La Argentinita

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La Argentinita on the front page of Mundo Grafico , 1916

La Argentinita , actually Encarnación López Júlvez (born March 25, 1897 in Buenos Aires , † September 24, 1945 in New York ), was an Argentine - Spanish dancer , choreographer and singer. Her repertoire included both flamenco and Spanish and Latin American folklore .

Life

childhood

Encarnación grew up in the family of the cloth merchant couple Félix López and Dominica Júlvez. The parents came from Santibáñez de Ayllón in the province of Segovia and from Calatayud . She had an older sister named Ángeles and a sister Pilar who was 15 years younger . The latter often performed with her and also became a well-known dancer and choreographer.

In 1903 an epidemic of scarlet fever broke out in Buenos Aires, killing many children. Encarnación survived the illness, but the parents decided to return to Spain. The family moved to Madrid. Encarnación learned the first dance steps there. She danced with family and friends. Her father, an avid flamenco fan, accompanied her on the guitar. Her parents let her attend the academies of Manuel Fontanilla and Julia Castelao. She then took lessons from Pauleta Pamies in the Liceo de Barcelona . She learned the basics of Flamenco and the Escuela Bolera . At the age of eight, she had her first commercial appearances at the Teatro Circo in San Sebastián . This was followed by appearances in Zaragoza , Valencia , Calatayud, Barcelona and Córdoba . Her impresario Pardiñas gave her the stage name La Argentinita , based on the famous model La Argentina . When her father said that there was probably more to be earned with singing than with dancing, the daughter also practiced it. In 1909, at the age of 12, she performed as a “child prodigy” at the prestigious Teatro Romea in Madrid. In the following years she used to commute between the stages of Madrid and the no less respected Eldorado in Barcelona.

Rise to variety star

La Argentinita, portrait by Julio Romero de Torres, 1915

In 1914 it was the main attraction of the Romea program. She danced, sang and parodied. The Asturian song Mieres del Camino made her her vocal highlight. During the dance she impressed with bulerías , tangos , boleros and some pieces by Isaac Albéniz and Enrique Granados . Her parodies occasionally earned her displeasure. It is reported that the singer Raquel Meller , whom she parodied, unexpectedly appeared on stage one day and gave her a slap in the face.

In 1916 she had her first film role: in the Italian silent film Fiore d'autunno , directed by Mario Caserini , she appeared as a dancer. In the same year she made her first recordings on the La voz de su amo label.

In the years up to 1920 she rose to become the star of the variety shows and the darling of the public. The poets of the Generación del 27 and the critics were also enthusiastic about their performances:

"La Argentinita nos dio a conocer nuevas cosas que, como todo lo que hace, gustaron exageradamente. (...) Cuando hay artistas como La Argentinita, no podía por menos que tenía que suceder así, y hay que ver con el acaloramiento con que se la recibe cuando sale a escena y los aplausos que cosecha en todos sus números. ¡Cómo nos complace a ver a las señoras aplaudir a su artista predilecta! (...) ¡Viva La Argentinita y ¡olé! por las empresas con gusto! »

“La Argentinita taught us new things that, like everything she does, we loved. (…) With an artist like La Argentinita, it has to be the case that she is welcomed on stage with this warmth and that applause for all her performances. How much we like to see the ladies applaud their beloved artist! (...) Viva La Argentinita and olé! for your tasteful presentations! "

- La Unión Mercantil, May 20, 1917

In 1919 she met the poet Federico García Lorca . A year later she appeared in the lead role of Mariposa in his first play El maleficio de la mariposa . In the same year, her lover, the torero José Gómez Ortega , known as Joselito el Gallo, was killed in the arena of Talavera de la Reina by a bull called Bailaor .

The 1920s

After this stroke of fate, she traveled back to her native land and subsequently had appearances in the major theaters of Argentina, Chile, Cuba and Mexico. In Mexico she met again the bullfighter Ignacio Sánchez Mejías, whom she had met as the banderillero of Joselito el Gallo.

In 1924 she had an appearance in the film Rosario de la Cortijera , directed by José Buchs. From 1922 to 1925, Odeon made various recordings.

Although Ignacio Sánchez Mejías was married, he and La Argentinita became lovers. During this love lived out first in Mexico, then hidden in Madrid, she withdrew from the stage for three years. Through his relationship with her, he met poets from the Generación del 27 in 1927 , and found a second calling as a writer. In turn, she resumed her stage career and founded the Compañía de Baile Andaluz , which was renamed Ballet de Madrid in 1932 and later the Gran Compañía de Bailes Españoles . She performed with her company in Paris and Berlin.

