Rita Montaner
Encyclopedia
Rita Montaner, born Rita Aurelia Fulcida Montaner y Facenda (Guanabacoa, 20 August 1900 – Havana, 17 April 1958), was a Cuban singer, pianist, actress and star of stage, film, radio and television. In Cuban parlance, she was a vedette (a star), and she was well known in Mexico City, Paris, Miami and New York, where she performed, filmed and recorded on various occasions. She was probably the best-loved female star in Cuba of the period 1920–1960; they called her Rita de Cuba. Though classically trained, her mark was made as a singer of Afrocubanist salon songs.
She was one of three great musicians born in the small town of Guanabacoa in the province of Havana; the others were Bola de Nieve
and Ernesto Lecuona
. The lives of the three friends were connected professionally; they worked together many times.
, theory, harmony
and piano; at 16 she started on voice lessons
.
She was from the start a potential star: her first press notice came in 1912, her first press photograph in 1913, in 1915 she received two bronze medals for piano. In 1917, Montaner played Mendelssohn
in her final examination at the Peyrellade Conservatory in Havana; she graduated in piano, song and harmony with a gold medal.
Rita married a lawyer, Dr Alberto Fernández Díaz, in 1918. They had two sons, Rolando and Alberto. The marriage lasted until his death in 1932, and she married again, twice. At the end of her life, when she died of cancer, there were widespread public demonstrations of grief at her funeral. She had embodied the feelings of a turbulent era between Cuban independence
and the Castro revolution
.
, a friend of her family: he persuaded her husband to let her appear and sing. From then on, no husband could stop her! She performed twice in May, on piano, then as a singer. in major lyric concerts. In October, she sang on the first radio broadcast in Cuba.
Next year, Montana had a full professional program of work. She sang duos with Eusebio Delfín
, and solo, pieces by Alberto Villalón
, Ernesto Lecuona, Sánchez de Fuentes and others. She sang a duet from La Gioconda
by Ponchielli with the soprano Lola de la Torre, and solo on other opera pieces, for example, Caro nome from Verdi's Rigoletto
. Alejo Carpentier wrote his first article for La Discusión in praise of her voice and vocal technique. Rita's voice had a huge range, from mezzo-soprano
(or perhaps soprano
in her younger days) to slangy rough black Afro-Cuban numbers (see discussion at Voice classification in non-classical music
).
Rita's career continued along similar lines for several years. Her work as a singer and pianist with such maestros as Lecuona, Jorge Anckermann
, Delfín, Sánchez de Fuentes and Gonzalo Roig
was successful and immensely respectable, as befitted a middle-class married woman of those times. Gradually, however, a change began as she became fully adult. She performed in popular, but slightly vulgar theatre (Zarzuela
; bufo); she travelled to other countries; she became a recording star. It became clear that performing in public was the most important thing in her life, and this was hardly compatible with her role as a bourgeois wife and mother. The first signs of change came in 1926, a year which started conventionally enough...
In 1926 Rita sang on stage to Lecuona's piano in his 7th Concert of Cuban music at the Teatro Nacional. On vacation in New York she needed an appendix operation; after recovering she performed at a benefit concert for the blind. Then she auditioned for the Schubert brothers, impresarios, who offered her a contract. Significantly, perhaps, her husband returned to Cuba. She made her debut in the Schubert Follies together with Xavier Cugat
at the Apollo Theater
. Later she had a great hit with a review entitled A night in Spain. Back in Havana, she made her debut on stage in zarzuelas in 1927. Playing in La Niña Rita, o La Habana de 1830 (music by Eliseo Grenet
and Lecuona) she sang the Congo-tango Mamá Inéz. The title role here was played by Caridád Suarez, with Rita in blackface
and male drag
as El Calesero (the coachman). The second one-act work on the same program was the premiere of Lecuona's La tierra de Venus, where Rita sang Canto Siboney, which is still a Latin standard. Her three-octave voice was perfectly suited to creolized lyric music.
's Revue. Here, according to Gonzalo Roig, she began to change, becoming more bohemian, something of a diva, and generally more competitive and combative. In November 1928 she returned to Havana.
In 1929 Rita travelled to Madrid
and Valencia, then to Paris before returning to Cuba in 1930. In 1931 she travelled to Broadway under contract to Al Jolson
for his musical Wonder Bar
, which was set in a Paris night-club, for which she was by now more than qualified!
When she was in Cuba, Rita had a regular engagement at the Edén Concert, a nightclub right in the centre of Havana (Zulueta Street, near the Parque Central). Armando Romeo, later orchestra leader at the Tropicana
, gave an interview later in life:
The shooting in the streets was President Gerardo Machado
trying to keep control.
