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Padre Domingos Caldas Barbosa: Afro-Brazilian Poet Author(s): Dorothy B. Porter Source: Phylon (1940-1956), Vol. 12, No. 3 (3rd Qtr., 1951), pp. 264-271 Published by: Clark Atlanta University Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/271641 . Accessed: 22/09/2013 16:15
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By DOROTHY

B. PORTER

Padre Domingos Caldas Barbosa: Afro-Brazilian Poet

A SHIP en route to Brazil from Angola, West Africa, sometime A OARD in 1738 or 1740, was a Portuguese merchant who had with him an Angola slave woman. Either during the voyage or soon after the couple arrived in Rio de Janeiro, a son was born to them. The young father, whose name is unknown, acknowledged the boy-infant, had him baptized in the same year he was born and called him Domingos Caldas Barbosa. Among authorities there is some difference of opinion as to whether the child was born at sea, or in Rio de Janeiro and in the year 1738 or in 1740.1 Caldas in verse of his mature years, remarks as follows concerning his

nativity:
Por entre a gente, que a ouvir se ajunta, Mogo alegre rompeu, que lhe pergunta Se e elle o mesmo Caldas brazileiro Que tem por patria o Rio de Janeiro.2

Before the suppression of the Jesuits in Brazil, the young Caldas was a student in the Jesuit college at Rio de Janeiro. His father probably recognized the precocious talent of this "pardinho" and encouraged him to attend the schools of the Jesuits. At the Colegio dos Jesuitas, Caldas soon distinguished himself through his ability to make rhymes. This power of literary improvisation caused him trouble, for he indulged it at the expense of the white Portuguese whose social advantages he resented. These Portuguese, on the other hand, could not tolerate ridicule by this son of a slave woman who was, no doubt, intellectually their
superior.

In 1733, Count Gomes Freire de Andrade Bobadella (1685-1763), a Portuguese fidalgo and militarist, was appointed Captain-General in Rio de Janeiro. Especially interested in the arts, he encouraged the founding of the literary academies of Felizes and Seletos. To many intellectuals in the city he gave his protection. Subsequently, Count Bobadella became the Viceroy and as such was painted by the famous mulatto slave son of Januario da Cunha Barbosa. This portrait depicting him in the armor of
1 Januario da Cunha Barbosa, asserts that he was born at sea: Januario da Cunha Barbosa, "Domingos Caldas Barbosa," Revista do Instituto Historico e Geografico Brasileiro, v. 4, 1842, p. 210; Haroldo Paranhos states that he was born in 1738 in Rio de Janeiro in Historia do Romantismo no Brasil (Sao Paulo, 1937), p. 265; Arthur Motta gives 1738 as the year of Caldas' birth and Rio de Janeiro as the place of birth. Arthur Motta, Historia da Litteratura Brasileira (Sao Paulo, 1930), p. 319; Silvio Romero in his Historia da Literatura Brasileira (Rio de Janeiro, 1943) p. 146 and F. A. Varnhagen in his Florilegio da Poesia (Rio de Janeiro, 1946), v. 2, p. 98 give the year of birth as 1740. 2 Francisco A. de Varnhagen, Florilegio da Poesia Brazileira (Rio de Janeiro, 1946), v. 2, p. 125.

264

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BARBOSA

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a Portuguese admiral was one of the artist's best works. Today, it hangs in the Hall of Sessions of the Municipal Council of Rio de Janeiro. It was this very Viceroy who, yielding to political pressure, gave satisfaction to persons who had been offended by the satires of Caldas, by ordering him recruited into the army. Caldas was sent to the colony of Sacramento, a military outpost, founded in 1680, at the head of the Prata River and in Barbosa's time the Gilbralta of America. In 1762, the fortress was taken by the Spanish and Caldas returned to Rio de Janeiro, where he was successful in obtaining a release from the army. After eight or ten years more in Rio de Janeiro, Caldas made up his mind to seek a less restricted life in Europe. He wished to be free of an environment where hate prevailed against people of color. His father aided him by giving him a small monthly allowance which, with careful husbanding, sustained him for some while. While in Vianno do Minha, Portugal, Caldas received the news of the death of his father which was tantamount to declaring Caldas Barbosa a pauper. In lines of sad remembrance, the poet wrote on the death of his father: Assim de remoto clima
Deixei do sul o cruzeiro Vi do norte a estrella em cima De muito maior luzeiro;