In 1928 and 1929, La voz de su amo again produced a series of recordings with her in which she presented herself as a versatile, original singer. On two other recordings from 1929, also with La voz de su amo , you can hear her accompaniment with castanets to two pieces by Enrique Granados.

Intermezzo in New York

In 1930 she was accompanied by Ignacio Sánchez Mejías and Luis Yance to New York to in the Broadway - Musical International Review of Lew Leslie occur. Her performance was received coolly by the audience, so she dropped out of the musical. She looked for another theater and created her own show there, which met with enthusiasm from the audience and critics.

She had another appearance in 1930 in the film revue Paramount on Parade .

Contributions to the Spanish musical heritage: Canciones populares españolas , El amor brujo and Calles de Cádiz

After returning to Spain, La Argentinita embarked on a joint project with Federico García Lorca in 1931: the recording of ten old folk songs, some of which the poet had collected from ancient writings and some directly from oral tradition. She sang these recordings for La voz de su amo in her own apartment, she hit the castanets herself and was accompanied on the piano by Federico García Lorca. The ten Canciones populares españolas are:

  • Zorongo gitano
  • Anda jaleo
  • Sevillanas del siglo XVIII
  • Los cuatro muleros
  • Nana de Seville
  • Romance Pascual de los Pelegrinitos
  • En el Café de Chinitas
  • Las morillas de Jaén
  • Los mozos de Monleón
  • Las tres Hojas

The critic Adolfo Salazar wrote of the recordings:

«Cantadas por La Argentinita de un modo llano y natural, muy en el estilo de una mocita del pueblo, y acompañadas par García Lorca al piano de un modo curioso que hace de este instrumento el típico piano del salón familiar (…), la interpretación tiene una gracia especialísima. (...) Son deliciosas páginas de música inocente y candorosa que se dirigen a los limpios de corazón (...) »

“Sung by La Argentinita in a simple and natural way, in the style of a young woman from the people, and accompanied by García Lorca on the piano in a peculiar way that makes this instrument the typical piano of the family salon (...), the Interpretation a very special grace. (...) There are delightful sides of innocent and honest music that appeal to the pure heart (...) "

- Adolfo Salazar : El Sol, March 13, 1931

The songs became popular and a commercial success. La Argentinita took them into their repertoire and used to perform them at their concerts. Federico García Lorca incorporated some of them into some of his plays. Together they both performed the songs in 1933 at a conference on Spanish folk poetry at the Teatro Español in Madrid. During the Spanish Civil War , Anda jaleo and Los cuatro muleres became popular songs of the republican troops. After the war, the Francoist victors tried unsuccessfully to erase the songs from the collective memory. In the 1950s La voz de su alma put on a new recording of four of the songs with different interpreters. In 1994 Audivis released a new recording of all ten songs, sung by Carmen Linares .

In June 1933, La Argentinitas Compañía de Bailes Españoles presented their version of El amor brujo by Manuel de Falla at the Gran Teatro Falla in Cádiz and Teatro Español in Madrid. She danced the role of Candelas and Antonio de Triana that of Carmelo. Rafael Ortega Monge danced the part of the ghost and her sister Pilar López Júlvez that of Lucía. Ernesto Halffter conducted the orchestra. Both La Argentinita's innovative biography and the imaginative stage design pointed the way for the further development of flamenco.

The company's further program in the Teatro Español consisted of Danza V by Enrique Granados, the miller's jota from the Sombrero de los tres picos , a Galician dance, an Estampa and En el Café de Chinitas from the Canciones populares . In the second part of the performance the pieces Las calles de Cádiz and Nochebuena en Jerez were performed. The producer of this second part was, under the pseudonym Jiménez Chávarri, Ignacio Sánchez Mejías. A period later, in 1988, Romualdo Molina and Miguel Espín characterized Las calles de Cádiz as follows:

«Era una estampa lírico-coreográfica de un Cádiz en trance de desaparición, con los últimos tipos característicos, algunos de los cuales (...) habían sido arrancados de la misma realidad y llevados al escenario; por primera vez se presentaba un cuerpo de baile flamenco; seis bailaoras hacían las alegrías con su propia personalidad, su bata de cola de distinto color, todas a un tiempo, cosa nunca vista (...); luego, números de tangos, el romancillo de Lorca ‹los reyes de la Baraja› metido por bulerías y bailado por un corro de gitanitos; los Pregones del camaronero y la florista, el tango de la hija de Villacampa que cantaba Encarnación. "

