The Italian-Brazilian Vicente Celestino, one of the most important singers in Brazilian music, represents the artistic success of immigrant families who came to Brazil at the end of the 19th century.
First child of Italian couple Giuseppe Celestino e Serafina Gammaro, immigrants from the region of Calabria, Antônio Vicente Felipe Celestino was born on September 12, 1894 in the neighborhood of Santa Teresa, at Rio de Janeiro.
Some documents record the day of his birth as September 22 of the same year. Furthermore, he was registered as Filipe Antônio Vicente, although during his life he always signed Antonio Vicente Felipe.
The fact is that Vicente Celestino had eleven brothers, five women and six men. Among the male brothers, five dedicated themselves to singing and one to theater. Your brother Amadeu Celestino, for example, in addition to being a singer, he was a dancer, musician and actor.
Vicente Celestino discovers music
Born in a humble family, Vicente began working at the age of eight in various activities, such as shoemaker, fish seller, newsagent and, already in his teens, section head in a shoe industry.
But music had already entered his life, since at the age of 11, in 1905, he was certain that he wanted to pursue it. artistic career when attending a recital of Baiano e Eduardo das Neves.
In 1913, he began to sing as an amateur, in all the meetings he participated in. He also used to perform at Chopp Berrante, nickname for the open-air kiosk that was located on the sidewalk in Rua do Passeio, in Rio de Janeiro.
There was a small theater there, where he performed, earning a symbolic payment. It was a way to become known to the public and, who knows, achieve fame. Some nights he would sing in Italian, native language of the parents.
But he soon began to receive invitations to perform in recreational clubs from Rio de Janeiro, where he received around 10 thousand réis per day. The money was passed on to the parents, to alleviate the family's delicate financial situation.
Professionalism
The first opportunity to leave amateurism was in 1914, when the Colonel Alvarenga Fonseca, then director of the Companhia do São José Theater, in São Paulo, invited him to perform there. His professional debut was singing the waltz Flower of Evil in the piece Chuah, chuah, a track that appeared on his first album, recorded by Edson House.
Afterwards Vicente went to sing as a chorister in the company set up by the Italian immigrant Paschoal Segretto, famous talent discoverer of the time.
In 1915, the singer was hired by Leopoldo Fróes Company. At the same time, he changed the Casa Edson record label to Odeon and recorded three modinhas by unknown authors.
In 1919, Vicente Celestino began to participate in operas such as Bandit's Love e Juriti, alongside singer-actresses, such as Laís Areda e Carmen Dora. He also began to assist in the production of operas such as Tosca, Aida e Carmen.
Vicente Celestino and the golden age
When the electrical recording system arrived in Brazil to replace mechanical recording, in the middle of decade 1920, the story goes that Vicente needed some time to adapt. Your voice was very powerful for the equipment of the time and he often recorded from 20 meters or even from back to the microphones.
Until Odeon brought a engineer from outside Brazil to adjust the equipment and finally make the singer record with the mouth on the microphone.
Vicente Celestino reigned supreme in the 20s and was consecrated as King of Song, beginning one of the most brilliant and longest careers in the history of Brazilian music. He became one of the leading figures of golden age of music made in Brazil, alongside other great singers, such as Mario Reis e Francisco Alves.
In the following years, he left Odeon and had a brief passage by the record company Columbia. The reason for his departure from Columbia was a record that Vicente thought was of poor quality, but which was taken by the company to stores anyway.
Gilda Abreu and compositions
In 1933, when performing in the burleta The Brazilian Song, Vicente Celestino met Gilda Abreu, singer, writer, actress and filmmaker. Both got married on September 25th of the same year and Gilda began to lead the couple's career, taking Vicente to movies and composition, as until then he was just a performer.
In 1935, Vicente Celestino joined the RCA Victor, where he stayed for the rest of his life. He received a fixed salary of 50 thousand réis and a additional on sales of records, something unheard of at that period.
Many of the songs composed by Vicente Celestino were born in guitar E piano, instruments he mastered. Two of them would later provide the theme for two films with huge audiences: The Drunkard (1946), a play that was turned into a film by his wife Gilda Abreu, and Maternal Heart (1951), which was also very successful.
Artistic legacy
He went through all phases and fads of Brazilian music, although in the 1950s the themes of betrayal and suffering for love went out of fashion a little. He remained faithful to the style he established and, in the late 50s, recorded songs such as Conception, I believe in you e If Everyone Were Just Like You.
The singer never left the country, but on the other hand, he toured all over Brazil and earned a lot of money during his heyday. Your artistic recognition is also undeniable, since there was songs covered by big names, including Caetano Veloso, Marisa Monte e Mutants.
In the mechanical recording phase, he released around 28 discos with 52 songs. With the arrival of electrical recording in 1927, he began to release hits sung throughout Brazil. In total, he recorded in 78 RPM about 137 discs with 265 songs, ten more singles and 31 LPs, including reissues of the 78 RPM.
Death and tributes
Vicente Celestino died of a heart attack on August 23, 1968, aged 74, in Hotel Normandy, in São Paulo. He was leaving for a performance at the famous gafieira Black Pearl with Caetano Veloso e Gilberto Gil, which would be recorded for a program on Record TV, a tribute from Tropicalist Movement to the singer.
His body was transferred to Rio de Janeiro, where he was veiled by a crowd in the City Council Chamber and buried under the applause of the public in the Saint John the Baptist Cemetery.
Legacy of Vicente Celestino
On March 13, 1999, it was opened in Conservatory, district of Valença in Rio de Janeiro, the Vicente Celestino and Gilda de Abreu Museum. Most of the collection was donated by the singer's family, including photographs, newspaper and magazine clippings, musical instruments, clothes and personal objects, such as the costumes used in the film O Ébrio. Visitors can also watch videos and listen artist recordings.
Vicente Celestino also received several honors during his lifetime, such as the Medal of Honor for Work Merit, in 1965, by then president Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco. In 1967, the jury of the International Song Festival awarded him the diploma The Maximum Expression of the Song.
In the city of Nilópolis, in Grande Rio, there is the Vicente Celestino Street, located at the entrance to the city, near the Santos Dumont neighborhood. In Sorocaba, in the interior of São Paulo, a street also bears his name.
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