Mariano Mores

Mariano Alberto Martínez was born on 18 February 1918 in the San Telmo neighborhood of Buenos Aires. ^[1][2] His family later lived in Tres Arroyos and other localities; piano study began around the age of seven. In 1929 the family moved to Spain, where he continued classical training and, according to some accounts, received a scholarship at the University of Salamanca. Contact with tango occurred in Spain when his father took him to hear a recording of Carlos Gardel. ^[3] Returning to Argentina, at the age of fourteen in 1936 he answered a newspaper notice for a pianist who could sight-read and transpose international music at a bar on Corrientes Street and was hired at three pesos fifty a day. ^[1]

He entered the Primera Academia Argentina de Interpretación directed by the lyricist Luis Rubistein, became a teacher there, and met the singers Margot and Mirna (Myrna) Moragues, who performed as Las Hermanas Mores. He joined them at the piano, forming the Trío Mores; the public applied the sisters’ artistic surname to him, and he adopted Mores permanently. ^[1][2] With Rubistein he composed early pieces including “Gitana” (recorded by Tito Schipa) and “No quiero.” In 1939 he wrote “Cuartito azul” with lyrics by Mario Battistella; the title derived from a small room he rented on Terrada (or Serrano) Street in Villa del Parque, painted blue with laundry whitener, in order to live near Mirna. The tango became his first major success and opened the door to Francisco Canaro’s orchestra. ^[1][4]

Mores joined Canaro in 1939, debuting at the Teatro Nacional on Corrientes, and remained until 1948. Canaro is repeatedly described as an artistic father figure. During these years Mores composed the greater part of his best-known works in collaboration with leading lyricists: with José María Contursi, “En esta tarde gris” (1941), “Gricel” (1942), and “Cristal”; with Enrique Santos Discépolo, “Uno” (1943), “Sin palabras” (1946), and “Cafetín de Buenos Aires” (1948); with Homero Manzi, “Una lágrima tuya”; and, with Canaro, “Adiós pampa mía” (lyrics by Ivo Pelay). “Taquito militar,” a milonga, later received popular recognition as one of the century’s outstanding examples of the form. ^[1][2][4]

In 1948 Mores left Canaro and formed his own large orchestra, which emphasized theatrical presentation: expanded instrumentation (including electric guitar, organ, and percussion), lighting, chorus, dancers, and a hyperkinetic conducting style in which he sometimes played piano with one hand while conducting with the other. The ensemble was successful on records, radio, television, and in cinema, though some tango traditionalists criticized its show-business orientation and limited suitability for social dancing. ^[1] Vocalists who passed through the orchestra included his brother Enrique (as Lucero), Mario Ponce de León, Aldo Campoamor, Carlos Acuña, Miguel Montero, Hugo Marcel, and his son Nito Mores (who died in 1984). Mores also composed film scores and appeared as an actor. ^[1]

He maintained an international touring schedule for decades and received multiple gold and platinum records. In 1987 the Organization of American States awarded him its Músicos Eruditos prize. He died in Buenos Aires on 13 April 2016 at the age of ninety-eight; his remains were honored at the Teatro Colón in accordance with his wish. ^[2][4] Mores’s melodic gift produced a body of songs that entered the permanent repertoire of tango and remain among the most frequently performed and recorded works of the genre.

Piano study from childhood, a period in Spain, and the 1936 engagement on Corrientes Street led quickly to the Rubistein academy and the encounter with the Moragues sisters. Adoption of the surname Mores and the formation of the trio coincided with his first compositions and with the personal relationship that produced both marriage and the title “Cuartito azul.”

The decade inside Canaro’s orchestra supplied both technical discipline and access to the major lyricists of the period. The resulting collaborations—especially those with Contursi and Discépolo—account for the core of Mores’s enduring catalogue and established his reputation as a melodist while he was still primarily known as a pianist.

After 1948 the large, visually elaborate ensembles reflected Mores’s conception of tango as popular spectacle. Commercial success on multiple media platforms coexisted with criticism from purists; the style nevertheless kept his compositions in continuous circulation.

Works such as “Uno,” “Cafetín de Buenos Aires,” “Gricel,” and “Taquito militar” remain standard. Institutional honors, including the 1987 OAS award and the posthumous vigil at the Colón, confirmed his standing as one of the most widely known composers of twentieth-century tango.