Manhã de Carnaval, or Carnival Morning, is a Brazilian tune composed by Luiz Bonfá with lyrics by Antônio Maria. It was the main theme of the 1959 film Orfeu Negro (Black Orpheus) directed by Marcel Camus, and appears on the film’s soundtrack, helping to introduce bossa nova to international audiences. The piece is a cornerstone of the bossa nova genre and has become a jazz standard performed worldwide in Portuguese and in many translated versions. In the United States it is often known as Carnival or Theme from Black Orpheus, and an English lyric adaptation by Carl Sigman led to versions like A Day in the Life of a Fool; Perry Como released an English version in 1963. The original release date is 1959, with the soundtrack and Fontana’s Black Orpheus album, and the tune continues to be widely covered by artists across decades.
