Toquinho, he composes, with the former partner Edu Lobo, the soundtrack to the musical “Deus lhe Pague” (God Bless You).

He starts living with Marta Rodrigues Santamaria and spend his time between Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires.

1975

Among European tours, with a series of shows, he records two albums with “Toquinho na Itália: Toquinho, Vinivius de Moraes e Ornella Varoni” (Toquinho in Italy: Toquinho, Vinicius de Moraes and Ornella Vanoni) and “O Poera e o Violão” (The Poet and the Guitar) (RGE Record label). He also records another album of the duo, titled again Vinicius and Toquinho (Philips Record label).
In one of his seasons in Buenos Aires, he meets the poet Gullar, exiled on account of the Brazilian military dictatorship. Present in a reading of the “Poema Sujo de Gullar” (Gullar’s Dirty Poem), at the home of the also exiled Augusto Boal, Vinicius records and divulges later in Brazil for various audiences to tape with the text and the voice of the poet of Maranhão. The following year, Enio Silveira publishes the poem in full by Civilização Brasileira Publishing house.

1974

Vinicius and Toquinho work in another (and final) soundtrack for a soap opera. This time it is “Fogo sobre Terra” (Fire on Earth) (Som Livre record label), once again for Globo Television Network. They still release “Vinicius and Toquinho” (Philips Record label) and “Toquinho, Vinicius & Friends (RGE record label).

He travels with his neighbor and friend Calazans Neto to London. Afterwards, he goes to Italy for a brief season.
He publishes in handmade edition by Edições Macunaíma Publishing house, owned by Calazans Neto, “História Natural de Pablo Neruda – A Elegia que Vem de Longe” (The Natural History of Pablo Neruda - The Elegy that Comes from Afar).

It is released the second edition of his “Poesia Completa e Prosa” (Complete Poetry and Prose).

In Bahia, it is staged for the first time the tragedy “Chacina em Barros Filho” (Slaughter in Barros Filho), written by Vinicius ten years ago. Directed by Álvaro Guimarães, it is adapted with the title “As Feras” (The Beasts).

1973

Vinicius and Toquinho compose the soundtrack of the soap opera “O Bem Amado” (The Beloved One) (Som Livre Record label), for Globo Television Network.

1972

Once again he has a busy year full of concerts and recordings in Brazil and in other countries. With Toquinho, they release “São Demais os Perigos desta Vida” (There are many dangers in this Life). The duo also releases, still with Maria Creusa, the album “Eu sei que Vou te Amar” (I Know I will Love you), the Brazilian version of the trio’s concert, recorded during the previous year, at the Argentine nightclub La Fusa (RGE record label). With Maria Medalha, he releases the album “Marilia e Vinicius – Encontros e Desencontros” (Marilia and Vinicius – Agreements and Disagreements) (RGE record label).
He works in two soundtracks: with Toquinho, they compose “Vinicius Canta – Nossa Filha Gabriela” (Vinicius sing - Our daughter Gabriela), soundtrack of a soap opera of Tupi Television Network (Polydor record label) and composes, by himself, the versions of the Brazilian adaptation of the musical Jesus Christ Superstar (Mercury record label).

Together with Toquinho and Clara Nunes, they present the concert “O Poeta, a Moça e o Violão” (The Poet, the Girl and the Guitar), at the Castro Alves Theater, in Salvador.
Through Gesse Gessy if gets more and more closer to the Bahian Candomblé. Besides incorporating into your everyday look white clothes and the guides of Orixás, he composes with toquinho "Tatamirô", a song dedicated to Mãe Menininha do Gantois.

He publishes the "Balada de Santa Luzia" (Ballad of Saint Luzia) in the Sunday Supplement of the State of São Paulo. The poem is dedicated to Alfredo Volpi.

1971

With an intense touring schedule together with Toquinho and other female singers, during the same year, many albums with Vinicius are released. The first one is “Como Dizia o Poera” (As the Poet Said), with Maria Medalha and Toquinho (RGE record label), based on the highly successful concert of the previous year.
During this year, there was also the releasing of “Toquinho and Vinicius” (RGE record label), “Vinicius + Bethania + Toquinho” (Inter records record label), and the Italian “Per vivere un grande amore”, also with Toquinho (Foint-Cetra record label). Already at the beginning of the partnership, the duo achieves a popular success with the song "Tarde em Itapuã” (Afternoon in Itapuã).
He spends a season with Toquinho between Buenos Aires and Mar del Plata. The duo invites, to attend the concerts in these cities, names like Maria Bethania, Chico Buarque and Maria Creusa.

1970

Maria, Vinicius’s fifth child is born.

It starts a long and fruitful partnership of songs, albums and concerts with Toquinho. The first song they compose together is “Como Dizia o Poeta” (As the Poet Said). It is sung in September, in a concert at Castro Alves Theater.
One of his first concerts with Toquinho is in Buenos Aires, with the singer Maria Creuza. The recording of the concert is released by Diorama, in the album “Vinicius de Moraes en La Fusa con Maria Creuza y Toquinho”. The album does not bring any partnership of the two yet.
Beside Marília Medalha and the Trio Mocotó, Vinicius and Toquinho travel through thirty cities in Brazil in forty-five days, basically playing for the college audience. The concert is a hit among the young people at the time.
It is published, by Editora Sabiá Publishing house, his collection of poems for children “A arca de Noé” (Noah’s Ark).

