''Valencia'' is a ''

pasodoble Pasodoble (Spanish: ''double step'') is a fast-paced Spanish military march used by infantry troops. Its speed allowed troops to give 120 steps per minute (double the average of a regular unit, hence its name). This military march gave rise r ...

'' song composed by José Padilla for the 1924

Zarzuela () is a Spanish lyric-dramatic genre that alternates between spoken and sung scenes, the latter incorporating operatic and popular songs, as well as dance. The etymology of the name is uncertain, but some propose it may derive from the name of ...

''La bien amada'' and included in the 1926 silent film ''

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

'', with lyrics translated by

Lucien Boyer Lucien Boyer, (1876-1942) was a French music hall singer. He first won popularity singing to soldiers at the front during World War I. Boyer's fame as a writer and singer spread throughout the world from the Montmartre district of Paris. He w ...

Jacques Charles Jacques Alexandre César Charles (November 12, 1746 – April 7, 1823) was a French inventor, scientist, mathematician, and balloonist. Charles wrote almost nothing about mathematics, and most of what has been credited to him was due to mistaking ...

, and

Clifford Grey Clifford Grey (5 January 1887 – 25 September 1941) was an English songwriter, librettist, actor and screenwriter. His birth name was Percival Davis, and he was also known as Clifford Gray. Grey contributed prolifically to West End and Br ...

. Recorded by

Paul Whiteman Paul Samuel Whiteman (March 28, 1890 – December 29, 1967) was an American bandleader, composer, orchestral director, and violinist. As the leader of one of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s and early 1930s, ...

& his Orchestra, it became one of the biggest hits of 1926, topping the charts for 11-weeks beginning March 30, 1926.

In popular culture

Other popular recordings in 1926 were by

Ben Selvin Benjamin Bernard Selvin (March 5, 1898 – July 15, 1980) was an American musician, bandleader, and record producer. He was known as the Dean of Recorded Music. Selvin was born in New York City, United States, the son of Jewish Russian immigrant ...

& His Orchestra (vocal by

Irving Kaufman Irving Robert Kaufman (June 24, 1910 – February 1, 1992) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern Dist ...

);

The Revelers The Revelers were an American quintet (four close harmony singers and a pianist) popular in the late 1920s and early 1930s. The Revelers' recordings of " Dinah", " Old Man River", "Valencia", "Baby Face", " Blue Room", "The Birth of the Blues", ...

;

Ross Gorman John Ross Smeed Gorman (November 18, 1890 – February 27, 1953) was an American jazz clarinetist This article lists notable musicians who have played the clarinet. Classical clarinetists * Laver Bariu * Ernest Ačkun * Luís Afonso * Cr ...

; and

Jesse Crawford Jesse Crawford (December 2, 1895 – May 28, 1962) was an American pianist and organist. He was well known in the 1920s as a theatre organist for silent films and as a popular recording artist. In the 1930s, he switched to the Hammond organ and b ...

. That year

Carlos Gardel Carlos Gardel (born Charles Romuald Gardès; 11 December 1890 – 24 June 1935) was a French-born Argentine singer, songwriter, composer and actor, and the most prominent figure in the history of tango. He was one of the most influential inte ...

recorded Valencia with different lyrics, as Maestro Padilla frequently worked in

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 ...

. Tony Martin recorded the song in 1950, and his cover reached #18 on the U.S. chart. This song was one of

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 ...

Mario Lanza Mario Lanza (, ; born Alfredo Arnold Cocozza ; January 31, 1921 – October 7, 1959) was an American tenor and actor. He was a Hollywood film star popular in the late 1940s and the 1950s. Lanza began studying to be a professional singer at ...

classic performances since 1954. It also appears in ''

El último cuplé ''The Last Torch Song'', better known under its Spanish title ''El último cuplé'', is a 1957 Spanish jukebox musical film directed by Juan de Orduña and starring Sara Montiel, Armando Calvo and Enrique Vera. It was released in Spain on 6 May ...

'' (1957) soundtrack, sung by

Sara Montiel María Antonia Abad Fernández MML (10 March 1928 – 8 April 2013), known professionally as Sara Montiel, also Sarita Montiel, was a Spanish actress and singer, who also held Mexican citizenship since 1951. She began her career in the 1940s an ...

, and in 1994 Sara Montiel would perform this song live during the

Fallas The Falles ( ca-valencia, Falles; es, Fallas) is a traditional celebration held annually in commemoration of Saint Joseph in the city of Valencia, Spain. The five main days celebrated are from 15 to 19 March, while the Mascletà, a pyrotechnic ...

celebrations. The song appears on the spanish

The Shadows The Shadows (originally known as the Drifters) were an English instrumental rock group, who dominated the British popular music charts in the late 1950s and early 1960s, in the pre- Beatles era. They served as the backing band for Cliff Richard ...

Los Shadows ''Los Shadows'' is an extended play 45 rpm record released by The Shadows. It reached #4 in the UK EP charts in 1963. Description The four songs chosen, as well as the title of the record, have a definite Spanish and Latinamerican flavor to them ...

, released in 1963. In 2008 it was included in

Placido Domingo Placido may refer to: People Surname *José Plácido de Castro (1873–1908), Brazilian soldier and politician *Michele Placido, (born 1946) Italian actor and director * Plácido Vega y Daza, (1830-1878) 19th century Mexican general and politician ...

's ''Because you're mine.'' This

march March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of Marc ...

is considered the informal hymn of

. It is specially loved in Valencia, as in March every year during the

the ''Valencia'' pasodoble is heard during the L'Ofrena de flors (the offering of flowers) to '' Our Lady of the Forsaken.''

Influences on literature

In the novel ''

The Invention of Morel ''La invención de Morel'' (; 1940) — translated as ''The Invention of Morel'' or ''Morel's Invention'' — is a novel by Argentine writer Adolfo Bioy Casares. It was Bioy Casares' breakthrough effort, for which he won the 1941 First Mu ...

'', the Argentinian writer

Adolfo Bioy Casares Adolfo Bioy Casares (; 15 September 1914 – 8 March 1999) was an Argentine fiction writer, journalist, diarist, and translator. He was a friend and frequent collaborator with his fellow countryman Jorge Luis Borges. He is the author of the Fan ...

often quotes to this song, together with " Tea for Two". The main character is alone, in a wild island, when he starts to hear this unexpected music. In the plot the song stands for the lightheartedness of the high society, that somehow violates the wild space of a lonely island, where the main character is literally "struggling for survival". One can argue that Bioy Casares chose this song mainly because it was a strong symbol to represent the society of the 1940s. The saxophonist Pablo in

Hermann Hesse Hermann Karl Hesse (; 2 July 1877 – 9 August 1962) was a German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. His best-known works include ''Demian'', ''Steppenwolf (novel), Steppenwolf'', ''Siddhartha (novel), Siddhartha'', and ''The Glass Bead Game'', ...

's novel '' Steppenwolf'' mentions this song as an example of melodies quietly reproduced every night by dreamy people.

References

1926 songs Songs written for films Spanish songs Songs about cities Songs about Spain {{1920s-song-stub