Julio de Caro
Encyclopedia
Julio de Caro was an Argentine
composer, musician and conductor prominent in the Tango
genre.
district, in 1913, soon becoming one of the city's best known sources for music, instruments, parts, and lessons. He and his brother, Francisco, were both taught the piano
and violin
, respectively; though their father ultimately granted them their wish to exchange instruments (a third brother, Emilio, learned the violin). Against his father's wishes, Julio obtained a spot as a second violinist at the Lorea Theatre for a 1915 performance of a zarzuela
. Despite his father's punishment and objections, the brothers began attending Buenos Aires' popular tango
recitals. Some of these early influences included bandleaders Eduardo Arolas
, Juan Carlos Cobián, and Roberto Firpo
.
At his friends' prompting, de Caro rose to the stage during a tango performance at the Palais de Glace
, an elegant multi-purpose venue, in 1917. Granted an instrument by Firpo's violinist, de Caro's performance eleicited a standing ovation, as well as Eduardo Arolas
' offer for a permanent spot in his orchestra. The elder de Caro (who disdained popular music generally) resisted it, and the talented young musician resorted to stealth to join Arolas' orchestra, for which he wrote his first tango, Mon beguin.
Eventually, his father forced the 18-year-old out of the house, a drastic move that pushed Francisco to join his brother. The two traveled with Arolas' orchestra, a success in both Argentina and neighboring Uruguay
. The brothers contributed greatly to its fortunes, composing - among other standards in tango: Mala pinta (Shady Look), Mi encanto (My Charm), Pura labia (All Words), Don Antonio, A palada (In Spades), Era buena la paisana (She Was a Good Country Girl), Percanta arrepentida (Lamentful girl), Bizcochito (Lil' Biscuit), Gringuita (Blondie) y La cañada (The Brook).
A business disagreement led de Caro and pianist José María Rizzuti to leave Arolas' group in 1919. They formed a quartet
with bandoneon
ist Pedro Maffia
and violinist José Rosito, with whom they performed to acclaim at a café facing the Argentine Supreme Court. The group separated in 1920, however, and de Caro and Rizzuti joined bandleader Osvaldo Fresedo
, with whom they would tour in the United States
. De Caro relocated to Montevideo
, where he married and joined Minotto Di Cicco's orchestra (1922). He was then reunited with Maffia in Buenos Aires under Juan Carlos Cobián's direction, in 1923. His marriage ended, shortly afterwards.
Cobián's decision to follow a love interest to New York
led to the de Caro brothers' being reunited in need of a band, at the end of 1923. Their success at a high society New Year's Eve ball led to lucrative contracts in popular downtown cafés and for a new medium: radio. The Julio de Caro Orchestra later received a recording contract from RCA Victor and, in April 1925, performed for Edward, the Prince of Wales. U.S. jazz
bandleader Paul Whiteman
introduced de Caro to the Stroh violin
, later that year. The device (a violin with a cornet
horn at one end) had been invented for radio performances for its ability to project sound above the rest of the orchestra, and the conductor soon found it an indispensable tool. The renowned bandleader composed numerous pieces in honor of some of the prominent figures in Argentine life that attended his performances, notably chief surgeon Enrique Finochietto
and President Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear
.
The orchestra toured France
by invitation, in 1931. They performed at Nice
's Palais de la Méditerranée, for Prince Umberto di Savoia, for the Rothschilds
' galas, and for Paramount Studios in the making of Luces de Buenos Aires (one of several the studio made, starring Carlos Gardel
). The orchestra remained successful in Argentina, debuting at the nation's leading opera house
, the Colón Theatre, in 1935, and at the Teatro Opera
(1936), where they presented a comprehensive "Evolution of the Tango" - leading listeners theough its development from 1870, onwards. A surprise visit by the brothers' aging parents following one of these performances led to the family's reconciliation.
His orchestra continued its prominenece among tango fans for years, introducing young talent such as vocalist Edmundo Rivero
(a consular figure in tango), for instance. His audiences later declining, Julio de Caro retired from his orchestra in 1954, however. He remarried in 1959 and returned to a recording studio only in 1975, collaborating with author Ernesto Sábato
, composer Ben Molar, composer and arranger Luis Stazo and others to make Los 14 de Julio de Caro (Julio de Caro's 14). He was honored by the national government with a declaration of December 11 (his birthday - which he shared with Gardel) as "National Tango Day;" on that day in 1977, he received a standing ovation at Buenos Aires
' Luna Park Arena
, complete with a rousing Happy Birthday to You
.
Julio de Caro died in the seaside resort city of Mar del Plata
, on March 11, 1980, at age 80. He was interred at Buenos Aires' Chacarita Cemetery, beside his brother, Francisco.
