Vinicius de Moraes

Vinícius de Moraes wrote his first poem at the age of seven, for a girl he knew in school and composed his first songs while a student at the Santo Ignácio School. Even at that young age, he showed a fascination with moving images, leading to yet another of his career paths.

He attended college, graduating with a degree in law, but instead pursued music and poetry, publishing his first book of poems, O Caminho para a Distância (The Road To Distance) in 1933, the first of several collections that he published in that decade. In this collection, Vinícius expresses the anguish and constant opposition between matter and spirit, he uses mysticism to try to solve the clash between the two, with love taking on a negative connotation.

His next book, Forma e Exegese (Form and Literary Interpretation) seems to find an explanation for uniting the material and spiritual worlds and is thus more positive. His writing becomes more interested in realistic, daily matters. Among his themes that concerned him, death and social worries stand out, as in the poem Operário em Construção (Construction Worker) and the play As Feras (The Beasts).

In 1936 he took a position as representative of Brazilian Education Department and there met and became friends with the writers Manuel Bandeira and Carlos Drummond de Andrade, both of whom went on to international fame.

In 1938, he went to Oxford University to study English, returning to Brazil in 1941. While in England, he married his first wife, Beatrîz. In Brazil he worked as a film critic, becoming a friend of U.S. film director Orson Welles when he visited Brazil. A tour of Brazil with the American radical novelist Waldo Frank opened Vinícius' eyes to the poverty around him, helping to shape his thoughts and his poetry.

Two years later, he pursued a career as a diplomat, spending time in the United States, France and Uruguay. While in the U.S., Vinícus' collection of poems, Sonetos e Baladas was released. His style of poetry had by now become enriched with a sense of social consciousness. He also wrote some of his most famous works Livro do Sonetos (Book of Sonnets), Procura-se um Amigo (Looking for a Friend), and Para Viver um Grande Amor (To Live a Great Love). His lyricism was written in the sensual style, which had become his trademark

Upon the death of his father in 1950, Vinícius returned to Brazil, and then in 1952 to France as second secretary to Brazil's embassy. The next year his first samba, Quando Tu Passas por Mim, released.

In 1956 he met the unknown pianist, Antonio Carlos Jobim, who Vinícus commissioned to write the music for his first play, Orfeu da Conceição. In 1959 the play was made into the Academy Award winning motion picture, Black Orpheus.

The songs of Jobim and Vinícius were recorded by many Brazilian performers of that time, including Gilberto's first three albums, which were instrumental in the growth of Bossa Nova, both in popularity and in cultural influence. Among the songs from these albums, were the hits Garota de Ipanema (Girl From Ipanema), Insensatez, and Chega de Saudade.

Among his poetry, there are many poems written for children, some of them become children songs.

Vinícius de Moraes died in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on July 9, 1980 at the age of 66.