“It was a lyrical-choreographic image of a Cádiz in the frenzy of doom, with the last characteristic types, some of whom (...) had been torn from their real world and brought onto the stage; shown for the first time by a flamenco group; six dancers formed the Alegrías with their own personality, their bata de cola in their own color, all synchronously, something never seen before (....) ....); then some tangos, Lorca's romancillo 'los reyes de la Baraja', which was packed in Bulerías and danced by a group of young gitanos; the exclamations of the shrimp sellers and the florist, the tango of the daughter of Villacampa, which Encarnación sang. "

- Romualdo Molina, Miguel Espín

The company then went on tour with the piece in Spain and performed it at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris. A decade later, Conchita Piquer performed it, with the participation of La Macarrona , La Malena and La Niña de los Peines . Ignacio Sánchez Mejías did not have much time to enjoy these triumphs, as he was fatally injured in a bullfight in August 1934 after going back to the arena against the advice of his friends. After this renewed loss of a lover, La Argentinita threw herself into work. She went on tour to South America and performed in New York in 1935.

Civil War and Emigration

When she returned to Spain in June 1936, civil war had broken out. A difficult time began for La Argentinita and her sister Pilar. They learned that Federico García Lorca had been murdered. The newspaper Claridad published on page 1 that La Argentinita had refused to appear at a charity event for wounded soldiers. The sisters suffered reprisals from the authorities. They tried to make a living with appearances in the cinemas and on the cabaret stages of Madrid - as did many other artists at that time.

Under these circumstances, La Argentinita decided to use her Argentine passport and leave Spain. They reached Paris via Alicante , Oran , Algiers and Casablanca . With a small group consisting of the two sisters, the singer Antonio de Triana and the guitarists Manolo de Huelva and Gabriel Ruiz , they performed there and organized a tour to London, Belgium, Switzerland and the Netherlands. In 1937, Queen Mary invited her to her palace. She met the American impresario Sol Hurok , who gave her access to New York theaters.

In 1938 she recorded a film in Paris with some classic alegrías . In November 1938 she presented herself again to the New York audience at the Majestic Theater , accompanied by her sister, Antonio de Triana, Carlos Montoya on guitar and Rogelio Machado on piano. With her dances, her singing and her parodies she won over the New York audience. Because audiences tended to mistake it for La Argentina or expect the same type of performance from it, critic John Martin pointed out that they were two completely different artist personalities. He praised her craftsmanship, femininity, sensitivity and naturalness, free from any affectation and cocky triumph. He also praised the purity of her voice and her brilliance when using the castanets and the rhythmic use of her feet.

Apart from a few tours to Mexico and a short trip to Madrid in 1939, she never left New York.

Last years in New York

Her New York repertoire included, on the one hand, what she had acquired in the course of her career: The Canciones populares españolas , Madrid 1890 by Federico Chueca , pieces by Isaac Albéniz, Manuel de Falla, Enrique Granados and Tomás Bretón . She expanded it to include a few Tanguillos , to which she gave the collective title Tacita de plata , a Malagueña , a Farruca , some Tangos and Bulerías . A much-noticed appearance was that with Léonide Massine in 1940 in the Metropolitan Opera under the title Capricho español .

She had another major appearance at the Metropolitan Opera in 1943 with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of José Iturbi . She danced to Maurice Ravel's Boléro , some dances from Georges Bizet's Carmen as well as a new version of En el Café de Chinitas , in which she revived the atmosphere in that Malaysian café cantante . The set was designed by Salvador Dalí . A few months later she and her company gave a performance in front of an audience of 10,000 people at the Lewisohn Stadium .

Far from home in Spain, La Argentinita had to find the dancers for her choreographies in America. So she discovered José Greco and Manolo Vargas and took them under contract for their company.

La Argentinita had her last appearance on May 28, 1945 in the Metropolitan Opera. She knew she had stomach cancer , but had initially refused an operation. She danced the Capricho Español without showing anything. As she got worse and worse, she finally had herself admitted to the Columbia University Hospital on August 5, 1945 and operated on. As a result of the operation, she suffered a brain thrombosis from which she died on September 24th. Her body was transferred to Madrid and buried in the Cementerio Sacramental de San Isidro .