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
composer, musician and conductor prominent in the Tango
Argentine tango
Argentine tango is a musical genre of simple quadruple metre and binary musical form, and the social dance that accompanies it. Its lyrics and music are marked by nostalgia, expressed through melodic instruments including the bandoneon. Originated at the ending of the 19th century in the suburbs of...
genre.
Life and work
His father opened a conservatory in the San TelmoSan Telmo
San Telmo is the oldest barrio of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is a well-preserved area of the Argentine metropolis and is characterized by its colonial buildings. Cafes, tango parlors and antique shops line the cobblestone streets, which are often filled with artists and dancers.San Telmo's...
district, in 1913, soon becoming one of the city's best known sources for music, instruments, parts, and lessons. He and his brother, Francisco, were both taught the piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
and violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
, respectively; though their father ultimately granted them their wish to exchange instruments (a third brother, Emilio, learned the violin). Against his father's wishes, Julio obtained a spot as a second violinist at the Lorea Theatre for a 1915 performance of a zarzuela
Zarzuela
Zarzuela is a Spanish lyric-dramatic genre that alternates between spoken and sung scenes, the latter incorporating operatic and popular song, as well as dance...
. Despite his father's punishment and objections, the brothers began attending Buenos Aires' popular tango
Argentine tango
Argentine tango is a musical genre of simple quadruple metre and binary musical form, and the social dance that accompanies it. Its lyrics and music are marked by nostalgia, expressed through melodic instruments including the bandoneon. Originated at the ending of the 19th century in the suburbs of...
recitals. Some of these early influences included bandleaders Eduardo Arolas
Eduardo Arolas
Eduardo Arolas was an Argentine tango Bandoneon player, leader and composer.Arolas first learned to play the guitar before learning the bandoneon which became his instrument of choice. His nickname was El Tigre del bandoneón .Arolas composed his first tango in 1909 before he could even read or...
, Juan Carlos Cobián, and Roberto Firpo
Roberto 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...
.
At his friends' prompting, de Caro rose to the stage during a tango performance at the Palais de Glace
Palais de Glace
The Palace de Glace is a French-style Belle Époque building in the Recoleta neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina, located at 1725 Posadas street...
, an elegant multi-purpose venue, in 1917. Granted an instrument by Firpo's violinist, de Caro's performance eleicited a standing ovation, as well as Eduardo Arolas
Eduardo Arolas
Eduardo Arolas was an Argentine tango Bandoneon player, leader and composer.Arolas first learned to play the guitar before learning the bandoneon which became his instrument of choice. His nickname was El Tigre del bandoneón .Arolas composed his first tango in 1909 before he could even read or...
' offer for a permanent spot in his orchestra. The elder de Caro (who disdained popular music generally) resisted it, and the talented young musician resorted to stealth to join Arolas' orchestra, for which he wrote his first tango, Mon beguin.
Eventually, his father forced the 18-year-old out of the house, a drastic move that pushed Francisco to join his brother. The two traveled with Arolas' orchestra, a success in both Argentina and neighboring 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...
. The brothers contributed greatly to its fortunes, composing - among other standards in tango: Mala pinta (Shady Look), Mi encanto (My Charm), Pura labia (All Words), Don Antonio, A palada (In Spades), Era buena la paisana (She Was a Good Country Girl), Percanta arrepentida (Lamentful girl), Bizcochito (Lil' Biscuit), Gringuita (Blondie) y La cañada (The Brook).
A business disagreement led de Caro and pianist José María Rizzuti to leave Arolas' group in 1919. They formed a quartet
Quartet
In music, a quartet is a method of instrumentation , used to perform a musical composition, and consisting of four parts.-Western art music:...
with bandoneon
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...
ist Pedro Maffia
Pedro Maffia
Pedro Mario Maffia was an Argentine tango Bandoneonist, bandleader, composer and teacher, as well as starring in several tango films....
and violinist José Rosito, with whom they performed to acclaim at a café facing the Argentine Supreme Court. The group separated in 1920, however, and de Caro and Rizzuti joined bandleader Osvaldo Fresedo
Osvaldo Fresedo
Osvaldo Fresedo , nicknamed El pibe de La Paternal was an Argentine songwriter and director of a tango orchestra. He had the longest recording career in tango, from 1925 to 1980.- Career :...
, with whom they would tour in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. De Caro relocated to Montevideo
Montevideo
Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento...
, where he married and joined Minotto Di Cicco's orchestra (1922). He was then reunited with Maffia in Buenos Aires under Juan Carlos Cobián's direction, in 1923. His marriage ended, shortly afterwards.