Nos margens do claro Lima

Eu me vi orfao primeoro, E entao da fortuna opima Vi o dia derradeiro.3

While in this city of Vianno do Minha, the still youthful poet composed Tempestrade. In the course of time, Caldas Barbosa journeyed to Lisbon. In 1775, for the inauguration held on June sixth of the equestrian statue of King Don Jose, Caldas, among others, celebrated this occasion with a number of poetic compositions, presented under the title Colegao de Poesias Feitas na Feliz Inauguragio da Estdtua d'Elrei Nosso Senhor D. Jose I, em 6 Junho de 1775. To this same King he also dedicated Lebreida (Hare Hunt), a poem whose theme was a real hare hunt at which the author was present. It is said that with this poem he hoped to gain the protection of the monarch. Fortune came to our poet at last, for in Lisbon he secured the patronage of the two brothers of the Viceroy of Brazil, Jose and Luiz de Vasconcellos e Sousa. Jose was the Count of Pombeiro, later Marques de Belas, and Luiz, the Count of Figueiro, later Marques de Castelo Melhor. Jose de Vasconcellos e Sousa was Chief Justice in Porto, at the time that he became the protector of Caldas Barbosa. Continuing his studies, Caldas Barbosa became a secular presbyter and was named Chaplain to the Casa da
3 Varnhagen, op. cit., v. 2, p. 87.

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PHYLON

Supplicagao (Court of Petitions). A member of the Vasconcellos families, living first with one then the other, Caldas Barbosa also enjoyed the best society of the Court. There his improvisations sung to the accompaniment of the viola gained great popularity for him. In fact, he was the center of attraction at the literary gatherings which occurred on Wednesdays in the palace of the Count of Pombeiro. This was the age of the Arcadias or literary societies in Europe. Many of the poets of the century were members of these groups which were formed especially to cultivate bucolic poetry and other classic formalities of verse-making. The Portuguese Arcadias of the 1750's aimed to free Portuguese literature from foreign influence and to restore the purity of the language. In the eighteenth century, Arcadianism attempted to break the shackles of Spanish influence and gongorismo which had persisted in the seventeenth century.4 Caldas Barbosa, with the Portuguese poets Manuel Maria Barbosa du Bocage (1765-1805), Jose Agostinho Macedo (1761-1831), Belchoir Manuel Curvi Semedo (1766-1838), Nuno Alvares Pereira Pato Moniz (1781-1827), and others, founded the Academia de Belas Letras which later became Nova Arcadia. Barbosa was once the President of the Academia de Belas Letras, the former Academia das Humanidades. Inspired by the Arcadia de Roma, Barbosa took the pseudonymn Lereno Selinuntino.5 Caldas Barbosa's prestige enabled him to be often of use to his colleagues; but, envious of him, they in turn used him badly. From sly innuendo they turned to open hostile slurs and satirical denunciation. In a short time, most of those who had been associated with him in the Nova Arcadia had withdrawn from his friendship. Only Macedo, who in an elaborate poem addressed to "Lereno's" patron had praised Barbosa, remained loyal. He seemed to hold the poet in esteem. At least he granted him the laurels he had truly won. Macedo spoke of Barbosa as sublime conjuror of sonorous verse to the pulsation of the lyre:
Eia sublime, sonorosa Caldas Improviso cantor, eu pulso a Lyra, Que Apollo enasta de frondosa rama: O fogo que respira Nos versos teus com rutilante chama, Com que a voluvel fantasia escaldas, Eu sigo: e o voo rapido qu'ergueste Do ninho Americano, onde Nasceste.6

Other reasons for the satirical attacks against "Lereno" were his color, his enormous talent as an improvisator and interpreter of the popular spirit, and his great popularity in Portugal which included the nobility and particularly those nobles who had influence at court.
4 Aubrey F. G. Bell, Portuguese 5 Paranhos, op. cit., p. 323. 6 Varnhagen, op. cit., p. 92. Literature (Oxford, 1922) p. 270-273.

