La Cumparsita
Encyclopedia
"La cumparsita" is a musical piece written by Gerardo Matos Rodríguez
, an Uruguay
an musician, in 1916. It is among the most famous and recognizable tango
songs of all time.
The title translates as "the little parade", and the first version was a tune with no lyrics. Later, Pascual Contursi
wrote words to make the most popular version of the song. The lyrics begin: "The little parade of endless miseries..."
the music in the cafe called La Giralda. Firpo looked at the music and quickly determined that he could make it into a tango. As presented to him it had two sections; Firpo added a third part taken from his own little-known tangos "La gaucha Manuela" and "Curda completa", and also used a portion of the song "Miserere" by Giuseppe Verdi
from the opera Il trovatore
. Years later, Firpo reported the historic moment as follows:
Firpo recorded the song in November 1916 for Odeon Records
: Odeon release number 483. He used the recording studio of Max Glücksmann in Buenos Aires, and employed two violinists, one bandoneón
player (Juan Bautista "Bachicha" Deambrogio), and one flute player to join him as bandleader on piano. The song was pressed as the B-side of a 78 rpm release, and had only a modest success, fading in familiarity after several years.
Lyrics to the song were written by the Argentine Pascual Contursi
in 1924, and soon became a hit. This version of the song is considered the most widely known tango song in the world, closely followed by "El Choclo". Contursi recorded the song under the title "Si Supieras" ("If you knew"). Living in Paris at that time, Matos Rodríguez discovered that the song was a big hit when he talked with Francisco Canaro
who was playing the tune at Paris engagements as "Si Supieras". Canaro told Matos Rodríguez the song was "all the rage by all the orchestras". Matos Rodríguez spent the next two decades in various court battles over royalties, and finally succeeded in ensuring that "La cumparsita" was re-established as the title of the song. However, Contursi's lyrics became intimately associated with the song.
Canaro formulated a binding agreement in 1948, one which would end the lawsuits. He determined that 20 percent of all royalties would go to the estates of the lyricist Contursi and his business partner Enrique P. Maroni. The other 80 percent of recording royalties would go to the estate of Matos Rodríguez. Canaro established that future sheet music printings would show Contursi's lyrics in addition to less well-known ones written by Matos Rodríguez, and no other lyrics.
's vocal and performances by orchestras led by Juan d'Arienzo
and Osvaldo Pugliese
. La Cumparsita is very popular at Milongas
; it is a common tradition for it to be played as the last dance of the evening.
The song was named cultural and popular anthem of Uruguay by law. in 1997.
Gene Kelly
dances to "La cumparsita" in the film Anchors Aweigh
(1945). The song was included in a ballroom scene of the film Sunset Boulevard
(1950) in which Gloria Swanson
and William Holden
danced the tango. In the 2006 dance movie Take the Lead
, Jenna Dewan
, Dante Basco
and Elijah Kelley
danced to a remixed version.
Gerardo Matos Rodríguez
Gerardo Hernan Matos Rodríguez Montevideo, Uruguay, also known as Becho, was a Uruguayan musician, composer and journalist.-Background and early career:...
, an Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
an musician, in 1916. It is among the most famous and recognizable tango
Tango music
Tango is a style of ballroom dance music in 2/4 or 4/4 time that originated among European immigrant populations of Argentina and Uruguay . It is traditionally played by a sextet, known as the orquesta típica, which includes two violins, piano, double bass, and two bandoneons...
songs of all time.
The title translates as "the little parade", and the first version was a tune with no lyrics. Later, Pascual Contursi
Pascual Contursi
Pascual Contursi was an Argentine poet, singer, and guitarist. He composed lyrics for 33 tango compositions - many well-known.-Life and work:...
wrote words to make the most popular version of the song. The lyrics begin: "The little parade of endless miseries..."
History
The song was originally a Uruguayan carnival march whose melody was composed in early 1916 by an architecture student in Montevideo, an 18-year-old man named Gerardo Hernán "Becho" Matos Rodríguez, the son of Montevideo's Moulin Rouge nightclub proprietor Emilio Matos. On 8 February 1916, Matos Rodríguez had his friend Manuel Barca show orchestra leader Roberto FirpoRoberto Firpo
Roberto Firpo was an Argentine tango pianist, composer and leader.Firpo was born in the Flores district of Buenos Aires, where his father owned a grocery store...
the music in the cafe called La Giralda. Firpo looked at the music and quickly determined that he could make it into a tango. As presented to him it had two sections; Firpo added a third part taken from his own little-known tangos "La gaucha Manuela" and "Curda completa", and also used a portion of the song "Miserere" by Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
from the opera Il trovatore
Il trovatore
Il trovatore is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play El Trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez. Cammarano died in mid-1852 before completing the libretto...
. Years later, Firpo reported the historic moment as follows:
Firpo recorded the song in November 1916 for Odeon Records
Odeon Records
Odeon Records was a record label founded in 1903 by Max Straus and Heinrich Zuntz of the International Talking Machine Company in Berlin, Germany. It was named after a famous theatre in Paris, whose classical dome appears on the Odeon record label....