The Spanish government posthumously awarded her the orders of Alfonso the Wise and Isabella the Catholic .

reception

Spanish poets wrote of La Argentinita:

«Era como una pluma en el aire (…) fue preciso que la lastrara un corazón de gran amor, y su cuerpo delicioso conociera el valor estatuario de la línea y el secreto del abandono femenino y el hondo dolor humano para que (…) la hiciera reposar sobre el suelo y la convirtiera en la intérprete de los cantares hondos y las danzas flamencas, y le diera una voz cordial, aterciopelada y penetrante, sin estridencia, y una maravillosa expresión en el baile y en la copla. »

"She was like a feather in the air (...) just as if a heart full of love had strengthened her, and as if her adorable body had known the appropriate value of the line and the secret of feminine abandonment and deep human pain, so that (... ) resting on solid ground, she could become the interpreter of deep songs and flamenco dances, and she had a hearty, velvety and penetrating voice without severity and a wonderful expression in dance and song. "

- Manuel Machado

«La Argentinita sabe imprimir a nuestros bailes un aspecto digno y artístico ya unir a los primores de la ejecución las sales compatibles del decoro. Su arte castizo: su braceo y su colocación conservan en todo momento la pureza de la línea que no se descompone jamás con retorcimientos monstruosos o extravagantes: es arte, es fin, de solera española que se plasma en ritmo y en melodía. »

“La Argentinita knows how to add a dignified and artistic aspect to our dances and how to add the appropriate spice of decoration to the principles of execution. Her art is authentic: her arm movements and her position maintain the purity of the line at every moment, which never breaks into monstrous or extravagant turns: it is art, it is perfect, Spanish tradition that is captured in rhythm and melody. "