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Bocage, however, never abated his contempt for his fellow Arcadian and spoke derisively of his art, calling him "Papagaio," meaning parrot. Varnhagen suggests that the rival poets may have been more angered by Barbosa's abstention from licentiousness or pornographic imagery. While Bocage and Macedo indulged in licentiousness and immorality, Padre Caldas Barbosa, simple and modest, continued to rise in general esteem; nor was he disturbed by the obsession of his rivals to criticize him for the color of his skin. Barbosa was not ashamed of his dark color and concerning the circumstances of his birth, he wrote as follows: Desde o triste nascimento
Fundara minhas razoes

Se f6ra aqui meu intento Ir desculpar geragoes: E tenho em conhecimento Que nao houve dois Adoes.7 Earlier he had been called in Brazil "Caldas de Cobre" in order to distinguish him from his white contemporary Padre Antonio Pereira de Souza Caldas (1772-1814), who was called "Caldas de Prata." Caldas himself strengthened this tradition as the following stanza suggests: Tu es Caldas, eu sou Caldas; Tu es rico, e eu sou pobre; Tu es o Caldas de prata; Eu sou o Caldas de Cobre.8 that Barbosa had a timid or submissive character assumes Varnhagen of race. This Romero calls a grave and unjust to his consciousness due appraisal. In fact, Romero states that he possessed a lovable, happy and diverting temperament, and like many Brazilian mulattoes, was inclined to musical expression and was the possessor of an optimistic outlook.9 The popularity of Caldas Barbosa's poetry was probably due to his capacity as an improvisator or to his social virtues, but also to the simple character of his spontaneous lyrics which lent themselves so admirably to the accompaniment of the viola. The simplicity of his verses was in contrast to the involved rhetoric of Macedo and Bocage and the unappealing intonation strewn throughout their work. As this genuine troubador sang, he pleased all. The slight emotions and tender sentiments of his unpretentious compositions, for he was not a great poet, endeared him to the people. Many honors were bestowed upon him. His presence became a necessity at all festivities. In the aristocratic gatherings, at the seashore resorts, in the picturesque regions of the city of Cintra, in Bellas, in Queluz, in Bemfica, and wherever society found itself, Caldas was there with his viola to give a complete entertainment. Many of the poems which appear in Barbosa's Viola de Lereno are
7 Ibid., p. 86. 8 Alfredo de Assis, "Os Domingos Barbosa." Revista das Academias de Letras, Anno III, No. 9, April, 1939, p. 332. 9 Silvio Romero, Historia da Literatura Brasileira (Rio de Janeiro, 1943), v. 2, p. 146.

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dedicated to his friends and patrons, applauding their virtues, and celebrating in verse their various anniversaries. The Modinha, the poetic form in which Caldas Barbosa cast many of his songs, contained a note of appeal for the coquettish women and fashionable men who caroused at the evening parties at Bemposta or at the country estates of Queluz and Belem. Modinhas were very much in vogue during the time of Queen Dona Maria I (1777-1816) and were a variation of the Portuguese Serranilha, which one finds in many of the verses of Sa' de Miranda. When recited, it was always accompanied by a melodic sentida which adapted itself to each type of composition. Almost all the poets of the Arcadias made use of this decor for their verses. The term Modinha is derived from the diminutive moda of the Portuguese. Caldas' Modinhas may be described as Brazilian urban songs of sentimental character, mostly in a minor key with flexible rhythm. These sentimental airs were greatly influenced by the Italian Cantabile.10 In addition to the popular Modinhas, Caldas composed Lundus, a genre type of composition in which genuine Brazilian words formed from Indian and African speech were used. The Lundu, a popular song, is definitely of African origin.ll From the palaces of Ajuda and the salons of the Count of Castelho Melhor these Modinhas of Barbosa descended to the streets of Mouravia and Bairro Alto where they were sung by the common people who, as they passed them from mouth to mouth, abridged, mutilated, or amplified them as they desired. Some of the Brazilian literary historians who encountered the lyrics of Caldas Barbosa during their researches have noted the changes made in them as they were incorporated into the songs of the people. Romero, who was the first to give importance to "Lereno," found many an anonymous or modified version of the poems of our ecclesiastical poet when he went into the northern part of Brazil to collect popular verses. 12 Sim6es Lopes Neto in his Cancioneiro Quasca gives in the anonymous section many quatrains which are fragments from Barbosa's Viola de Lereno. The Portuguese writers Agostinho de Campos and Alberto de Oliveiro have likewise cited the disfigurement of the sweet songs of Caldas which had become anonymous rhymes of popular Portuguese inspiration.13 It was this mulatto poet, son of a Portuguese father and an African mother, who transported to the mother country to which he had emi2d ed. (Rio de Janeiro, 1942), pp. 62-72, 10 See Renato Almeida, Hist6ria da Musica Brasileira. He was an for explanation of Modinhas; See also Lord Beckford's analysis of Modinhas. assidious frequenter of the courts and described the Modinhas of Caldas as he heard them also de1787 a in letter dated Lord Beckford the in to ladies the Queen. sung by waiting scribes the enthusiasm which Lisboan Society had for the Brazilian Modinhas and the sucof his in Lisbon with Paranhos, cess which Caldas Barbosa had op. cit., pp. type poetry. 264-65. 11 Ibid., pp. 72-78 has a section on Lundus. 12 Romero, op. cit., 147. 13 Paranhos, op. cit., p. 268.