In 1933 Rita went to Mexico City, with Bola de Nieve as her accompanist. She put him on the bill under his nickname, without consulting him. "It was the greatest favour she did in my life!" was Snowball's perhaps ambiguous comment. Bola was already of the opinion that she was becoming unbearable. "Rita's shows at the Teatro Iris were triumphant, but her mouth got the better of her" (Sublette p390). She mocked Agustín Lara
's favourite singer Toña la Negra
(María Antonia Peregrino 1910–82), who had been a fan of hers, and the press built up a vendetta between them. Lara announced that she was prohibited from singing his compositions. Montana moved to the Teatro Politeama for a revue. Singing, with Bola on piano, she had a huge success, with people standing on their chairs. Rita had laryngitis
at the final concert in her honour, so Bola filled in for a triumph which launched his career.
On 1 April 1933 she married Ernesto Estévez Navarro. He was born in Cárdenas, Cuba, but had been deported to México. They were divorced in 1938.
Montaner next organized a smaller company with Pedro Vargas
, whom she injudiciously paid in advance. In El Paso, Texas
, Vargas denounced her as an enemy of Mexico, hoping to prevent her return to his country. "Rita tore into him, and told him he was a priests' faggot (and much else!)" Bola said later in life when interviewed about her. Rita, furious, left the company, and Bola found himself looking at a third-class ticket to Mexico City.
The arrival of sound in films had created new opportunities for musicians, and Montaner launched on a new career as a film performer. After a musical number in a 1934 film, she made two films in 1938. Radio, too, was developing as a mass medium which was wide open to musical talent. La Montaner was to make good use of both these opportunities. But by now her temperament was getting out of control. Gonzalo Roig retailed the story of her sacking from the Lecuona show María la O at the Teatro Martí. During a duet with the tenor about the rekindling of betrayed love, she began to tear his clothes off on stage! That was a step too far for the management.
She divorced Ernesto Estéves in 1938, and married in 1939, for the third time, to the advocate Dr Javier Calderón Poveda.
A year later, RHC-Azul gave her a program Yo no sé nada (I don't know anything!) to do the character La Chismosa again, and again the government (Fulgencio Batista
's first term) applied pressure to get it taken off the air. Much later, in 1946, she had a third chance. CMQ gave her a program Mejor que me calle (Better I shut up! – a line from one of her songs) in which her street character, Lengualisa, had a side-kick Mojito (Alexandro Lugo). When the government (Ramón Grau
's second term) tried to bribe her, she talked about it on the program! But, on the day of the first anniversary of the program, her brother (a policeman) was killed in a drive-by shooting. It surprised no-one that the culprits were not found. The program continued until February 1948.
There was, however, a warm side to Rita, in the way she helped people who were in need. The famous Tropicana cabaret opened in Marianao
, Havana, at the very end of 1939. The best-known choreographer there was called Rodney (Rodrigo Neira). He was a former dancer who had contracted leprosy
: he became disfigured, poor and socially isolated. Rita intervened to save him from the leprosarium, supported his family and gave him accommodation in her house. She also helped Chano Pozo
before his career took off. She got him a job at the radio company RHC-Cadena Azul as a door-man and bodyguard. There he sang and played conga in his spare time; he was first hired as a musician by the Havana Casino orchestra.
. After closing temporarily as tourism declined in wartime; the Tropicana re-opened in 1945, as did other night-clubs such as the Sans Souci, the Montmatre, and their competition, the Gran Casino Nacional. In 1946 Rita signed with the Tropicana, with Bola de Nieve as accompanist, to take part in the midnight spectacular. She reigned here as the number one figure for nearly four years: it was the longest-running contract of her career. Mongo Santamaría
commented: "This launched the era of the Cuban cabaret super-productions".
sub-genre.
She was one of three great musicians born in the small town of Guanabacoa in the province of Havana; the others were Bola de Nieve
Bola de Nieve
Bola de Nieve , born Ignacio Jacinto Villa, was a successful Cuban singer-pianist and songwriter, whose round, black face earned him the nickname by which he was always known....
and Ernesto Lecuona
Ernesto Lecuona
Ernesto Lecuona y Casado was a Cuban composer and pianist of Canarian father and Cuban mother, and worldwide fame. He composed over six hundred pieces, mostly in the Cuban vein, and was a pianist of exceptional quality....
. The lives of the three friends were connected professionally; they worked together many times.
