Gricel

Gricel belongs to the romantic strand of tango that flourished in the early 1940s, a period in which personal narrative often replaced the broader social critique of the preceding decade. The music was composed by Mariano Mores; the lyrics were written by José María Contursi, son of the earlier lyricist Pascual Contursi.^[1][2] Contursi dedicated the text to Susana Gricel Viganó, with whom he had maintained a relationship that began in the mid-1930s and that he later described as the great love of his life.^[3][4]

Viganó was born on 15 April 1920 in the San Cristóbal neighborhood of Buenos Aires, the daughter of Egidio Viganó and Maruca Anderson. Her mother chose the given name Gricel after a character in a French novel; the civil registry required several months to accept the spelling rather than the more conventional Griselda.^[3][4] The family moved from Buenos Aires to Quilmes, then to Guaminí, and finally to Capilla del Monte in Córdoba because of Egidio’s health. There Gricel worked at her father’s Texaco station and studied piano. She met Contursi during a 1935–1936 visit to Buenos Aires when she attended a radio program on which he appeared as an announcer.^[3][4] Contursi, already married to Alina (or Elina) Zárate and the father of children, pursued the relationship during subsequent stays in the Córdoba hills. He eventually returned to his marriage, leaving Viganó; the lyrics of Gricel were later sent to her by letter and became locally known as “the tango of Gricel.”^[3][4]

The tango itself dates to 1942. Aníbal Troilo’s orchestra with Francisco Fiorentino recorded it on 30 October 1942 for RCA Victor (matrix 39771).^[5][6] Other early versions include Francisco Canaro with Eduardo Adrián on 30 September 1942 and Mario Maurano with Libertad Lamarque on 6 October 1942.^[6] The lyric is cast as a first-person confession of a man who sought and then abandoned a woman, recognizing too late the damage caused. The refrain repeats the name Gricel as both address and lament.^[5]

The personal story continued long after the tango’s release. In 1949 Viganó contracted a civil marriage with Jorge Camba; the marriage produced a daughter and later ended when Camba left. After Contursi’s wife died, bandoneonist Ciriaco Ortiz informed Viganó in 1962 of the widowhood. The two reunited; on 16 August 1967 they were married in the chapel of the Cabrini Sisters in Capilla del Monte, Contursi then a widower of 56 and Viganó, for ecclesiastical purposes, considered single.^[3][4] Contursi died on 11 May 1972. Viganó lived thereafter in the Córdoba area and died on 25 July 1994 in Villa Rivera Indarte of a cerebral hemorrhage; her ashes remain there, while Contursi’s remains rest in the SADAIC pantheon in Buenos Aires.^[3][4]

Within Mores’s catalogue Gricel sits alongside other romantic collaborations of the period such as En esta tarde gris. It has remained in the active repertoire of orchestras and singers, recorded by figures ranging from Lucio Demare to later vocalists. The work’s durability rests on the clarity of its melodic line and on the biographical density that Contursi’s lyric carries, a density that listeners have continued to recognize even without detailed knowledge of the underlying events.^[1][3][5]

Authors and inspiration

Mariano Mores composed the music and José María Contursi the lyrics in 1942. Contursi dedicated the text to Susana Gricel Viganó, with whom he had begun a relationship in the mid-1930s.^[1][3]

The figure of Gricel

Born Susana Gricel Viganó on 15 April 1920, she met Contursi during a Buenos Aires visit and later lived in Capilla del Monte. The couple married in 1967 after his wife’s death and remained together until his death in 1972.^[3][4]

Early recordings

Troilo and Fiorentino recorded the tango on 30 October 1942. Canaro with Adrián and Maurano with Lamarque also cut versions in September and October of the same year.^[5][6]

Place in the repertoire

Gricel has remained a standard romantic tango, regularly programmed by orchestras and vocalists in the decades since its composition.^[6]