Let’s get ready for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio by marking the birthday today of Brazilian composer Antônio Carlo Gomes (1836-1896). Gomes is reputed to have been the first composer from the New World whose music was embraced in Europe. In fact, his opera, “Il Guarany,” was a sensation when it was given its premiere at La Scala in 1870. Giuseppe Verdi called it a work of “true musical genius.”
When he came to write it, Gomes was in quest of a truly Brazilian subject. He settled on the romance novel “O Guarani,” by Brazilian writer José de Alencar. Alencar was a major proponent of a literary tradition known as “Indianism.” His book was the first of three to focus on the foundations of the Brazilian nation, with an emphasis on its indigenous peoples and cultures.
For his achievement, Gomes was decorated by Italy’s King Victor Emmanuel II. “Il Guarany” was performed in all the major musical capitals of Europe. When Gomes organized the opera’s first performance at home, in Rio, the Brazilians went similarly mad for it.
Of perhaps local interest, Gomes composed the hymn “Il salute del Brasile” to mark the centenary of American Independence. It was performed in Philadelphia, at the Centennial Exposition in Fairmount Park, on July 19, 1876.
Gomes wrote eight operas in all. Happy birthday, o mustachioed one!
Caruso with Emmy Destinn singing a duet from “Il Guarany”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-H-EfLq3_ok
The complete opera, with Domingo:
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