Life
Rita's family and upbringing was middle-class. Her father, Domingo Montaner Pulgarón, was a white pharmacist and her mother, Mercedes Facenda, a mulatta; she herself was short in stature, good-looking with a fine smile, and intelligent. She learnt English, Italian and French at religious school, and at 10 attended the Peyrellade Conservatory in Havana. There she studied music: solfegeSolfege
In music, solfège is a pedagogical solmization technique for the teaching of sight-singing in which each note of the score is sung to a special syllable, called a solfège syllable...
, theory, harmony
Harmony
In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...
and piano; at 16 she started on voice lessons
Vocal pedagogy
Vocal pedagogy is the study of the art and science of voice instruction. It is used in the teaching of singing and assists in defining what singing is, how singing works, and how proper singing technique is accomplished....
.
She was from the start a potential star: her first press notice came in 1912, her first press photograph in 1913, in 1915 she received two bronze medals for piano. In 1917, Montaner played Mendelssohn
Mendelssohn
Mendelson is a Polish/German Jewish family name, meaning "son of Mendel", Mendel being a Yiddish diminutive of the Hebrew given name Menahem, meaning "consoling" or "one who consoles".Mendelssohn is the surname of a number of people:...
in her final examination at the Peyrellade Conservatory in Havana; she graduated in piano, song and harmony with a gold medal.
Rita married a lawyer, Dr Alberto Fernández Díaz, in 1918. They had two sons, Rolando and Alberto. The marriage lasted until his death in 1932, and she married again, twice. At the end of her life, when she died of cancer, there were widespread public demonstrations of grief at her funeral. She had embodied the feelings of a turbulent era between Cuban independence
Cuban War of Independence
Cuban War of Independence was the last of three liberation wars that Cuba fought against Spain, the other two being the Ten Years' War and the Little War...
and the Castro revolution
Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement against the regime of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista between 1953 and 1959. Batista was finally ousted on 1 January 1959, and was replaced by a revolutionary government led by Castro...
.
A talented young woman
March 1922 saw the launch of Rita's career at a concert of typical Cuban music in Havana, organized by the composer Eduardo Sánchez de FuentesEduardo Sánchez de Fuentes
Eduardo Sánchez de Fuentes was a Cuban composer, and an author of books on the history of Cuban folk music.The outstanding habanera Tú, written when he was sixteen, was his best-known composition...
, a friend of her family: he persuaded her husband to let her appear and sing. From then on, no husband could stop her! She performed twice in May, on piano, then as a singer. in major lyric concerts. In October, she sang on the first radio broadcast in Cuba.
Eusebio Delfín
Eusebio Delfín Figueroa was a Cuban trovador musician: a composer, guitarist and singer. He came from a middle-class family, and was trained as an accountant in Cienfuegos, where his family had moved...
, and solo, pieces by Alberto Villalón
Alberto Villalón
Alberto Villalón Morales was one of the greatest musicians in the Cuban trova style....
, Ernesto Lecuona, Sánchez de Fuentes and others. She sang a duet from La Gioconda
La Gioconda (opera)
La Gioconda is an opera in four acts by Amilcare Ponchielli set to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Angelo, tyran de Padoue, a play in prose by Victor Hugo, dating from 1835...
by Ponchielli with the soprano Lola de la Torre, and solo on other opera pieces, for example, Caro nome from Verdi's Rigoletto
Rigoletto
Rigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. It was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on March 11, 1851...
. Alejo Carpentier wrote his first article for La Discusión in praise of her voice and vocal technique. Rita's voice had a huge range, from mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...
(or perhaps soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
in her younger days) to slangy rough black Afro-Cuban numbers (see discussion at Voice classification in non-classical music
Voice classification in non-classical music
There is currently no authoritative system of voice classification in non-classical music. The problem lies in the fact that classical terms are used to describe not merely various vocal ranges, but specific vocal timbres each unique to those respective ranges, and produced by the classical...
).
Rita's career continued along similar lines for several years. Her work as a singer and pianist with such maestros as Lecuona, Jorge Anckermann
Jorge Anckermann
Jorge Anckermann was a Cuban pianist, composer and bandleader. He started in music at eight with his father. At ten he was able to substitute in a trio...
, Delfín, Sánchez de Fuentes and Gonzalo Roig
Gonzalo Roig
Gonzalo Roig was a Cuban musician, composer, musical director and founder of several orchestras. He was a pioneer of the symphonic movement in Cuba....
was successful and immensely respectable, as befitted a middle-class married woman of those times. Gradually, however, a change began as she became fully adult. She performed in popular, but slightly vulgar theatre (Zarzuela
Zarzuela
Zarzuela is a Spanish lyric-dramatic genre that alternates between spoken and sung scenes, the latter incorporating operatic and popular song, as well as dance...