- Jerónimo Gómez

Web links

Commons : La Argentinita  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

References and comments

  1. ↑ a b c d José Luis Navarro García: Historia del Baile Flamenco . Volume II.Signatura Ediciones de Andalucía, Sevilla 2010, ISBN 978-84-96210-71-4 , pp. 121 .
  2. ↑ Other sources name 1895 as the year of birth; see the following two references.
  3. ↑ La Argentinita. In: España es cultura. Retrieved February 6, 2019 (Spanish).
  4. ↑ La Argentinita. In: El Arte de Vivir el Flamenco. Retrieved February 6, 2019 (Spanish).
  5. ↑ José Luis Navarro García: Historia del Baile Flamenco . Volume II, ISBN 978-84-96210-71-4 , pp. 149-150 .
  6. ↑ a b c José Luis Navarro García: Historia del Baile Flamenco . Volume II, p. 122 .
  7. ↑ José Luis Navarro García: Historia del Baile Flamenco . Volume II, p. 259 .
  8. ↑ Efe: Pilar López. In: El Arte de Vivir el Flamenco. March 25, 2008, Retrieved February 6, 2019 (Spanish).
  9. ↑ "Niña prodigio"
  10. ↑ José Luis Navarro García: Historia del Baile Flamenco . Volume II, p. 123 .
  11. ↑ a b José Luis Navarro García: Historia del Baile Flamenco . Volume II, p. 124 .
  12. ↑ Canción mieres del camino. In: Biblioteca Digital del Patrimonio Iberoamericano. Retrieved February 6, 2019 (Spanish).
  13. ↑ More Meller . In: The New Yorker . May 8, 1926, ISSN  0028-792X , p. 9 (English, newyorker.com [accessed February 6, 2019]).
  14. ↑ a b c d José Luis Navarro García: Historia del Baile Flamenco . Volume II, p. 126 .
  15. ↑ a b c d José Luis Navarro García: Historia del Baile Flamenco . Volume II, p. 129 .
  16. ↑ a b José Luis Navarro García: Historia del Baile Flamenco . Volume II, p. 125 .
  17. ↑ a b c José Luis Navarro García: Historia del Baile Flamenco . Volume II, p. 127 .
  18. ↑ Bailaor = dancer . «¡Ironías de la vida!» - “The irony of fate!” Said Navarro García.
  19. ↑ a b José Luis Navarro García: Historia del Baile Flamenco . Volume II, p. 128 .
  20. ↑ Rosario, la Cortijera. In: IMDb. Retrieved February 7, 2019 .
  21. ^ The International Review. In: Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved February 7, 2019 .
  22. ↑ a b c José Luis Navarro García: Historia del Baile Flamenco . Volume II, p. 130 .
  23. ↑ John Martin: Argentinita; The Spanish Artist's Unique Triumph Over A Handicap . In: The New York Times . March 30, 1930, p. 8 (English, nytimes.com [accessed February 7, 2019]).
  24. ^ Paramount on Parade (1930). Full cast and crew. In: IMDb. Retrieved February 7, 2019 .
  25. ↑ José Luis Navarro García: Historia del Baile Flamenco . Volume II, p. 131 .
  26. ↑ Federico García Lorca, La Argentinita: Colección de Canciones Populares Antiguas. Original music. In: Youtube. Tamerlan Music Traducciones, accessed February 7, 2019 (Spanish).
  27. ↑ Pedro Vaquero: Las verdaderes letras de las cancones populares de Federico García Lorca. In: Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes. Retrieved February 7, 2019 (Spanish).
  28. ↑ a b José Luis Navarro García: Historia del Baile Flamenco . Volume II, p. 132 .
  29. ↑ a b c José Luis Navarro García: Historia del Baile Flamenco . Volume II, p. 133 .
  30. ^ Carmen Linares - Canciones populares antiguas. In: Revista DeFlamenco.com. December 31, 1996, Retrieved February 7, 2019 (Spanish).
  31. ↑ a b José Luis Navarro García: Historia del Baile Flamenco . Volume II, p. 134 .
  32. ↑ A folk group dance that is particularly popular in Latin America
  33. ↑ José Luis Navarro García: Historia del Baile Flamenco . Volume II, p. 135 .
  34. ^ Romualdo Molina, Miguel Espín: La Argentinita y Pilar López . Obra Cultural Caja San Fernando, Seville 1988.
  35. ↑ José Luis Navarro García: Historia del Baile Flamenco . Volume II, p. 136 .
  36. ↑ a b c José Luis Navarro García: Historia del Baile Flamenco . Volume II, p. 140 .
  37. ↑ Borja Hermoso: Sánchez Mejías, the intellectual bullfighter, returns to the arena . In: El País . January 11, 2018, ISSN  1134-6582 (English, elpais.com [accessed February 8, 2019]).
  38. ↑ a b José Luis Navarro García: Historia del Baile Flamenco . Volume II, p. 141 .
  39. ↑ a b c José Luis Navarro García: Historia del Baile Flamenco . Volume II, p. 142 .
  40. ↑ John Martin: The Dance; Argentinita in New Program . In: The New York Times . December 30, 1938, p. 10 (English, nytimes.com [accessed February 8, 2019]).
  41. ↑ a b José Luis Navarro García: Historia del Baile Flamenco . Volume II, p. 143 .
  42. ^ John Martin: 'Spanish Festival' Stars Argentinita; Jose Iturbi Conducts a Group From Philharmonic in Event at Metropolitan Opera . In: The New York Times . May 17, 1943, p. 11 (English, nytimes.com [accessed February 8, 2019]).
  43. ↑ a b José Luis Navarro García: Historia del Baile Flamenco . Volume II, p. 144 .
  44. ↑ John Martin: 10,000 At Stadium See Argentinita; Spanish Dancer and Ensemble Appear With Orchestra as Jose Iturbi Conducts . In: The New York Times . July 13, 1943, p. 16 (English, nytimes.com [accessed February 8, 2019]).
  45. ↑ José Luis Navarro García: Historia del Baile Flamenco . Volume II, p. 149 .
  46. ↑ a b c José Luis Navarro García: Historia del Baile Flamenco . Volume II, p. 150 .
  47. ^ José L Bernabé Tronchoni: Encarnación “La Argentinita” López Júlvez. In: Find a Grave. Retrieved February 8, 2019 .
  48. ^ A b María Jesús Barrios Peralbo: Reseñas sobre la figura de Encarnación López Júlvez “La Argentinita” . Ed .: Universidad de La Rioja. Logroño 2009 (Spanish, unirioja.es [PDF]).
personal data
SURNAME Argentinita, La
ALTERNATIVE NAMES López Júlvez, Encarnación (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Argentinian-Spanish dancer, choreographer and singer
DATE OF BIRTH March 25, 1897
PLACE OF BIRTH Buenos Aires
DATE OF DEATH September 24, 1945
Place of death New York City