With his new wife, Gesse Gessy, they move to Itapuã, in Bahia, for a long season in the capital Salvador.

1969

After a direct order from the President Arthur da Costa e Silva, Vinicius is exonerated from the Foreign Ministry amid an official purge of employees not allied to the dictatorial government of the period.

Vinicius experiences an intense touring schedule that leads him to Salvador, Buenos Aires, Montevideo and Lisbon. Also in the Portuguese city, he performs and records live in Quadrante Bookstore a poetry recital. The same recital becomes, in the following year, an album released by Festa record label.
Still in Lisbon, he performs together with the fado singer, Amalia Rodrigues. The concert is later released in the album titled “Amalia and Vinicius”.
In Italy, he meets his friend and partner Chico Buarque, self-exiled from Brazil because of the military dictatorship. At that time, he records with his friend and translator, the octogenarian poet Giuseppe Ungaretti, and the singer Sergio Endrigo, the celebrated album “La Vita, Amico, è L'arte dell'incontro”. With arrangements by Luis Bacalov, the album already brings, in one of the guitars, Toquinho, Vinicius’s future partner and friend of Chico Buarque. It is through Chico, who Toquinho accompanies professionally in the phase of Rome, that the duo knows each other.
He starts living with Christina Gurjão, with whom he already had a relashionship since 1968.

1968

In the year that Brazil faces the beginning of the darkest time of the military dictatorship, Vinicius loses his mother on February 25th, Lydia de Moraes.

In December, the month of the establishment of the Institutional Act No. 5, he performs alongside Baden Powell and the singer Márcia, a series of concerts in Portugal. On the 13th, the date of the publication of the Act, Vinicius reads on stage, as a protest, his poem "Pátria Minha” (Homeland of Mine).
It is published by the Companhia José Aguilar publishing house, the first edition of his “Obra Poética” (Poetic Work). The literary critic Afrânio Coutinho is in charge of the arrangements.

He also publishes, with his son Pedro, the book of poems and photos “O Mergulhador” (The Diver”.

In Italy, Giuseppe Ungaretti translates some of Vinicius’s poems.

1967

Due to his request, he deepens his historical connection with Minas Gerais after being placed, by the Foreign Ministry, to be at the disposal of the Government of Minas Gerais and the Ouro Preto Foundation (then headed by the writer Murilo Rubião) to study the annual realization of a Festival Art. He starts visiting intensively the historical city of Minas Gerais, going to his friends' houses and bars at night.

Still affined to Festivals, he participates as a juror in the First Youth Music Festival of Bahia.
After a production and filming with the intense participation of Vinicius over the previous two years, it is released the film The Girl from Ipanema, directed by Leon Hirszman and with the young actress Márcia Rodrigues in the coveted role of the most famous girl of the Brazilian music. The film, unlike the song that inspired it, was not very successful. Its soundtrack, released on an album by Philips record label, consists primarily of songs composed by Vinicius and partners, by Tom Jobim and by Chico Buarque.
It is released by Elenco record label a solo album of the songwriter and singer, titled just as Vinicius. Its repertoire is almost entirely dedicated to his partnership with Baden Powell.

Sabiá Pubhishing house publishes the 6th edition of his “Antologia Poética” (Poetic Anthology) and the 2nd edition (enlarged) of his “Livro de Sonetos” (Book of Sonnets).
Invited by Ricardo Cravo Albin, then director of the Museum of Image and Sound of Rio de Janeiro, June 12th, he gives his "Depoimento para a Posteridade” (Testimony for Posterity). The table of interviewers is formed by his friends Lúcio Rangel, Otto Lara Resende and Alex Viany.

1966

It is released by Forma record label, the Afrosambas, an album of Vinicius and Baden Powell. Gathering songs that had been being composed during the last years, the duo creates a landmark in Brazilian popular music for its fusion of Baden’s guitar, Vinicius’s lyrics and the rhythms and themes of the Bahian Candomblé.
In the same year, the duo Vinicius and Baden achieves international success by the version of "Samba da bênção", written by the French actor Pierre Barrouh in the film “Um Homem e Uma Mulher” (A Man and A Woman) of Claude Lelouch. The film wins the Cannes Film Festival with Vinicius himself as a member of the Jury.

Vinicius becomes a character of documentaries for the American, German, French and Italian televisions. Pierre Kast is responsible for the French documentary and Gianni Amico for the Italian one.
Together with Gilberto Gil and Maria Bethania, he takes part in the concert “Pois é”, scripted by Torquato Neto, Caetano Veloso and José Carlos Capinam, production by Susana de Moraes and general direction of Nelson Xavier. Vinicius, prophetic, joins the group of young people, which, a year later would proclaim the Tropicália as a musical transformation and culture in Brazil.

He publishes by Editora do Autor Publiching house “Para uma Menina com uma Flor” (To a girl with a flower), a book that brings together chronicles published in newspapers between 1941 and 1966.

1965

Inaugurating the era of Festivals in Brazilian music, "Arrastão” (Dragnet), a song composed with his young partner Edu Lobo and interpreted by a bombastic Elis Regina, is voted the best song of the First National Festival of Brazilian Popular Music from TV Excelsior.

