FABIO HAGER SEXTETO - LA CUMPARSITA

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The Song:La cumparsita

It is undoubtedly the tango most widely spread, the one that every person recognizes notwithstanding its version, the one used as icon to represent the genre, the one most recorded in Argentina and in the rest of the world.

What mystery is hidden in its bars that they succeeded in becoming the choice of so many and so different people?

For the researcher Juan Carlos Legido in his book La orilla oriental del tango, it is «... a real phenomenon, that maybe we do not need many words to explain it because it comes from the crowds´ hearts, that felt touched by the simple and clear texture of its melody.»

If we take into consideration Astor Piazzolla´s opinion, the mystery is not cleared out, even more, it gives rise to an argument, because even in the land of Matos Rodríguez he dared to say that “La cumparsita” was the worst of all tangos, «...the most awfully poor in the world...»

The maestro Francisco Canaro in his book Mis bodas de oro con el tango emphasizes: «... “La cumparsita”...has the peculiar virtue that its musical structure wonderfully lends itself to be embellished by orchestrations of higher level, everything fits well with “La cumparsita”: counter melodies for violins, variations for bandoneons and other important instruments, besides other attractive musical effects that arrangers and leaders ably take advantage of for showcasing their own outfit. Each leader of a tango orchestra has his own arrangement, his personal rendition of the celebrated tango. And, proudly, he is convinced that his authorized rendition of “La cumparsita” is the best in existence.»

Horacio Ferrer, in his work El Libro del Tango states: «“La cumparsita” has been subject to every kind of embellishments, many times originated in “ad lib” interpretations: counter lines, passages in counterpoint and variations of the most different invention. Some of these additions have been, let us say, consecrated; such is the case, for example, of the variation for bandoneons composed by Luis Moresco around 1930.»

[G. Matos Rodríguez] “La cumparsita” was initially a little march, composed by the young student of architecture, Gerardo Hernán Matos Rodríguez on an uncertain date, that we can place between the late 1915 and the early 1916, for the carnival marching band organized by the Federation of Students of Uruguay, precisely for the on-coming celebrations.

There are contradictions of opinions as for the date and, as we shall further see, also about what orchestra was the first one to record it.

For Legido and for Matos Rodríguez´s grandniece, Rosario Infantozzi Durán, the dates are in 1917 and the first recording was by the Alonso-Minotto orchestra.

With some differences the Uruguayan researcher Boris Puga, recognizes that the Firpo orchestra played in 1916 in Montevideo, but it is doubtful that Firpo´s recording belongs to that year, because there is a difference in the correlativity of matrix numbers with another series of recordings of the period.

Héctor Lucci states that the first two recordings were made in 1916. Roberto Firpo´s, surely the first one, according to the record number, Odeon 483. The second, Juan Maglio´s, for the ERA label, whose records were pressed in Porto Alegre (Brazil), since 1915 because of World War I, since it is the fifth recording in a series of twenty-six numbers started in 1916.

In the chapter about Alberto Alonso —one of the leaders of the team Alonso-Minotto—, (Ochenta notas de tango, Ediciones de la Plaza, 1998), the Uruguayan historian Horacio Loriente says that: «Alberto Alonso, in his book “La cumparsita, historia del famoso tango y de su autor” (Mosca Hnos. S.A., Montevideo, 1967), places the date of the trip in May 1917, while the Victor company announces the repertory only in December 1917.»

Furthermore Lucci told me and Bruno Cespi confirmed it, that not a long time ago another rendition of “La cumparsita”, which everybody knew nothing about, appeared. It is the one recorded by the Cobián-Fresedo-Roccatagliatta trio, for the Telephon label, the same label in which the trio recorded “Buenos Aires tenebroso”, but on another record, in the late 1917 or early 1918.

Héctor López and Enrique Binda published an article in the Cuadernos de difusión del tango No. 16, under the direction of Salvador Arancio, in which they agree with Lucci by saying that the carnival celebrations at issue, for which the piece was written, were those of 1916; that around the end of that year Firpo´s recording appeared and, soon later, possibly the early 1917, Maglio´s and, only in the late 1917, Alonso-Minotto´s.

It is not at issue that the Roberto Firpo orchestra had been the first that played “La cumparsita” in public. The dispute is about the year.

The historian Héctor Ernié (in La historia de La Cumparsita, revista Tango #