; bufo); she travelled to other countries; she became a recording star. It became clear that performing in public was the most important thing in her life, and this was hardly compatible with her role as a bourgeois wife and mother. The first signs of change came in 1926, a year which started conventionally enough...
In 1926 Rita sang on stage to Lecuona's piano in his 7th Concert of Cuban music at the Teatro Nacional. On vacation in New York she needed an appendix operation; after recovering she performed at a benefit concert for the blind. Then she auditioned for the Schubert brothers, impresarios, who offered her a contract. Significantly, perhaps, her husband returned to Cuba. She made her debut in the Schubert Follies together with Xavier Cugat
Xavier Cugat
Xavier Cugat was a Spanish-American bandleader who spent his formative years in Havana, Cuba. A trained violinist and arranger, he was a key personality in the spread of Latin music in United States popular music. He was also a cartoonist and a successful businessman...
at the Apollo Theater
Apollo Theater
The Apollo Theater in New York City is one of the most famous, and older, music halls in the United States, and the most famous club associated almost exclusively with Black performers...
. Later she had a great hit with a review entitled A night in Spain. Back in Havana, she made her debut on stage in zarzuelas in 1927. Playing in La Niña Rita, o La Habana de 1830 (music by Eliseo Grenet
Eliseo Grenet
Eliseo Grenet Sánchez was a Cuban pianist and a leading composer/arranger of the day. He composed music for stage shows and films, and some famous Cuban dance music. Eliseo was one of three musical brothers, all composers, the others being Emilio and Ernesto...
and Lecuona) she sang the Congo-tango Mamá Inéz. The title role here was played by Caridád Suarez, with Rita in blackface
Blackface
Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used in minstrel shows, and later vaudeville, in which performers create a stereotyped caricature of a black person. The practice gained popularity during the 19th century and contributed to the proliferation of stereotypes such as the "happy-go-lucky darky...
and male drag
Drag (clothing)
Drag is used for any clothing carrying symbolic significance but usually referring to the clothing associated with one gender role when worn by a person of another gender. The origin of the term "drag" is unknown, but it may have originated in Polari, a gay street argot in England in the early...
as El Calesero (the coachman). The second one-act work on the same program was the premiere of Lecuona's La tierra de Venus, where Rita sang Canto Siboney, which is still a Latin standard. Her three-octave voice was perfectly suited to creolized lyric music.
Montaner la diva
From 1927 to 1929 Rita recorded about fifty numbers for Columbia Records, including hits from the revues and zarzuelas she appeared in, such as Ay, Mama Inés, Siboney, Noche azul, Lamento esclavo, and the first recording of El manisero. She went to Paris for the first time, performing at the Olympia and Palace theatres. Still in Paris, she appeared in Josephine BakerJosephine Baker
Josephine Baker was an American dancer, singer, and actress who found fame in her adopted homeland of France. She was given such nicknames as the "Bronze Venus", the "Black Pearl", and the "Créole Goddess"....
's Revue. Here, according to Gonzalo Roig, she began to change, becoming more bohemian, something of a diva, and generally more competitive and combative. In November 1928 she returned to Havana.
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
and Valencia, then to Paris before returning to Cuba in 1930. In 1931 she travelled to Broadway under contract to Al Jolson
Al Jolson
Al Jolson was an American singer, comedian and actor. In his heyday, he was dubbed "The World's Greatest Entertainer"....
for his musical Wonder Bar
Wonder Bar
Wonder Bar is a 1934 pre-code movie adaptation of a Broadway musical of the same name directed by Lloyd Bacon with musical numbers created by Busby Berkeley...
, which was set in a Paris night-club, for which she was by now more than qualified!
When she was in Cuba, Rita had a regular engagement at the Edén Concert, a nightclub right in the centre of Havana (Zulueta Street, near the Parque Central). Armando Romeo, later orchestra leader at the Tropicana
Tropicana Club
Tropicana is a world known cabaret and club in Havana, Cuba. It was launched in 1939 at Villa Mina, a six-acre suburban estate with lush tropical gardens in Havana's Marianao neighborhood.-Influence:...
, gave an interview later in life:
- "There we would be, with Rita singing:
- Mejor que me calle, que no diga mas, que tu sabes lo que yo se!
- —while outside the cabaret walls you could hear shooting in the streets."
The shooting in the streets was President Gerardo Machado
Gerardo Machado
Gerardo Machado y Morales was President of Cuba and a general of the Cuban War of Independence...
trying to keep control.
