Enrique Saborido (1876 or 1877 – 19 September 1941) was an

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

tango Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries as the result of a combina ...

pianist, violinist, composer and dance teacher.

Background and early life

He was born in 1876 or 1877 in

Montevideo Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

to parents who moved to

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

when he was four years old, and he eventually adopted

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

citizenship. His birth date cannot be precisely identified. His

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

parents noticed his musical predisposition and tried to encourage it by sending him to

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

and

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

classes. He abandoned his studies, however, and entered the work force, first in a bookshop, until 1892, and later in the office of the Director of the San Martín Theatre for a period of 15 years. He began composing

pieces during this interim. His first success was ''La morocha'', which sold 280,000 copies following its 1905 recording, and was one of the first

songs known outside Argentina. The wife of noted

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

ian

tenor A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...

Jean de Reszke Jean de Reszke (14 January 18503 April 1925) was a Polish tenor and opera star. Reszke came from a musically inclined family. His mother gave him his first singing lessons and provided a home that was a recognized music centre. His sister Josep ...

invited Saborido to perform for high society audiences, and Saborido came into demand as a

tango dance Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries as the result of a combinat ...

instructor. According to Saborido, the music of ''La morocha'' came from the sailers of the ''Sarmiento'' ship who supposedly seeded their music across many points of the globe, a fact that was never verified. ''La morocha'' was the nickname of the Uruguayan singer Lola Candales for whom Saborido wrote this song. It is said that Saborido never earned a cent from the success of ''La morocha'', his manager being the sole owner of the song's copyrights. It is also said that this song was so famous, it sometimes replaced the official

Argentine National Anthem The "Argentine National Anthem" ( es, Himno Nacional Argentino) is the national anthem of Argentina. Its lyrics were written by the Buenos Aires-born politician Vicente López y Planes and the music was composed by the Spanish musician Blas Pa ...

during official international events. He returned to Buenos Aires following the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

in 1914, and became a public administration employee. He married Urbana Ruiz and settled the residential

Villa Devoto Villa Devoto is a neighborhood or district located in the northwestern area of the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Its administrative limits are defined by Lope de Vega, General Paz, San Martín, and Francisco Beiró Avenues; and Joaquín V. Gonz� ...

section of Buenos Aires (a daughter, Rosario, became the namesake for his last composition). Saborido made a last public appearance as a performer on the

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

, in 1932, and he died at his desk at the War Ministry in Buenos Aires, on September 19, 1941.

Compositions

* ''Dora'' (

waltz The waltz ( ), meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom and folk dance, normally in triple ( time), performed primarily in closed position. History There are many references to a sliding or gliding dance that would evolve into the wa ...

) * ''Rosario''. * ''La morocha'' * ''Felicia'' * ''El Pochocho * ''Berlina de novios'' * ''Don Paco'' * ''El señor Leiva'' * ''Mosca muerta'' * ''Coraceros del 9º'' * ''Pegué la vuelta'' * ''Ingratitud'' * ''La hija de la morocha'' * ''Caras y Caretas'' * ''Papas fritas a Federación'' * ''Ortensia'' * ''Qué hacés de noche'' * ''Boteshare'' * ''Prendé la vela'' * ''Martín'' * ''Reclutamiento'' * ''El cantor del callejón'' (music and lyrics) * ''Al otro lado del arroyo'' * ''Queja gaucha'' * ''Náufragos'' * ''Angustia'' * ''Metele Catriel que es polka'' (

polka Polka is a dance and genre of dance music originating in nineteenth-century Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. Though associated with Czech culture, polka is popular throughout Europe and the Americas. History Etymology The term ...

) * ''Baquiano pa elegir'' * ''Caña quemada'' * ''Fierro viejo'' * ''Que sea feliz'' * ''Rezongos postreros'' * ''Caridad'' (waltz) * ''Reliquia santa'' (waltz) * ''Mi soberana'' ( zamba).

References

External links

Todo Tango: Enrique Saborido
1870s births 1941 deaths Musicians from Montevideo Uruguayan people of Spanish descent Uruguayan tango musicians Tango dancers Uruguayan composers Male composers Uruguayan male dancers Argentine composers Argentine male dancers Argentine dancers Argentine pianists Male pianists Argentine violinists Uruguayan expatriates in Argentina People with acquired Argentine citizenship 19th-century pianists 20th-century pianists 19th-century male musicians 20th-century male musicians {{pianist-stub