A media luz

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Edgardo Donato and his Orquesta típica

A media luz is the title of a tango from 1925 which, along with La Cumparsita and El Choclo, is one of the “best known and most played” of its genre.

“There are three tangos that are so famous that at least their melody is known all over the world, even to people who normally have no special relationship with tango. These three tangos are called: La Cumparsita , A media luz and El Choclo . "

- Göttingen Tango Info , 29/2009

A media luz , this little musical masterpiece, the result rioplatensischer cooperation: the lyrics composed of Uruguayan playwright and tango lyricist Carlos César Lenzi, the music was composed by the Argentine violinist and orchestra leader Edgardo Donato .

History of origin

The musician Edgardo Donato and the writer Carlos César Lenzi were both randomly invited guests to a party that took place in a villa in Montevideo . Before the quartet Edgardo Donato played the tango, Donato dimmed the light and called into the hall in a loud voice:

«¡Ahora… a media luz!»

"And now in the twilight!"

- Francisco García Jiménez: Así nacieron los tangos , p. 168.

Donato's exclamation is said to have impressed the poet Lenzi so much that he began composing the first verses early in the morning. Lenzi then met Donato that evening, gave him the lyrics and asked him to compose a tango melody.

In 1925 the tango was premiered as part of the revue Su Majesta la revista in the Teatro Catalunya (Montevideo). Lucy Clory is said to have been the singer. Carlos Gardel recorded A media luz in 1926 and contributed to its worldwide distribution.

The erotic lyrics (Carlos César Lenzi)

Verse 01: Corrientes 3–4–8
Commemorative plaque (since 1978) in colored fileteado painting style above the entrance of the building at the mythical address of the first verse of the tango A media luz : address of a fictional garçonnière in Buenos Aires , the capital of Argentina .
Verse 08: Una victrola que llora. “A gramophone that blares” .
: Verses 10/11: Y un gato de porcelan a pa 'que non maulle al amor. And a porcelain cat so he doesn't scream for love. - Discretion is paramount!
Discretion is paramount!

"This is an example that not everyone Tango 'is sad thought that can be the one dancing' one as Enrique Santos Discépolo has expressed ... The singer Horacio Vargas gives the advantages of the described in the song establishments with an almost gourmet smugness . "

- Ulrike and Eckart Haerter: Göttinger Tango-Info , 29/2009.

Verses 1-20, memorable octosyllables , describe - using the stylistic device of the enumeratio  - the furnishings and the darkened, erotic atmosphere of a small apartment, a Garçonnière , in Buenos Aires, Avenida Corrientes 348, which can be rented for non-binding sexual pleasure. You only have to call in good time - discretion is required and again guaranteed.

Verses 20-30 tell of another relevant love nest, located at Juncal 12-24 street. There is a sociable, erotic program every day - with cocaine (verse 28) - and tango with singing in the evening. Only on Mondays is the day off, so no more fun - what a desolation! (Vers25):

A media luz

V01 Corrientes 3-4-8
V02 Segundo piso, ascensor.
V03 No hay porteros ni vecinos
V04 Adentro, cocktail y amor
V05 Pisito que puso Maple,
V06 Piano, estera y velador,
V07Un telefón que contesta,
V08 Una victrola que llora
V09 Viejos tangos de mi flor
V10 Y un gato de porcelana
V11 Pa´ que no maulle al amor.

V12 Y todo a media luz,
V13 Que es un brujo el amor
V14 A media luz los besos
V15 A media luz los dos
V16 Y todo a media luz
V17 Crepúsculo interior
V18¡Que suave terciopelo
V19 La media luz de amor!

V20 Juncal 12-24
V21 Telefoneá sin temor.
V22 De tarde, té con masitas
V23 De noche, tango y cantar.
V24 Los domingos, tés danzantes,
V25 Los lunes, desolación
V26 Hay de todo en la casita
V27 Almohadones y divanes
V28 Como en botica, cocó
V29 Alfombras que no hacen ruido
V30 Y mesa puesta al amor.

In the twilight

Corrientes 3-4-8 (street name + phone number in Buenos Aires)
Second floor, elevator.
There are no porters or neighbors
Inside Cocktail and Love
A small apartment that (the British furniture store) Maple had furnished,
piano, carpeting, a round table,
an answering machine,
a gramophone , the
old tangos of my youth blaring
and a porcelain hangover,
with it he doesn't yell for love.

And everything in the twilight
Because love is a witcher.
At twilight
At twilight we two
And everything at twilight
Inside twilight
What a soft velvet,
This twilight of love!