In 1933 Rita went to Mexico City, with Bola de Nieve as her accompanist. She put him on the bill under his nickname, without consulting him. "It was the greatest favour she did in my life!" was Snowball's perhaps ambiguous comment. Bola was already of the opinion that she was becoming unbearable. "Rita's shows at the Teatro Iris were triumphant, but her mouth got the better of her" (Sublette p390). She mocked Agustín Lara
Agustín Lara
Agustín Lara was a Mexican singer and songwriter.-Biography:Lara was born in Tlacotalpan, Veracruz. Later, the Lara family had to move again to Mexico City, establishing their house in the borough of Coyoacán. After Lara's mother died, Agustín and his siblings lived in a hospice run by their...
's favourite singer Toña la Negra
Toña la Negra
Toña la Negra was an Afro-Mexican singer known for her interpretation of boleros, sones, rumbas and songs from Agustín Lara. She first became famous by her interpretation of Lara's song "Enamorada", he also wrote "Lamento Jarocho" specially for her to sing...
(María Antonia Peregrino 1910–82), who had been a fan of hers, and the press built up a vendetta between them. Lara announced that she was prohibited from singing his compositions. Montana moved to the Teatro Politeama for a revue. Singing, with Bola on piano, she had a huge success, with people standing on their chairs. Rita had laryngitis
Laryngitis
Laryngitis is an inflammation of the larynx. It causes hoarse voice or the complete loss of the voice because of irritation to the vocal folds . Dysphonia is the medical term for a vocal disorder, of which laryngitis is one cause....
at the final concert in her honour, so Bola filled in for a triumph which launched his career.
On 1 April 1933 she married Ernesto Estévez Navarro. He was born in Cárdenas, Cuba, but had been deported to México. They were divorced in 1938.
Montaner next organized a smaller company with Pedro Vargas
Pedro Vargas
Pedro Vargas Mata was a Mexican singer and actor, from the golden age of Mexican cinema. He was known as the "Nightingale of the Americas".-Biography:...
, whom she injudiciously paid in advance. In El Paso, Texas
El Paso, Texas
El Paso, is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States, and lies in far West Texas. In the 2010 census, the city had a population of 649,121. It is the sixth largest city in Texas and the 19th largest city in the United States...
, Vargas denounced her as an enemy of Mexico, hoping to prevent her return to his country. "Rita tore into him, and told him he was a priests' faggot (and much else!)" Bola said later in life when interviewed about her. Rita, furious, left the company, and Bola found himself looking at a third-class ticket to Mexico City.
She divorced Ernesto Estéves in 1938, and married in 1939, for the third time, to the advocate Dr Javier Calderón Poveda.
Rita la Chismosa
In 1941 Rita worked up a sketch of habits and popular criticism, interspersed with songs, which occupied a segment on the CMQ radio program La suprema corte del arte. She invented the personas of La Chismosa (Gossip) and La Marquesa, as a vehicle for an attack on corruption and the happenings of the day. This ascerbic commentary on social and political events had its effect: CMQ pulled the segment a month later!A year later, RHC-Azul gave her a program Yo no sé nada (I don't know anything!) to do the character La Chismosa again, and again the government (Fulgencio Batista
Fulgencio Batista
Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar was the United States-aligned Cuban President, dictator and military leader who served as the leader of Cuba from 1933 to 1944 and from 1952 to 1959, before being overthrown as a result of the Cuban Revolution....
's first term) applied pressure to get it taken off the air. Much later, in 1946, she had a third chance. CMQ gave her a program Mejor que me calle (Better I shut up! – a line from one of her songs) in which her street character, Lengualisa, had a side-kick Mojito (Alexandro Lugo). When the government (Ramón Grau
Ramón Grau
Dr. Ramón Grau San Martín was a Cuban physician and the President of Cuba .-Youth:...
's second term) tried to bribe her, she talked about it on the program! But, on the day of the first anniversary of the program, her brother (a policeman) was killed in a drive-by shooting. It surprised no-one that the culprits were not found. The program continued until February 1948.
There was, however, a warm side to Rita, in the way she helped people who were in need. The famous Tropicana cabaret opened in Marianao
Marianao
Marianao is a town and municipality in the province of the city of Havana, Cuba, 6 miles southwest of the original city of Havana, with which it is connected by the Marianao railway. , the municipality had a population of 133,016. Marianao is on a range of hills about 1500 ft. above sea level,...
, Havana, at the very end of 1939. The best-known choreographer there was called Rodney (Rodrigo Neira). He was a former dancer who had contracted leprosy
Leprosy
Leprosy or Hansen's disease is a chronic disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis. Named after physician Gerhard Armauer Hansen, leprosy is primarily a granulomatous disease of the peripheral nerves and mucosa of the upper respiratory tract; skin lesions...