Vinicius also takes the second prize with "Valsa do Amor que não Vem” (Waltz of Love that does not Come)," composed with Baden Powell and performed by Elizeth Cardoso.
He spends part of the year in Paris to write the screenplay for “Arrastão” (Dragnet), a feature film with French production. The poet is invited to perform an adaptation of Tristan and Isolde to a fishing village in Brazil. By disagreements with the production, Vinicius steps down - and also withdraws his songs – from the project.

Still attached to the cinema, Vinicius starts working with the young director Leon Hirszman on the screenplay for the film “Garota de Ipanema” (The Girl from Ipanema). The director and screenwriter Eduardo Coutinho later joins the duo for this task.
Promoted by the city hall of São Paulo, it is presented at the Municipal Theater of the city, the concert “Vinicius: poetry and song”, all dedicated to the work of the poet. Despite the resistance because of an honor to a "folk musician," the orchestra of the theater accompanies Vinicius (who also recites poems), besides Baden Powell, Carlos Lyra, Cyro Monteiro, Edu Lobo, Francis Hime, among others. The album is released the following year by Forma record label.
Resulting from the season that Baden Powell spends in Paris together with Vinicius, the duo offers eight songs to his friend Ciro Monteiro to record. The album is released by Elenco Record label with the title “De Vinicius e Baden,especialmente para Ciro Monteiro (From Vinicius and Baden, specially to Ciro Monteiro).
He releases, edited by the Documentation Service of the Ministry of Education and Culture, the text of the play “Cordélia e o Peregrino” (Cordelia and the Pilgrim)

He moves to Jardim Botânico, the neighborhood where he was born (at that time the entire area was still called Gávea), and lives in a small penthouse overlooking the sea and the forest, in Diamantina Street, number 20.

1964

He returns to Brazil after the military coup of March 31st. He starts to practice journalism regularly again by signing the weekly chronics for the magazine Fatos e Fotos and texts about popular music for the Diário Carioca.
When definitely embracing his life as a singer - and more and more standing back of his diplomatic career - Vinicius participates in the famous concert at the nightclub Zum Zum, in Copacabana, with Dorival Caymmi, Oscar Castro Neves and the unpublished sisters of the Quarteto em Cy. Directed by Aloysio, the concert is played for five months and becomes an album by Elenco record label.
The tragedy “Chacina em Barros Filho” (Slaughter in Barros Filho) is ended. The text gets a prize in a contest sponsored by the National Theater Institute. He tries to stage it at the time, but is unable.

He begins planning the publication of his book “Roteiro Lírico e Sentimental da Cidade de São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro” (Lyrical and Sentimental Itinerary of the City of São Sebastiao of Rio de Janeiro), where he was born, the poet Vinicius Moraes lives on the go and is dying of love. He signs a publishing contract with Cultrix Publishing house, but the book is not accomplished and becomes posthumous.

1963

In a season at Maria Lúcia Proenca’s home, in Petrópolis (designed by Oscar Niemeyer), he continues to increase the number of partners, this time with the newest generation of musicians of the period. He composes, with Edu Lobo, a series of successful songs like "Arratão” (Dragnet) and "Zambi". He also composes with the young Francis Hime (who would continue to be a lifelong partner) and Jards Macalé.
His friend Aloysio de Oliveira founds the “Elenco”, a new record label dedicated to musicians around the Bossa Nova. Invited by Aloysio, Vinicius releases his first recordings as a performer of his songs. The album is shared with the actress and singer Odette Lara.
He composes with Carlos Lyra the "Hino da UNE” (Hymn of UNE), released on compact by Centro Popular de Cultura (CPC) of UNE. Tuned up with the political environment that disturbed the country, he reads his poem “O Operário em Construção” (The Laborer in Construction), in Sao Paulo, for a crowded Paramount Theater.
With his new wife, Nelita de Abreu Rocha, he travels to France and takes over, in Paris, a position in Brazil’s delegation at UNESCO.

1962

During an intense period of his artistic life, he meets and begins to compose with Baden Powell. After three months living - and drinking - together in Guinle Park, they produce one of the most definitive songbooks of the Brazilian popular music. From this meeting, whose songs will be released gradually over the following years, all the Afrosambas of the duo come to sight, and however, the album is recorded only four years later.
He meets and becomes a partner with his great idol, Alfredo Pixinguinha, on the occasion of the soundtrack of “Sol sob a lama” (Sun in the Mud), a film by Alex Viany.

He also becomes a partner with Ary Barroso, another considerable name of Brazilian popular music. The poet was one of the last partners of Ary, who died two years later.
Assuming, once and for all, the place of the protagonist on the stages of popular music, Vinicius participates, along with Tom Jobim on the piano, Joao Gilberto guitar, Otavio Bailly bass, Milton Banana drums and Os Cariocas vocals, of d’O Encontro, a final concert of Bossa Nova. With the première in August, at the nightclub Au Bon Gourmet, it was directed by Aloysio de Oliveira. The public who attended the nightclub in Copacabana heard, at first hand worldwide, unconditional classics like "Samba da bênção” (Samba of Blessing) and "O Austronauta” (The Astronautn) by Baden and Vinicius; and the classic "Garota de Ipanema” (Girl from Ipanema) by Tom and Vinicius.
Also at Au Bon Gourmet, he presents with Carlos Lyra and an almost unprecedented Nara Leão, the musical “Pobre Menina Rica” (Poor Little Rich Girl). The show is composed only of songs from the recent partnership between Vinicius and Lyra.
He releases by Editora do Autor Publishing house the book “Para Viver um Grande Amor” (To Live a Great Love). It is the first in which Vinicius gathers together chronics and poems.