Cobián's decision to follow a love interest to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
led to the de Caro brothers' being reunited in need of a band, at the end of 1923. Their success at a high society New Year's Eve ball led to lucrative contracts in popular downtown cafés and for a new medium: radio. The Julio de Caro Orchestra later received a recording contract from RCA Victor and, in April 1925, performed for Edward, the Prince of Wales. U.S. jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
bandleader Paul Whiteman
Paul Whiteman
Paul Samuel Whiteman was an American bandleader and orchestral director.Leader of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s, Whiteman's recordings were immensely successful, and press notices often referred to him as the "King of Jazz"...
introduced de Caro to the Stroh violin
Stroh violin
Stroh violin, Strohviol, or Strohviol, is a trade name for a horn-violin, or violinophone—a violin that amplifies its sound through a metal resonator and metal horns rather than a wooden sound box as on a standard violin. The instrument is named after its designer, John Matthias Augustus Stroh, an...
, later that year. The device (a violin with a cornet
Cornet
The cornet is a brass instrument very similar to the trumpet, distinguished by its conical bore, compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B. It is not related to the renaissance and early baroque cornett or cornetto.-History:The cornet was...
horn at one end) had been invented for radio performances for its ability to project sound above the rest of the orchestra, and the conductor soon found it an indispensable tool. The renowned bandleader composed numerous pieces in honor of some of the prominent figures in Argentine life that attended his performances, notably chief surgeon Enrique Finochietto
Enrique Finochietto
Enrique Finochietto was a distinguished Argentine academic, physician and inventor.-Life and work:...
and President Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear
Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear
Máximo Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear Pacheco , better known as Marcelo T. de Alvear was an Argentine politician and President of Argentina from October 12, 1922 to October 12, 1928.-Biography:...
.
The orchestra toured France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
by invitation, in 1931. They performed at Nice
Nice
Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...
's Palais de la Méditerranée, for Prince Umberto di Savoia, for the Rothschilds
Rothschild family
The Rothschild family , known as The House of Rothschild, or more simply as the Rothschilds, is a Jewish-German family that established European banking and finance houses starting in the late 18th century...
' galas, and for Paramount Studios in the making of Luces de Buenos Aires (one of several the studio made, starring Carlos Gardel
Carlos 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...
). The orchestra remained successful in Argentina, debuting at the nation's leading opera house
Opera house
An opera house is a theatre building used for opera performances that consists of a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, and backstage facilities for costumes and set building...
, the Colón Theatre, in 1935, and at the Teatro Opera
Teatro Opera
The Teatro Opera is a prominent cinema and theatre house in Buenos Aires, Argentina.-Overview:The Opera Theatre was developed in 1871 by Antonio Petalardo, a local businessman who foresaw a need for popular theatre catering to the city's booming population in subsequent years...
(1936), where they presented a comprehensive "Evolution of the Tango" - leading listeners theough its development from 1870, onwards. A surprise visit by the brothers' aging parents following one of these performances led to the family's reconciliation.
His orchestra continued its prominenece among tango fans for years, introducing young talent such as vocalist Edmundo Rivero
Edmundo Rivero
Leonel Edmundo Rivero was an Argentine tango singer, composer, and impresario.-Early days:Rivero was born in the southern Buenos Aires suburb of Valentín Alsina. Joining his father in some of his travels, he was exposed to the lifestyle and the music of the gauchos of Buenos Aires Province from...
(a consular figure in tango), for instance. His audiences later declining, Julio de Caro retired from his orchestra in 1954, however. He remarried in 1959 and returned to a recording studio only in 1975, collaborating with author Ernesto Sábato
Ernesto Sabato
Ernesto Sabato , was an Argentine writer, painter and physicist. According to the BBC he "won some of the most prestigious prizes in Hispanic literature" and "became very influential in the literary world throughout Latin America"...
, composer Ben Molar, composer and arranger Luis Stazo and others to make Los 14 de Julio de Caro (Julio de Caro's 14). He was honored by the national government with a declaration of December 11 (his birthday - which he shared with Gardel) as "National Tango Day;" on that day in 1977, he received a standing ovation at Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
' Luna Park Arena
Luna Park, Buenos Aires
For any of the amusement parks of the same name, see Luna Park; for any other use of the term, see Luna Park Luna Park is an 8,000-seat arena, located on the corner of Corrientes and Bouchard Avenues, in the barrio of San Nicolás, east Buenos Aires city and near Puerto Madero...
, complete with a rousing Happy Birthday to You
Happy Birthday to You
"Happy Birthday to You", also known more simply as "Happy Birthday", is a song that is traditionally sung to celebrate the anniversary of a person's birth...
.
Julio de Caro died in the seaside resort city of Mar del Plata
Mar del Plata
Mar del Plata is an Argentine city located on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, south of Buenos Aires. Mar del Plata is the second largest city of Buenos Aires Province. The name "Mar del Plata" had apparently the sense of "sea of the Río de la Plata region" or "adjoining sea to the Río de la Plata"...
, on March 11, 1980, at age 80. He was interred at Buenos Aires' Chacarita Cemetery, beside his brother, Francisco.