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grated, the accents and rhythms of the Brazilian Modinhas. He was, as Manuel Bandeiro recognizes, the first Brazilian with whom there arises a poetry that is entirely Brazilian in feeling.14 In addition he was the first artist to introduce typically Brazilian music into the drawing rooms of Portugal. Caldas Barbosa, a mulatto, signifies the social ascension which several mulattoes of the eighteenth century achieved, among whom were Antonio Francisco Lisboa, the great sculptor, Padre Jose Mauricio, the musician, and Manuel da Cunha, the slave painter. The best work of Caldas Barbosa was published in his Viola de Lereno: Collecgao de Seus Cantigas. Offerecidas aos Seus Amigos. Volume I of this title appeared in Lisbon in 1798, a second edition in Baia in 1806, a third edition in Baia in 1813, and a fourth edition in Lisbon in 1819. Volume II of the Viola de Lereno was published in Lisbon in 1826. There was also a Brazilian edition in 1825. In 1944,almost one hundred and fifty years after the publication of Volume I of Viola de Lereno, a two-volume edition was published in the series known as Biblioteca Popular de Instituto Nacional do Livro, no. XIV. This edition contains a small portrait of the poet. Caldas also wrote quintilhas in the classic taste, sonnets, and two Epistles to Arminda in which the rules of metrification are explained. He composed a canto in blank verse entitled O Jardim as well as a letter in verse dedicated to Mme. Deshoulieres, a lady who wished to be poetized. In 1792,he published in Porto a thirty-two page work in verse, recounting the principal events in sacred history. Among his scholarly productions are to be found his translation of an ode of Horace and translations of poems and dramas from the French and Italian. Today, in the United States original publications of this poet's verse are rarely to be found. Harvard University, The Hispanic Society in New York City, Catholic University Library, The Library of Congress and Texas University have original copies, according to the Union Catalogue in the Library of Congress. The 1944 reprint of his Viola de Lereno is to be found in several libraries. Barbosa must be credited with having excited much attention by his brilliant artistry. Certainly the new type of poetry which he introduced into Portugal greatly recommended Brazilian colonial culture to the mother country. In the light of these achievements this brief essay seems justified. By the same token it is hard to understand how Samuel Putnam failed even to mention him in his Marvelous Journey, A Survey of Four Centuries of Brazilian Writing (New York, 1948); nor for that matter did Aubrey Bell include him in his Portuguese Literature (Oxford, 1922). Moreover, Caldas Barbosa, the eighteenth century Brazilian poet, along with Greg6rio de Matos Guerra (1633-1692), the seventeenth century
14 Fernando de Azevedo, Brazilian Culture (New York, 1950), p. 201.