He releases as well, in partnership with Gláucio Gil and Adolpho Bloch the theatrical text “Procura-se uma Rosa” (A Rose Wanted).

1961

He begins new partnerships when he starts composing with the young Carlos Lyra.

He publishes by Nuova Academia Editrice, in Milan, the Italian translation of Black Orpheus, by the translator P. A. Jannini.

The album Brasília– Sinfonia da Alvorada is released, produced in partnership with Tom Jobim.

1960

Amid the boom of Bossa Nova that started in Brazil, he definitely returns to Uruguay to work in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and has a year dedicated to literary releases.

He Publishes by Editora do Autor Publishing house (owned by his friends Fernando Sabino and Ruben Braga), the second edition of his Poetic Anthology, with some additions and revisions of poems.
In France, once more with the translation of Jean-George Rueff, he publishes in edition of Seghers, within the collection Autour du Monde, the book Recette de femme et autres poèmes.

He releases by Livraria São José Publishing house, a popular edition with full text of his Orpheus of the Conception.
For the first time, he takes part in an album as a singer. It was in the LP “Bossa Nova Mesmo”, a collection organized by Aloysio de Oliveira with names of the first moment of the musical movement. Vinicius debuts singing "Pela Luz dos Olhos Teus” (For the light of your eyes), his exclusive composition.
Invited by the President Juscelino Kubitschek, he travels to Brasilia in April, together with Tom Jobim, in order to compose the symphony for the new Brazilian capital. After ten days, settled in "Catetinho", first seat of the federal government in the new city, and enjoying the life with Oscar Niemeyer and the candangos (construction workers of the city), they conclude their "Sinfonia da Alvorada" (Sympnhony of Dawn). The work is recorded in November. The season in Brasilia still yields for the duo the song "Água de Beber” (Water to Drink).

1959

The discographical releases with the compositions of Vinicius and Tom keep going on. João Gilberto, who baptizes his own debut album of “Chega de Saudade” (No More Blues), presents an innovative interpretation of the song and turns the song of the duo in one of the most important of the Brazilian history. After this album, which still had "Brigas, Nunca Mais” (Fights, No More), another composition of the duo, the three names will always be remembered as the founders of Bossa Nova. The singer Lenita Bruno contributes to this fame when she records the LP “Por Toda a Minha Vida” (For All my Life), only with songs of the duo Vinicius and Tom.
Despite not having enjoyed the result of Sacha Gordine’s production, the film Black Orpheus, directed by Marcel Camus, and scripted based on the original script of Vinicius, by the director and Jacques Viot, he wins two major awards: the Palme d’or (Golden Palm) at the Cannes Film Festival and the Oscar for Best Foreign Film.

Without interrupting his literary production, he releases the book “Novos Poemas” New Poems II (1949-1956) by Livraria São José Publishing house
His daughter, Susana de Moraes, gets married.

1958

He has a serious car accident in Petrópolis. But with no major consequences.
The music definitely invades the poet’s life, from the releasing of the album “Canção do Amor Demais” (The song of Too Much Love), in which Elizeth Cardoso sings thirtenn songs of the duo Tom Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes. When recording a track in particular, "Chega de Saudade" (No More Blues), the singer is accompanied by the revolutionary guitar of João Gilberto. His hit, plus the composition of the duo, feature a musical form that is globally known thereafter by Bossa Nova.
Through a mutual friend, the pianist Bené Nunes, the President Juscelino Kubitschek orders to Vinicius a Symphony to inaugurate Brasilia, the new capital which had been planned and built by two longtime friends of the poet - the architects Lúcio Cardoso and Oscar Niemeyer. Vinicius invites his new partner Tom Jobim to do this work, but the controversy in the country around the building and its costs; the order does not go ahead at that time.
He moves to Montevidéu with his new wife, Maria Lúcia Proença.

1957

He spends the year in Paris, divided between the affairs of diplomacy in UNESCO and popular music. At the end of the year he is transferred to the Brazilian Embassy in Uruguay and spends a short time in Brazil until he gets on his way to Montevideo.

He publishes the first edition of his book of sonnets by Livros de Portugal, a publishing house of Rio.

1956

In the year of the birth of his fourth daughter, Luciana, he gets a bonus leave from the Foreign Ministry and returns to Brazil for a brief period to stage his play Orpheus of the Conception. In the same period, Sacha Gordine stays in Paris producing the film that would result in the award-winning Black Orpheus.
In Rio de Janeiro, Vinicius gathers the cast of the show that will mark an era. Through his friend and music critic Lúcio Rangel he meets, at bar Vilarinho, the then young Antonio Carlos Jobim. This is an encounter not only of his musical partner for the play, as well as his partner to fund, during the following years, the Bossa Nova. In fifteen days, they practically compose the entire soundtrack of the show, such as "Lamento do Morro”(The Moan of the Hill) and "Se Todos Fossem Iguais a Você” (Someone to Light Up my Life).
On September 25th, Orpheus of the Conception has its opening at the Municipal Theater in Rio de Janeiro, for a very short season of six days. The play becomes an immediate success and brings together a number of great artists - and some friends of Vinicius. Attached to his songs with Tom Jobim, Carlos Scliar and Djanira are responsible for the posters and the program. Oscar Niemeyer is responsible for the stage setting, Leo Justi for the direction of the play that featured actors like Haroldo Costa, Cyro Monteiro and Abdias Nascimento.
It is released the album with the themes of the play, with arrangements and conducting by Tom Jobim, guitars by Luiz Bonfa, vocal of Roberto Paiva and cover artist by Raimundo Nogueira. It is the first time the songs, of a new composer’s duo, win recordings.