Juncal 12-24 (street name + phone number in Buenos Aires)
Call without fear
Afternoon tea with pastries In the
evening tango and singing on
Sundays, dance tea on
Mondays desolation.
There is everything in the house,
pillows and sofas, like
coke ( cocaine ) in the pharmacy,
carpets that muffle noises
and the table is set for love.

Foreign language lyrics

English version

The American scriptwriter and songwriter Dorcas Cochran created an English version of A media luz : When I look into your eyes , sung by Percy Faith in 1952 .

These English lyrics have nothing in common with the Spanish version. It is of poor quality:

“What distinguishes tango lyrics from popular music influenced by Anglo-American influences is their literary quality. Because here no juvenile singers or shrewd hit producers resort to pens, but writers, journalists, playwrights or poets. The lyrics are closer to French chanson or Portuguese fado . "

- Jürgen Bieler: Tango - what is that anyway? A contribution to the phenomenology of tango . In: Tangodanza. Tango Argentino magazine 4/2008, p. 71.

Italian version

Milva sings an Italian text for A media luz

In the rhythm of the bolero

The catchy tune A media luz was musically arranged and sung by vocal groups also in the Bolero rhythm , for example by the Argentine Los 5 Latinos and the Mexican Trío Los Panchos .

literature

In German

  • Egon Ludwig: Tango Lexicon. The tango ríoplatense - facts and figures of the famous Latin American dance . Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf Verlag Berlin 2002, ISBN 978-3-89602-294-3 .
  • Ulrike Haerter, Eckart Haerter: Göttingen Tango Info / Special Edition / Tango Pictures and Texts . epubli 2016, ISBN 978-3-7418-7412-3 .

In Spanish

  • Héctor Ángel Benedetti: Las mejores letras de tango. Antología de doscientas cincuenta letras de tango, cada una con su historia. Planeta Publishing House , Madrid 2012, ISBN 978-987-580-514-9 . Historically annotated collection of 250 tango texts.
  • Mauro Federico and Ignacio Ramírez: Historia de la droga en la Argentina . Verlag Aguilar Madrid 2015, ISBN 978-987-735-120-0 , excerpt .
  • Francisco García Jiménez: Así nacieron los tangos. - Comentarios de Pedro Ochoa . Corregidor Publishing House, Buenos Aires 2018, ISBN 978-950-05-3160-3 .
  • Oscar del Priore, Irene Amuchástegui: Cien tangos fundamentales . 2nd Edition. Verlag Aguilar, Buenos Aires 2008, ISBN 978-987-04-1123-9 , pp. 112/113, limited preview in the Google book search.

Web links

Scores

  • Tutorial for piano - A media luz , Tango Tutorial para Piano.
  • Partitura todotango.com.ar.

Instrumental versions

Vowel versions

Movie scenes

Record label

Dance examples

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Egon Ludwig: Tango Lexicon. The Tango rioplatense - facts and figures of the famous Latin American dance , p. 7
  2. ^ Leslie Bethell: The Cambridge history of Latin America . Cambridge university Press 1995, ISBN 978-0-521-49594-3 , p. 361 ( limited online copy in Google Book Search - USA )
  3. ↑ Göttingen Tango Info 29/2009
  4. ↑ José Gobello: Biography
  5. ^ Francisco García Jimenez: Así nacieron los tangos. - Comentarios de Pedro Ochoa . Corregidor Verlag, Buenos Aires 2018, ISBN 978-950-05-3160-3 , p. 170.
  6. ↑ Horacio Lagos sings A media luz , 1941 on YouTube - accompanied by the Orquesta típica Edgardo Donato
  7. ↑ A media luz - Im Schummerlicht - Göttinger Tango-Info 29/2009 by Ulrike and Eckart Haerter
  8. ↑ coco is a Lunfardo word and means cocaine , which could be bought legally in Argentine pharmacies in the first half of the 20th century. (Source: Mauro Federico and Ignacio Ramírez: Historia de la droga en la Argentina , Verlag Aguilar Madrid 2015, ISBN 978-9877351200 , excerpt (Spanish) ).
  9. ↑ Spanish lyrics
  10. ^ Translation into German by the author of this article
  11. ↑ Percy Faith: When I look into your eyes ( A media luz , 1952) on YouTube
  12. ↑ Milva: A media luz video on YouTube .
  13. ↑ Losn 5 Latinos: A media luz, 1957 video on YouTube
  14. ↑ Los Panchos: A media luz, 1962 on YouTube
  15. ↑ "rioplatense" is written without an accent on the "i" - according to the authoritative dictionary of the Spanish language, the Diccionario de la lengua española of the Real Academia Española , the adjective rioplatense is written without an accent