Tango in 1913

The year 1913 appears in the available sources in four contexts: orchestras in Buenos Aires, the recording of instrumental tangos, the spread of tango to Europe, and the early vocal recordings referred to by a biographical chronicle ^[2][4][7][8]. The evidence for each is brief and comes mostly from single sources, so this article describes what those sources state without extending it ^[1][3][5].

In Buenos Aires, two biographical sources state that Roberto Firpo formed his first orchestra in 1913 ^[3][5]. A biography of Eduardo Arolas states that Firpo hired Arolas that year to play bandoneon with his orchestra at the cabaret Armenonville ^[2]. A second Arolas biography places a group of his compositions in the period from 1913 to 1916 ^[6].

On record, a discography dated to 1913 lists sides by Juan Félix Maglio, Vicente Greco and Roberto Firpo, as well as several titles with no performer named ^[4]. Outside Argentina, a historical chronicle describes 1913 as the turning point in the tango's conquest of Paris ^[7]. An encyclopedia article on Finnish tango dates tango's arrival in Finland to 1913 ^[1].

The Spanish-language biography of Roberto Firpo states: "En 1913 formó su primera orquesta" (In 1913 he formed his first orchestra) ^[3]. An English-language biography gives the same year: "In 1913, he formed his first orchestra" ^[5]. It adds that his early successes date from that year and names "Argañaraz" as the first of them ^[5]. The excerpt is cut off after that title, so the rest of the list cannot be given here ^[5].

The Spanish-language biography of Eduardo Arolas states that in 1913 Roberto Firpo hired him to play bandoneon with Firpo's orchestra at the cabaret Armenonville, which the source calls famous ^[2]. Taken together, these sources place Arolas in Firpo's orchestra in the same year that Firpo is said to have formed his first orchestra ^[2][3][5].

A separate English-language biography of Arolas states that by the period from 1913 to 1916 he had already studied solfège and harmony ^[6]. It then begins to list his pieces from those years, starting with "Delia" ^[6]. The excerpt ends after that first title, so the other compositions of the period are not recorded in the dossier ^[6].

A tango discography gives 1913 as the date of the following recordings attributed to Juan Félix Maglio. Genre and catalogue identifier are shown as the listing gives them ^[4]:

The same listing gives two 1913 recordings by Vicente Greco ^[4]:

The listing gives one 1913 recording by Roberto Firpo ^[4]:

- Sentimiento criollo (tango), T0370026860 ^[4]

Three further titles dated to 1913 appear in the listing with no performer named ^[4]:

The dates above are recording dates drawn from the discography. They are not composition or premiere dates for these works ^[4]. The data for El caburé is not consistent across the parsed entries: one entry attributes it to Maglio, while another under the same identifier names no performer and gives a duration of 02:59 ^[4].

A historical chronicle on tango's reception in Paris states: "In 1913 this conquest of Paris reached its turning point with the arrival of three musicians and a couple of dancers" ^[7]. The excerpt does not name these musicians or dancers, and the dossier gives no further detail about who they were or where they performed ^[7].

An encyclopedia article on Finnish tango states that tango was brought to Europe in the 1910s, and to Finland in 1913, by travelling musicians ^[1]. According to the same source, Finns began to take up the form and write their own tangos in the 1930s ^[1]. A summary statement drawn from that source says that tango was first performed in Finland by Finns in 1913. This does not match the source's own wording, which credits travelling musicians with bringing the form to Finland, so the question is recorded as disputed ^[1].

A biographical chronicle published by the Carlos Gardel foundation, in a chapter dealing with 1917, refers back to recordings made in 1913 ^[8]. It states that the events it describes show the singer's artistic importance. It adds that a change in his manner of singing was already noticeable when these later recordings were compared with those of 1913 ^[8]. The excerpt does not list the 1913 recordings themselves ^[8].