He publishes in the inaugural edition of the lefty fortnightly periodical Paratodos, headed at that time by Jorge Amado, the poem "O Operário em Construção” (The Laborer in Construction). At the end of the year, he returns to Paris.

1955

Through Mary Manson, director of the French Cinémathèque, he meets the producer Sacha Gordine. Together they develop the project to make a film from his play Orpheus of the Conception. Vinicius develops the script and travels, with the producer, to Brazil to raise funds, but they return to France unsuccessfully. In the same year, however, they start the plans for the presentation of the play in its original format, i.e., the theater.
During this period, he meets in Paris the conductor and classical composer Claudio Santoro and together they compose, over the next thirteen years, camera songs.

He publishes two articles in the Journal of Popular Music, directed by Lucio Rangel: "Mestre Ismael Silva" (Master Ismael Silva) a biographical profile of the samba composer of Rio, and "Os independents da Gávea" (The Independents of Gávea), a short and beautiful text of memories about a carnival ranch he met in his youth.

1954

It is released in Brazil, by A Noite Publishing house, his “Antologia Poética”. The collection of poems was organized by the author himself, with the help of friends as Manuel Bandeira.

His play Orpheus of the Conception is a prizewinner at the theater contest of the IV Centenary of the State of São Paulo and published in the magazine Anhembi. It was the beginning of a cycle of works around Orpheus in the following years.

1953

In the year of his third daughter’s birth, Georgiana, Vinicius starts signing the romantic mail of the weekly Flan, owned by Samuel Wainer. Directed by Joel Silveira, edited in colors and revolutionary n the proposal, the weekly lasted only nine months amid the intense campaign of Carlos Lacerda against the owner of the newspaper. The poet signed the columns of his section titled “Abra o Coração” (Open your heart) as Helenice.
In the same Flan, whose texts were signed by other names like Otto Lara Resende, Hélio Peregrino, Dorival Caymmi and Nelson Rodrigues, Vinicius signs the column "Diz-que-discos”, on popular music. Still in the press, he collaborates with the newspaper “A Vanguarda”, whose chief editor is his friend João Cabral de Melo Neto. Vinicius writes chronicles about Rio de Janeiro.
In November he is appointed to the office as second secretary at the Embassy of Brazil in Paris, where they released the French edition by Pierre Seghers, the Cinq Élegies. Soon after, he begins to work in the Brazilian Delegation of UNESCO, also in the French capital.

This is the year he composes his first samba with music and lyrics of his own, titled "Quando Tu Passa por Mim” (When you pass by me). The song was recorded by Aracy de Almeida.

1952

It is a year of many trips around his growing relationship with the cinema. His friendship with Alberto Cavalcanti pays him an invitation to write the script for his next film, about Aleijadinho. Together with his cousins Humberto and José Franceschi, they travel for a month through the historic towns of Minas Gerais to record and photograph the Aleijadinho’s work.
He is appointed delegate of Brazil to the Festival of Punta del Este, Uruguay, and conducts the media coverage for the Última Hora. During the event, formulates the design of a Film Festival in São Paulo during 1954.
When proposing the production of the Film Festival of Sao Paulo, he is sent, by the organizers, to Europe in order to study the arrangements of the main festivals of the continent, such as Cannes, Berlin, Locarno and Venice. During these trips, besides meeting his old friends of Hollywood times again, he deepens his universal culture in museums - and bars - of the European cities, mainly in Italy.
During his European season, he settles down in Strasbourg and begins, with the French poet Jean-George Roueff, the translation of his “Cinco Elegias” (Five Elegies). It will be the first step of Vinicius towards the globalization of his work.

1951

After returning to Brazil, he starts living with Lila Maria Esquerdo Boscoli. The two move to Arpoador.

He starts working again in a newspaper, this time in the “Última Hora” (Last Hour), founded by Samuel Wainer. Vinicius signs chronics on various themes and remains for one year also serving as a film critic.

He makes new friends and partners as the bohemian, columnist and writer Antonio Maria and the film director Alberto Cavalcanti.

1950

In the year of his father’s death, he travels to Mexico to visit his friend and Consul General of Chile in the country, Pablo Neruda. It was a period in which Neruda, who was ill, released in Mexico his acclaimed Canto Geral as well. Still in the country, he meets the painter David Siqueiros and meets again his childhood friend, and also a painter, Di Cavalcanti.

1949

Through the initiative of his friend and also na officer of the Foreign Ministry, João Cabral de Melo Neto, he sees his põem “Pátria Minha” (Homeland of Mine) win a special run of fifity copies, printed in the personal press of the poet of Pernambuco. The press was baptized by him as “O Livro Inconsútil” (Seamless Book).