: Odeon release number 483. He used the recording studio of Max Glücksmann in Buenos Aires, and employed two violinists, one bandoneón
Bandoneón
The bandoneón is a type of concertina particularly popular in Argentina and Uruguay. It plays an essential role in the orquesta típica, the tango orchestra...
player (Juan Bautista "Bachicha" Deambrogio), and one flute player to join him as bandleader on piano. The song was pressed as the B-side of a 78 rpm release, and had only a modest success, fading in familiarity after several years.
Lyrics to the song were written by the Argentine Pascual Contursi
Pascual Contursi
Pascual Contursi was an Argentine poet, singer, and guitarist. He composed lyrics for 33 tango compositions - many well-known.-Life and work:...
in 1924, and soon became a hit. This version of the song is considered the most widely known tango song in the world, closely followed by "El Choclo". Contursi recorded the song under the title "Si Supieras" ("If you knew"). Living in Paris at that time, Matos Rodríguez discovered that the song was a big hit when he talked with Francisco Canaro
Francisco Canaro
Francisco Canaro was an Uruguayan-Argentine violinist and tango orchestra leader.His parents, Italians emigrated to Uruguay, and later - when Francisco Canaro was less than 10 years old, they emigrated to Buenos Aires in the late nineteenth century. Canaro was born in San José de Mayo, Uruguay,...
who was playing the tune at Paris engagements as "Si Supieras". Canaro told Matos Rodríguez the song was "all the rage by all the orchestras". Matos Rodríguez spent the next two decades in various court battles over royalties, and finally succeeded in ensuring that "La cumparsita" was re-established as the title of the song. However, Contursi's lyrics became intimately associated with the song.
Canaro formulated a binding agreement in 1948, one which would end the lawsuits. He determined that 20 percent of all royalties would go to the estates of the lyricist Contursi and his business partner Enrique P. Maroni. The other 80 percent of recording royalties would go to the estate of Matos Rodríguez. Canaro established that future sheet music printings would show Contursi's lyrics in addition to less well-known ones written by Matos Rodríguez, and no other lyrics.
Legacy
Famous versions of this tango include Carlos GardelCarlos Gardel
Carlos Gardel was a singer, songwriter and actor, and is perhaps the most prominent figure in the history of tango. He was born in Toulouse, France, although he never acknowledged his birthplace publicly, and there are still claims of his birth in Uruguay. He lived in Argentina from the age of two...
's vocal and performances by orchestras led by Juan d'Arienzo
Juan D'Arienzo
Juan d'Arienzo was an Argentine tango musician, also known as "El Rey del Compás" . Departing from other orchestras of the golden age, D'Arienzo returned to the 2x4 feel that characterized music of the old guard, but he used more modern arrangements and instrumentation...
and Osvaldo Pugliese
Osvaldo Pugliese
Osvaldo Pedro Pugliese was an Argentine tango musician. He developed dramatic arrangements that retained strong elements of the walking beat of salon tango but also heralded the development of concert-style tango music.Some of his music, mostly since the 50s, is used for theatrical dance...
. La Cumparsita is very popular at Milongas
Milonga (place)
Milonga is a term for a place or an event where tango is danced. People who frequently go to milongas are sometimes called milongueros. The term "milonga" can also refer to a musical genre....
; it is a common tradition for it to be played as the last dance of the evening.
The song was named cultural and popular anthem of Uruguay by law. in 1997.
Gene Kelly
Gene Kelly
Eugene Curran "Gene" Kelly was an American dancer, actor, singer, film director and producer, and choreographer...
dances to "La cumparsita" in the film Anchors Aweigh
Anchors Aweigh (film)
Anchors Aweigh is a 1945 American musical comedy film directed by George Sidney in which two sailors go on a four-day shore leave in Hollywood, accompanied by music and song, meet an aspiring young singer and try to help her get an audition at MGM...
(1945). The song was included in a ballroom scene of the film Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard (film)
Sunset Boulevard is a 1950 American film noir directed and co-written by Billy Wilder, and produced and co-written by Charles Brackett...
(1950) in which Gloria Swanson
Gloria Swanson
Gloria Swanson was an American actress, singer and producer. She was one of the most prominent stars during the silent film era as both an actress and a fashion icon, especially under the direction of Cecil B. DeMille, made dozens of silents and was nominated for the first Academy Award in the...
and William Holden
William Holden
William Holden was an American actor. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1954 and the Emmy Award for Best Actor in 1974...
danced the tango. In the 2006 dance movie Take the Lead
Take the Lead
Take the Lead is a movie starring Antonio Banderas, Rob Brown, Alfre Woodard, Dante Basco, Marcus T. Paulk, Jenna Dewan, Lauren Collins and also features former America's Next Top Model contestant, Yaya DaCosta. The film was released in mainstream cinema on April 7, 2006...
, Jenna Dewan
Jenna Dewan
Jenna Lee Dewan-Tatum , better known by her birth name Jenna Dewan, is an American actress, dancer, and former model.-Early life:...
, Dante Basco
Dante Basco
Danté Basco is an American actor, voice actor, poet, and dancer. He is best known for playing Rufio in the 1991 live-action Peter Pan film Hook...
and Elijah Kelley
Elijah Kelley
Elijah Kelley is an American actor, singer, and dancer. Kelley has appeared in the films Take the Lead and 28 Days , and co-starred in the musical film re-adaptation of Hairspray , in which he portrayed the character Seaweed J...
danced to a remixed version.