: he became disfigured, poor and socially isolated. Rita intervened to save him from the leprosarium, supported his family and gave him accommodation in her house. She also helped Chano Pozo
Chano Pozo
Chano Pozo was a percussionist, singer, dancer and composer who played a major role in the founding of Latin jazz...
before his career took off. She got him a job at the radio company RHC-Cadena Azul as a door-man and bodyguard. There he sang and played conga in his spare time; he was first hired as a musician by the Havana Casino orchestra.
Night clubs
In 1939 the Tropicana theatre and restaurant (as it was first called) opened its doors in MarianaoMarianao
Marianao is a town and municipality in the province of the city of Havana, Cuba, 6 miles southwest of the original city of Havana, with which it is connected by the Marianao railway. , the municipality had a population of 133,016. Marianao is on a range of hills about 1500 ft. above sea level,...
. After closing temporarily as tourism declined in wartime; the Tropicana re-opened in 1945, as did other night-clubs such as the Sans Souci, the Montmatre, and their competition, the Gran Casino Nacional. In 1946 Rita signed with the Tropicana, with Bola de Nieve as accompanist, to take part in the midnight spectacular. She reigned here as the number one figure for nearly four years: it was the longest-running contract of her career. Mongo Santamaría
Mongo Santamaría
Ramón "Mongo" Santamaría Rodríguez was an Afro-Cuban Latin jazz percussionist. He is most famous for being the composer of the jazz standard "Afro Blue," recorded by John Coltrane among others. In 1950 he moved to New York where he played with Perez Prado, Tito Puente, Cal Tjader, Fania All...
commented: "This launched the era of the Cuban cabaret super-productions".
More theatre, television
Rita continued to appear in the theatre whenever her radio show was off the air. In 1955 she had a triumph as 'Madame Flora' in the opera La Medium by Menotti, and in 1956 with the comedy Mi querido Charles. She was a natural actress, and had a television program as soon as the medium was established in Cuba. It was called Rita y Willy, with Guillermo Alvarez Guedes. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, she starring in numerous Mexican movies of the Rumberas filmRumberas film
The Rumberas film was a sub-genre film of the Golden age of Mexican Cinema , whose plots were set primarily in cabarets...
sub-genre.
Popular musical theatre
Chronology includes some other critical events as well as stage appearances.1920s
- 1922
- — Sang in concerts of typical Cuban music and song.
- — Inauguration of Cuban radio PWX as singer.
- 1923
- — Festival of Cuban song.
- — Sings selected opera pieces at the Sala Falcón, Havana.
- — First concert of sacred music: sings selection from Stabat MaterStabat MaterStabat Mater is a 13th-century Roman Catholic hymn to Mary. It has been variously attributed to the Franciscan Jacopone da Todi and to Innocent III...
of Rossini, as contraltoContraltoContralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above...
. - — Festival de la danza: plays Cervantes, Saumell and Lecuona.
- 1924
- — Concert Society, Teatro Campoamor: several singing engagements.
- 1925
- — Sings Cuban lyrical music at various theatres in Havana.
- — Worked as Lecuona's assistant organising concert.
- 1926
- — Schubert Follies Apollo, New York
- 1927
- — Zarzuela La Niña Rita, o La Habana de 1830 Teatro Lírico Nacional
- — Review La tierra de Venus Teatro Lírico Nacional
- — Variety Arabescos Teatro Regina
- — Review Es mucha Habana Teatro Regina
- — La revista femenina Teatro Regina
- — Review Bohemia Teatro Regina (imitates Josephine BakerJosephine BakerJosephine Baker was an American dancer, singer, and actress who found fame in her adopted homeland of France. She was given such nicknames as the "Bronze Venus", the "Black Pearl", and the "Créole Goddess"....
for the first time) - — Operetta La corte del faraón Teatro Regina
- — Review La liga de las señoras Teatro Regina
- — Zarzuela El asombro de Damasco Teatro Regina
- — Lyric comedy Mi pequeñao maldito Teatro Regina
- — Review Castells y Riancho Teatro Regina
- 1928
- — Operetta El conde de Luxemburgo Teatro Regina
- — Fantasy review Los siete pecados capitales Teatro Regina
- — Lyric comedy Como las golondrinas Teatro Regina
- — Review Las musas latinas Teatro Regina
- — Review La tierra de Venus Teatro Regina (part); and songs
- — 10 week tour of Cuba by Teatro Regina
- — Homage to Julita Alonso, Teatro Actualidades.
- — Review Cuban Petit Follies Teatro Actualidades.
- — Reopening of the Rialto cinema; is presented as La reina de la canción cubana and as La mejor intérprete de la música folklórica.
- — Reopening of Fausto theatre; appears for one week.