1947

A period in which immerses in the film and American Jazz. As he lived near the Hollywood studios and attended assiduously the homes of Carmen Miranda and Alex Vianny (Brazilian film critic who lived in the same town during this period), he was always among musicians, actors, filmmakers, executives and film critics.

The takes a filmmaking course with Gregg Toland and Orson Welles, whom he becomes a personal friend.
Still involved in cinema, he continues to exercise the office as a critic through the two copies of the magazine Film, made with Alex Viany in Los Angeles. The magazine is published in Brazil by Bloch Editores Publishing house.

He frequently travels to cities like New Orleans and New York and gets closer to Brazilians and Americans jazz musicians, as Laurindo Almeida and Jelly Roll Morton. He also becomes a friend of Ahmet Ertegun, one of the great executives of the jazz record labels of that time.

1946

He assumes his first diplomatic position, as vice consul in Los Angeles, United States. He travels in June together with his friend Fernando Sabino.

He lives in Hollywood with Tati and their children Susana and Pedro. Even in the first year of a season that lasts five years without returning to Brazil, Vinicius gets closer to the Brazilian musicians who inhabited America, like Carmen Miranda and her Bando da Lua.
He publishes, in deluxe edition and with twenty-two illustrations of his friend Carlos Leão, the book “Poemas, Sonetos e Baladas” (Poems, Sonnets and Ballads). The book is printed by Edições Gavetas Publishing house, São Paulo. In 1974, the critic Afrânio Coutinho organizes the “Poesia Completa e Prosa” (Complete Poetry and Prose) by Vinicius for the New Aguilar Publishing house and, with the agreement of the author, baptizes the same book with the title “O Encontro Cotidiano” (The Daily Encounter).

1945

The end of the Second World War and the Estado Novo (“New State” - a dictatorial period) of Getúlio Vargas is also the year of the death of Mario de Andrade. The loss is preceded by a nightmare of Vinicius, in which friends died in a plane crash. This story leaves marks on the poet and become famous lines in "A Manhã do Morto” (The Morning of the Dead), a poem dedicated to his close friend of São Paulo.
As if the nightmare was a premonition, Vinicius escapes from death in a plane crash. On November 2nd, he boards with friends, Aníbal Machado and Moacir Werneck de Castro in the French seaplane Leonel de Marnier, on a flight with guests to Buenos Aires. Despite the severe disaster (with a fatality), Vinicius and friends return unharmed to Rio de Janeiro.
This is the year of the First Brazilian Congress of Writers. The event, held in São Paulo, marks the political democratic position of the category in the post-World War II. Vinicius will have active participation in the debates of the period.

He contributes to the newspaper Diretrizes, that time managed by Samuel Wainer.
During this year, he has a love affair – and a hidden marriage – with Regina Pederneiras, archivist of the Foreign Ministry. The affair ends the following year. Vinicius and Tati make up.

1944

He works in the bureaucratic services of the Foreign Ministry and, meanwhile, follows a career in journalism managing the hitherto revolutionary literary supplement of O Jornal. His performance will be outstanding by the team of collaborators whom he gathers. Many of them are future important names still uncommon to the public.
Among friends and betting, there were the sections signed by Oscar Niemeyer, Pedro Nava, Marcelo Garcia, Francisco de Sá Pires, Carlos Leão and Lúcio Rangel, besides the drawings of Carlos Scliar, Alfredo Ceschiatti, Athos Bulcão and Eros Martin Gonçalves. Vinicius also gives a job opportunity in the Suplemento to Arpad Szenes and Maria Helena Vieira da Silva, an important couple of European artists exiled in Rio de Janeiro because of the Second World War that ravaged Europe.

1943

He republishes, by Irmãos Pongetti Publishing house, the fifth book, “Cinco Elegias” (Five Elegies), this time with the luxurious and decisive collaboration of his friends, Manuel Bandeira (who, besides being one of those who finances the volume, collaborates with the graphic design), Aníbal Machado and Otávio de Faria.
The latter, with Jose Arthur da Frota Moreira and Mario Vieira de Mello, earn the dedication of the poet in the acknowledgments of the book. It was in deference to the friends of youth, part of an increasingly distant time, in a period of change in Vinicius’s life. The book is well received as the work that points to a maturity of the poet and the man, now in his 30 years old.
He passes the Foreign Ministry exam and enters the diplomatic service, an office that he will take until 1968, when he is abrogated by the military regime.

1942

His second child (and only son), Pedro, is born.

