The cafe 'La Giralda' in Montevideo, Uruguay, occupies a special place in
Tango history. It was there in the year 1917 that a young Gerardo Matos Rodriguez
gave (anonymously) the music score of a tango he had written to the orchestra
of Roberto Firpo to play for the first time. Gerardo was then an adolescent
(17 years old) who was barely making it as a student in the faculty of
Architecture in Montevideo. Was it modesty? shyness? fear of ridicule? who
knows why he wanted to remain anonymous? Firpo only knew that the name of
the young composer was Gerardo. It was only later that the full identity
of the author was known. He was young, educated, well mannered and sensible.
He was also a bit naive. He sold for 20 pesos his rights of authorship to
the Breyer publishing house. After some moderate success the composition
was forgotten.
Seven years later, in 1924, Gerardo was living in Paris and he met Francisco
Canaro who had just arrived with his orchestra. That's when he found out
that La Cumparsita was
a major hit. The tango lyricists Enrique Maroni and Pascual Contursi had
added words to the tango and renamed it 'Si Supieras'--If you knew. All of
Buenos Aires was hearing, dancing, and demanding to buy the score for the
tango that was seemingly everywhere in shows, recordings, and broadcasts.
Shortly after, La Cumparsita arrived to Paris where, in the full grip of
the roaring 20's, people danced charlestons, shimmys, one-steps, bostons,
and when the crowd asked for a tango, they danced La Cumparsita. From Paris
La Cumparsita spread to the four corners of the world and has since and forever
after become a synonym for Tango.
Gerardo Matos Rodriguez spent the next 20 years in and out of court trying
to regain his rights as author of the most famous tango in the world. The
first trial was between the composer and the Breyer and Ricordi publishing
houses --Breyer had sold the piece to Ricordi. After a long battle, Ricordi
agreed to pay royalties to the author. The second lawsuit was against Maroni
and Contursi. They had added lyrics to the tune without permission. Gerardo
won on the basis that he had surrendered his right to the music while being
a minor. A legal loophole, but the law is the law. In 1942, a third lawsuit
was established to discontinue from sale the recording made by Carlos Gardel.
This of course engendered a fourth lawsuit, this time by Maroni and Contursi's
widow, for damages and seeking their rights as authors of the lyrics.
There are quite a few tangos that have different lyrics set to the same music.
In some instances it was due to the ribald nature of the original lyrics
that necessitated a change once the tango left the bordello. In the case
of La Cumparsita, it was its popularity. "La cumparsa/de miserias sin fin/
desfila/en torno de aquel ser/enfermo/que pronto ha de morir/de pena/por
eso es que en su lecho/solloza acongojado/recordando el pasado/que lo hace
padecer" --the original lyrics written by Gerardo, have nothing to do with
the "Si supieras/que aun dentro de mi alma/conservo aquel cari~no/que tuve
para ti.../ Quien sabe si supieras/que nunca te he olvidado/volviendo a tu
pasado/te acordaras de mi..." of Maroni and Contursi (you can hear the original
lyrics in the El Bandoneon CD of Angel D'Agostino and Angel Vargas. Maroni's
and Contursi's are everywhere else.) And there are French versions, American
versions, and several other languages. Needless to say, to hear "Tantalizing/your
mask is only/half disquising/I have no trouble recognizing/your features
which I'm idolizing" --The Masked One, lyrics by Olga Paul-- is rather amusing
if not down right hilarious. Given that the author of La Cumparsita (at the
time) was just an amateur pianist, the technical merits of the melody have
always being questioned. Gerardo had only composed the first two parts. Moreover,
the first part lacks a clear beat. Firpo himself had to add a third part
and the harmony to the first. Yet, the composition acquired such a monumental
following that those who critize it do so at their own peril. Julio De Caro
played it smart. He said of it, "[It's] a flag that transcended frontiers
in the whole world, going forth thru its golden door to erect itself as one
of the symbols of our music-dance." Astor Piazzolla was much more candid,
"Its the most frighteningly poor thing in this world --speaking of the D-C-A-F
rhythm-- Nevertheless, if you add a bass note to enrich it and pour on top
of it the melody, you can create a counterpoint that raises the conventional
melody. It is like an ugly person that dresses nicely, it improves his looks.
That's how La Cumparsita is improved. With good clothes."
One last thing to note is that the most celebrated tango in history was first
recorded as a "B" side song. One of the most popular orchestras from 1917
was the Alonso-Minotto orchestra which was signed up by the Victor recording
house to produce a series of records. Now, the deal called for pairs of tangos.
One for each side of the record. As it turns out, they were missing one,
so someone suggested La Cumparsita as a "filler." And so, Alberto Alonso
at the piano, Minotto Di Cicco, bandoneon, Juan Trocoli and Juan Jose Castellano,
violins, recorded themselves into history. Of course, like everything else
about tango, there is disagreement on this. There are other sources that
contend that Roberto Firpo was the one who first recorded it. Indeed, in
the CD "La Cumparsita, veinte veces inmortal" credit is given to Firpo as
being the first. In any case Minotto and Firpo seem to have collaborated
in the arrangement that eventually was recorded.