- — Evening of homage to bid Rita farewell, at Teatro Prado. She sings various numbers in a 'contest' with tenor Rodolfo Hoyos.
- — Voyage to Paris: three months at the Palais de Paris, with Sindo GaraySindo GaraySindo Garay was born Antonio Gumersindo Garay Garcia . He was the first, the smallest, and perhaps the longest-lived, of the trova artists taught by Pepe Sánchez. Garay was one of the four greats of the trova. Sindo Garay was Spanish & Arawkan descendant...
and his son Guarionex, a timbalero and the pianist Rafaelito Betancourt. Sings Cuban and Afro-Cuban material. - — First appearance after her triumph in Paris: sings at the Teatro Encanto.
- — Goes to N.Y. to record 26 numbers for Columbia Records.
- — Death of her mother in a car accident.
- 1929
- — Reappears in Havana at the Cine Florencia and Teatro Peyret.
- — Tours Cuba in February.
- — Evening of homage to Rita, where she sings songs dedicated to her by leading composers (Lecuona, Roig, AnckermannJorge AnckermannJorge Anckermann was a Cuban pianist, composer and bandleader. He started in music at eight with his father. At ten he was able to substitute in a trio...
, Caignet, GrenetEliseo GrenetEliseo Grenet Sánchez was a Cuban pianist and a leading composer/arranger of the day. He composed music for stage shows and films, and some famous Cuban dance music. Eliseo was one of three musical brothers, all composers, the others being Emilio and Ernesto...
, SimonsMoisés SimonsMoisés Simons , was a leading Cuban composer, pianist and orchestra leader. He was the composer of the Peanut Vendor, possibly the most famous piece of music created by a Cuban musician...
) accompanied in each case by the song's author. - — Has a huge hit with Simons' Chivo que rompé tambo; records it for Columbia.
- — June: leaves for Europe again; appears in Valencia, and in MadridMadridMadrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
before the Queen and her council of ministers.
1930s
- 1930
- — Appears in Paris, three months in England, then New York for more recordings.
- — Back to Cuba in June: appears in CárdenasCárdenasCárdenas is a surname generally of Spanish origin.FAMILY ORIGIN:The family name Cardenas is a local surname which came from the region of La Rioja, Spain...
.
- 1931
- — Performs in New York as the main artist in Al JolsonAl JolsonAl Jolson was an American singer, comedian and actor. In his heyday, he was dubbed "The World's Greatest Entertainer"....
's company in Wonder BarWonder BarWonder Bar is a 1934 pre-code movie adaptation of a Broadway musical of the same name directed by Lloyd Bacon with musical numbers created by Busby Berkeley...
. Tours U.S. for a year. - — Records for Columbia.
- 1932
- — February: Husband Alberto Fernández Díaz dies; she leaves Jolson company and returns to Cuba.
- — July: appears with a galaxy of stars to celebrate her friend José Mojica at the Teatro Nacional.
- 1933
- — Goes to Mexico, and performs with Bola de Nieve: a huge success.
- — Marries Ernesto Estévez. Agustín LaraAgustín LaraAgustín Lara was a Mexican singer and songwriter.-Biography:Lara was born in Tlacotalpan, Veracruz. Later, the Lara family had to move again to Mexico City, establishing their house in the borough of Coyoacán. After Lara's mother died, Agustín and his siblings lived in a hospice run by their...
performs in homage to her "por su arte exceptional".
- — Makes her first film in Mexico La noche del pecado.
- 1934
- — June: appears in the review La tentación del trópico in Buenos Aires. Causes a sensation.
- — October: returns to Cuba.
- 1935
- — Performs on radio. Gets interested in the poetry of Nicolas GuillénNicolás GuillénNicolás Cristóbal Guillén Batista was a Cuban poet, journalist, political activist, and writer. He is best remembered as the national poet of Cuba.Guillén was born in Camagüey, Cuba...
.
- — February: Performs a whole series of AfroCuban numbers on stage at the theatre Principal de la Comedia.
- — March: Sings the zarzuela (by Gonzalo Roig) Cecilia Valdés. Appears in the review La gran caimán (Robreño and Prats).
- — April: Appears in the lyric comedy La risa en el alma. Sings the zarzuela Rosa la China (Gallarraga/Lecuona). Performs in the dramatic zarzuela El proceso de Dolores. Appears in the entremés (short comedy) El secuestro de Falla.
- — May: Performs in the review Perlas (música by Roig). Sings lied El lamento negroide (Roig).
- — June: Appears in the reviews Mosaicos, El tren aéreo, Los maculados.