After flunking the first attempt to join the diplomatic service, he starts studying with his friend Lauro Escorel for a new test that, this time, will be successful.
Always present in different and famous meeting points of that time, he widens his circle of intellectual and affective friendships. He attends, simultaneously, the celebrated social get-togethers which occurred on Sandays at Anibal Machado's house in Ipanema. There, he becomes closer to Di Cavalcanti, Cicero Dias and Guignard, among others. He is a regular at the restaurant Amarelinho, in Cinelândia and the famous "literary circle" of Café Vermelhinho, on Araújo Porto Alegre Street, both downtown in Rio de Janeiro.
In this circle, initiated by Vinicius and his great friends Rubem Braga and Moacir Werneck de Castro, writers, architects, plastic artists, musicians and journalists as João Cabral de Melo Neto, Eneida, Oscar Niemeyer, Carlos Leão, Afonso Eduardo Reidy, Santa Rosa, Iberê Camargo, Pancetti, Djanira, Bruno Giorgi, Aracy de Almeida and Jorge Moreira took part in. This intellectual-bohemian itinerary of Rio also included bars like Zeppelin, in Ipanema, and the Alcazar, in Copacabana.
In the field of film criticism, Vinicius participates, between May and August, of an intense public debate with Ribeiro Couto, about the controversy between the silent films (on its end) versus talking films (on the rise). The debate rallied in his column, intellectuals and demotic. Vinicius takes open sides with the traditional silent film (which advocated since the days of the Chaplin Club) and since that time, he has contacts with Orson Welles.
He takes two trips that broaden his perspective on the Brazilian literature and the country itself. On the first one, the then mayor of Belo Horizonte, Juscelino Kubitschek, invites the poet to lead a group of Brazilian writers visiting the city. It is in this opportunity that he meets the quartet of Minas Gerais that, years later, would intensively attend the bars of Ipanema and Leblon, and would become friends with Vinicius for life: Otto Lara Resende, Fernando Sabino, Paulo Mendes Campos and Hélio Pellegrino.
He meets the American poet Waldo Frank, and both attend the bars and slums of Rio de Janeiro. In one of these forays, in Morro do Pinto, he had the first idea to write Orpheus of the Conception. The two of them also take a long trip through the Brazilian Northeast. On this trip, besides have a definite contact with the poverty and misery of Brazilian man, he changes his political point of view – until then, a sympathizer of the fundamentalism, and turns to the left wing.
He meets in Recife, another friend who would be important for the rest of his life: João Cabral de Melo Neto.

He starts a friendship with the Argentine writer Maria Rosa Oliver and with the Chilean poet Gabriela Mistral.
He attends two refuges from the big city: Carlos Leon’s home in Morro do Cavalão, in Niteroi - where he starts writing Orpheus of the Conception - and the homes of Elizabeth Bishop and Lota Macedo Soares, in Samambaia.

1941

Without a steady job, studying to enter the diplomatic service through competition for the Foreign Ministry (Itamaraty), he takes the natural path of the writers of his generation (and many others in Brazil) when he starts working as a film critic in the newspaper “A Manhã” (The Morning), managed by Múcio Lion and Cassiano Ricardo. His participation as a reviewer was fundamental for the Brazilian cinema that, at that time, renewed his criticism with names like Vinicius himself, and in São Paulo, Paulo Emilio Sales Gomes.
He also contributes to the Literary Supplement of the same newspaper, alongside authors and friends as Manuel Bandeira, Cecilia Meirelles, Ribeiro Couto and Afonso Arinos de Mello Franco.

1940

Back to Rio de Janeiro, he moves with Tati to an apartment in Acácias Street, in Gávea. It is there that their first daughter, Susana, is born. Soon after, the family settles down in a house at the corner of Carlos Goes Street and General San Martin Avenue, in Leblon.

He spends a long time in São Paulo, getting closer to Mário de Andrade and the group of young intellectuals that would found the following year the magazine Clima, such as Antonio Candido and Paulo Emilio Salles Gomes.

1939

With World War II, he returned to Brazil through Portugal. Accompanied by Tati, they spend some time in Lisbon, together with Oswald de Andrade, his wife's friend whom he meets on that occasion.

In Estoril, waiting for the ship to depart back to Brazil, he writes the "Soneto de Fidelidade" (Sonnet of Fidelity).

1938

He publishes "Novos Poemas" (New Poems), his fourth book by requested José Olympio Publishing house. The formal and thematic maturity of his verses consolidates Vinicius’s poetry as one of the leading so-called "Generation of the 1930s." Contemporaries and influential names as Mário de Andrade (whom the poet dedicated the poem "A Máscara da Noite (The Night's Mask) publicly praise the book.
Vinicius and Carlos Leão become close friends. It is through the architect, artist and partner of Lucio Costa that time, that Vinicius meets Candido Portinari and a good part of the group around the French architect Le Corbusier, during the construction of the building Gustavo Capanema, former seat of the Ministry of Education and Culture. It is also through Leão that he meets his future first wife, Beatriz Azevedo e Mello. Better known as Tati, she quickly begins a relationship with the poet.
He wins a scholarship from the British Council to study English literature at Magdalen College at Oxford University. Vinicius travels in August to England and marries Tati by proxy in the following year. The wife lives in London, in Chelsea, and Vinicius lives between the two cities.

He writes one of his most famous poems, the "Soneto da separação" (Sonnet of Separation), on board of the ship Highland Patriot, underway to England.
During this period of isolation, he deepens the reading and writing, with particular interest in the technique of the sonnet and in the poetic works of William Shakespeare.

He works as na assistant of a Brazilian show at BBC.

Through his friend and editor Augusto Frederico Schmidt, he meets the poet and musician Jayme Ovalle, ans this friendship will cause a great impact in his life and work.

1936

Once again by Irmãos Pongetti Publishing house, Vinicius releases his third book, and offprint that has the long and single poem entitled "Ariana, a Mulher" (Ariana, the Woman).
Starting what would turn out one of the main features of his life and work, he becomes a regular visitor of the literary and bohemian circles of Rio de Janeiro. In one, the home of Afrânio de Mello Franco, he meets the poet Manuel Bandeira, who became his friend for life. He already has in this circle of friends names like Murilo Mendes, Carlos Leão, Pedro Nava, Lucio Costa and Carlos Drummond de Andrade.
As a substitute of Prudente de Morais Neto, for a brief period he holds the office as a representative of the Ministry of Education and the Federal Film Censorship.