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Brazilian poet, best established the character of the Mestizo in the popular genre of early Brazilian poetry. Domingos Caldas Barbosa died on November 9, 1800, in Lisbon, of such a sudden illness that it hardly permitted him to receive the blessed sacraments. His body was at first placed in a Chapel of the Palace of Bemposta on the estate of Pombeiro. Later it was interred in the Catholic church of Nossa Senhora dos Anjos, where the poet remains for eternity.15 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE WORKS OF DOMINGOS CALDAS BARBOSA
1. Collecgio de poesias feitas por occasido de se inaugurar a estatua de D. Jose I, em 6-7-1775. [Lisboa, na Regia Officina, Typ. 1775] 27p. Contains five odes and six sonnets of Caldas Barbosa which are also included in the volume-Narragao dos applausos corn que a juiz do povo ... Lisb6a, 1775. 2. A doenca, poema offerecido agratiddo. Lisb6a, na Regia Officina Typ. 1777. 49p. A poem of four cantos. Varnhagen cites a posthumous edition dated - Lisb6a, 1801. 3. Epithaldmio nas felicissisimas nupcias do Ex. Sr. Conde da Colheta, na Regia Officina Typ. 1777. 7p. 4. Lebreida: poema em 50 decimas rimadas escrito por ocasido da inauguragco da estatua equestre do rei D. Jose de 1778. 5. Recopilagdo dos successos principaes da escriptura sagrada (em versos). Porto, na Officina de Pedro Ribeiro Franga, 1792. 32p. Inocencio cites a second, enlarged edition with a full index published in Lisbon in 1819. Motta suggests that two more editions -a third published in Lisbon in 1819 and a fourth with a biography of the author, by Joaquim Caetano Fernandes Pinheiro, Rio de Janeiro, 1865. 6. Almanach das Musas, offerecido ao genio portuguez. Lisb6a, 1793, 4 vols.
15 Domingos Caldas Barbosa, Viola de Lereno

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

A large number of the poems in this work are signed Lereno Selinintino. Os viajantes ditoso: drama jocoso, em musica para se representar no theatro da Salitre, no anno de 1790. Lisboa, 1790. 96p. A saloia namorada ou o remedio e casar: pequena farga dramatica que as senhoras portuguezas offerecem a dedicam Domingos Caporallini e Miguel Cavani, representada por elles e por outros no real theatro de S. Carlos. Lisboa, Simao Thadeo Ferreira, 1793. 22p. A vinganga da cigana: drama joco serio em um acto, para ser representado no real theatro de S. Carlos. Lisboa, pela companhia Lisboa, 1794. 47p. A escola dos ciosos: drama jocoso em um so acto, traduzido livremente do italiano, em versos portuguezes, para se representar em musica no real theatro de Sao Carlos. Lisboa, 1795. 66p. A viola de Lereno: collecgdo de suas cantigas. Lisboa, 1798. - The same. 2a. ed. Lisboa, 1806. - The same. 3a. ed. Bahia, 1813. --The same. 4a. ed. Vols. I-II. Lisboa, 1819-1826. A fifth edition is supposed to have been published in Brazil in 1825. Descripcdo da grandiosa quinta dos senhores de Bellas e noticia do seu melhoramento. Lisboa, na Regia Typ. Silviana, 1799. 87p. A unique work in prose.
1944), p. xii.

(Rio de Janeiro,

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BLUES IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD

13. Poema Mariano, ou Narragdo dos mais espantosos e extraorde N. Senhora da Penha . . por Domingos

271

14. Henrique IV: poema epico, traduzido do original francez. Lisboa,

1807. 203p.

Caldas, natural da Bahia, dada a luz por Ignacio Felix de Alvarenga Salles, etc. Victoria, 1854.

Published posthumously by the poet's protector, the Marquez de Bellas. It is a translation of Voltaire's Henriade.

The above list is cited from Arthur Motta, Historia da Litteratura Brasileira (Porto Alegre, 1943).

By M. CARL HOLMAN

Blues in the Neighborhood

The Germans blanched their steps with brush and lye, Fed birds behind a wall and a green gate, Saw daylight through you with a cold blue eye, Wore clothes like armor, and would contemplate Some text of Luther lurking near their shoes, When stone-faced Sonny played his westbound blues. The Irishers we knew were fond of drink, Prone to curse Hoover in an argument; Lounged, and gave ladies a collective wink; Paused, when the evening and their cash was spent, Listening like owls with only sleep to lose, When stone-faced Sonny played his westbound blues. Italians sprinkled language like confetti, Rode God upon their shoulders in parades, Sang stagily on snails and rich spaghetti, Suffered policemen in infrequent raids; Smiled, to deny harsh sounds could leave a bruise, When stone-faced Sonny played his westbound blues. The Negroes hung their loves and quarrels in air, Bore cold beer to the basement where, alone, Doomed, but not destined for that golden stair, The man who haunted them turned into stone; Wept for all ends which are not ours to choose, When stone-faced Sonny played his westbound blues.

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