1935

He publishes his second book, "Forma e exegese" (Form and Exegesis) by Irmãos Pongetti Publishing house. With the outstanding progress compared to the first book, he is recognized by critics and wins the prestigious prize Philip d”Oliveira. The book receives, at that time, positive comments from Manuel Bandeira.

1933

He graduates in Law and finishes his course at CPOR.

Encouraged by the writer Octavio de Faria he gets to publish by Schmidt Publishing house (owned by the poet Augusto Frederico Schmidt) his first book of poems: "O Caminho para a Distância" (The Path to the Distance).

1932

He publishes for the first time a poem of his own in the magazine A Ordem, October issue. The publication, edited by the Catholic intellectual and literary critic Tristao de Athayde, features a young conservative Vinicius, with a biblical poem of 152 verses titled "A Transfiguração da Montanha” (The Transfiguration of the Mountain).

The Tapajós brothers record “Loira ou Morena” (Blonde or Brunette) and “Canção da noite” (Night’s Song), composed four years before with Vinicius.

1931

He joins CPOR (Reserve Officer Training Corps). However, he would never lead a military life.

1930

With only 17 years and following the natural path of many youngsters aspiring Arts, he goes to the Law School of Catete Street, in Rio de Janeiro. There he meets a group of intellectuals who would definitely mark his life. In the neighborhood of Caju, the Academic Center for Legal and Social Studies, Vinicius lives with masters like Octavio de Faria and San Thiago Dantas, as well as fellows like Americo Lacombe, Hélio Viana, Plinio Doyle, Chermont de Miranda and Antonio Galloti.

1929

Becomes Bachelor of Arts (Languages) at Colégio Santo Inácio.

After spending seven years between Botafogo and Ilha do Governador, he moves once again with his family: they go back to Jardim Botânico. They settle down on Lopes Quintas Street, in a house adjoining that in which Vinicius was born.

1928

He composes his first songs. With Haroldo Tapajós composes "Loira ou Morena" (Blonde or Brunette) and, with Paulo Tapajós, "Canção da noite" (Night's Song) (a Brazilian 'fox-trot" and a "berceuse", as defined by Vinicius's himself).
The year in which is founded the Che Chaplin Club Film Society by Otavio de Farias, Plínio Sussekind Rocha, Almir de Castro and Claudio Mello. The group, that Vinicius meets in1930, the last year of his activities and the publications of O Fan magazine, causes a great impact in the poet’s ideas about cinema.

1927

Through a friendship with Paulo, Haroldo and Oswaldo Tapajós brothers, he composes his first songs.

With his friends Santo Inácio School, he starts a small band to play at parties. Besides Paulo and Haroldo Tapajós, colleagues as Maurício Joppert and Moacir Veloso Cardoso de Oliveira also took part in it.

1924

The beginning of the Secondary School at Colégio Santo Inácio, on São Clemente Street, in the neighborhood of Botafogo. From then on, during the week days he lives with his paternal grandparents at Voluntários da Pátria Street and spends the weekends and vacations with his parents, in Ilha do Governador.
Participates intensely in the artistic activities of scool. Sings in the church choir, and he is an actor and singer in children's theater.

Performs the first poetic writings taken seriously, alongside schoolmates as Renato Pompéia da Fonseca Guimarães, a nephew of Raul Pompeia.

1923

At 10 years old, he makes his first communion at Igreja da Matriz, in the neighborhood of Botafogo.

1922

During the year of the Week of Modern Art in São Paulo, the Centenary of Independence celebrated in Rio de Janeiro and the uprising of 18 of the Copacabana Fort, Vinicius already writes the first verses and poems at school.
The family moves again to Voluntários da Pátria Street # 195. At the end of the year, the Moraes move to Ilha do Governador, at the North Zone of the city. The address was Praia do Cocotá # 109-A. This last change of residence starts na important moment of learning in the future poet’s life.

1920

The year in which his family moves again, this time to Real Grandeza Street # 130, Vinicius is baptized at the masonry complying with a request of his maternal grandfather, Antônio Burlamaqui dos Santos Cruz.

1919

At the age of 6, Vinicius and his family move for the fourth time to another address in Botafogo. They start living on 19 de Fevereiro Street # 127.

1917

He moves again, this time to Rua da Passagem # 100, in the neigborhood of Botafogo. This is the address where his brother Helius is born.

He started studying at Afrânio Peixoto Primary School, on Rua da Matriz, in Botafogo.

1916

He moves to Voluntários da Pátria # 192. It is the beginning of a long relationshio of Vinicius and his family with the neighborhood of Botafogo. Starts living with his parents and his sister Lygia in their paternal grandparents, Maria Conceição de Mello Moraes and Anthero Pereira da Silva Moraes.

1913

Born on October 19, on Rua Lopes Quintas # 114, in the neighborhood of Jardim Botânico, Rio de Janeiro. With the Christian name Marcus Vinicius da Cruz de Melo Moraes, only at nine years-old he registers the name Vinicius de Moraes. He is the son of Lydia Cruz de Moraes and Clodoaldo Pereira da Silva Moraes.