- — July: Appears in the lyric comedy Salomé, the reviews Vivan las cadenas and Contra la república del crimen, and the two-act Cuban rapsody La hija del sol (music by Roig).
- — August: Sings the sainete (short lyric comedy) María la O (lyrics by Sánchez Galarraga, music by Lecuona).
- — November: Homage to Rita at the Teatro Principal del Comedia. Plays piano duet with Lecuona in the premiere of his piece Como baila el muñeco. Takes part in the dialogue Las chismosas (the gossips) with other celebrities. Sings the operetta La duquesma del bar Tabarín by Leo Bard.
- — December: Performs in the operetta La viuda alegre (Merry Widow) by Franz LehárFranz LehárFranz Lehár was an Austrian-Hungarian composer. He is mainly known for his operettas of which the most successful and best known is The Merry Widow .-Biography:...
. Performs in the Fiesta de la Variedad with Bola de Nieve, Esther Borja and others.
- 1936
- — January: Sings the part of Rosa, in the Spanish lyric sainete Los claveles; in the second part sings and acted Rosa la China (Galarraga/Lecuona). Sings the opera Lola Cruz (Galarraga/Lecuona).
- — February: visits New York to record for Columbia Records.
- — March–June: Teatro Alkázar, concerts of music by Cuban composers.
- — July: Sings Cuban numbers on Radio COCO and CMBZ. Sings at tango festival.
- — October: Sings sons and boleros with the Trio MatamorosTrio MatamorosThe Trio Matamoros were one of the most popular Cuban trova groups. Formed in 1925 by Miguel Matamoros , Rafael Cueto and Siro Rodriguez...
.
- 1937
- — January: Sings zarzuela La reina mora, and Lecuona's El cafetal at Teatro Martí. Plays CervantesIgnacio CervantesIgnacio Cervantes Kawanagh was a Cuban virtuoso pianist and composer. He was influential in the creolization of Cuban music....
in duo with María Cervantes at Teatro Alkázar.
- — February: Sings zarzuela María Belén Chacón by Rodrigo PratsRodrigo PratsRodrigo Prats was a Cuban composer, violinist, pianist and orchestral director. The son of a musician, Jaime Prats, Rodrigo began to study music at the age of nine...
. Sings at concert of AfroCuban music by Gilberto Valdés.
- — April: visits New York for recording session with Columbia Records. Plays the review Azul by Lecuona; in the second half sings part of El cafetal (Lecuona), part of the opera Lola Cruz, and part of La tierra de Venus (Lecuona). Also performed in the lyric comedy Sor Inés.
- — August: Sings the zarzuela Los gavilanes with Spanish baritone Augusto Ordóñez. Performs in Music Hall Review.
- 1938
- — First Cuban film Sucedió en La Habana.
- — Second Cuban film El romance del palmar.
- — Appearances as singer at various theatres in Havana.
- — Divorces Ernesto Estévez Navarro.
- — Appears again in María la O (Galarraga/Lecuona).
Filmography
These are the films Rita appeared in as actress or singer-pianist or both.- 1934 La noche del pecado as Rita Montaner y su Conjunto Tropical. (Mexican).
- 1938 Sucedió en La Habana
- 1938 El romance del palmar
- 1947 María la O (co-production Cuba/Mexico)
- 1948 Los angelitos negros (Mexican)
- 1950 Ritmos del Caribe o Borrasca
- 1950 Pobre corazón
- 1950 Anacleto se divorcía
- 1950 Aventurera (Mexican)
- 1951 Víctimas del pecado (Mexican)
- 1951 Al son del mambo (Mexican)
- 1951 Negro es mi color (Mexican)
- 1952 La renegada
- 1952 La única
- 1954 Píntame angelitos blanco
- 1980 Rita. Director: Oscar Valdés, 19 minutes. Short film biography of Rita Montaner.
Popular culture
- Cuban writer Daína ChavianoDaína ChavianoDaina Chaviano is a Cuban writer.She is considered one of the three most important female fantasy and science fiction writers in the Spanish language, along with Angélica Gorodischer and Elia Barceló , forming the so-called “feminine trinity of science fiction in Latin America.”In Cuba, she...
paid tribute to Rita Montaner in her novel The Island of Eternal LoveThe Island of Eternal LoveThe Island of Eternal Love is a novel by Cuban author Daína Chaviano.The plot is a family saga that takes place along two parallel lines: one during our time and another that begins in the 1850s....
, where the actress appears as one of the main characters. - The character Rita in the 2010 film Chico and RitaChico and RitaChico and Rita is an animated feature-length film directed by Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal. The story of Chico and Rita is set against backdrops of Havana, New York City, Las Vegas, Hollywood and Paris in the late 1940s and early 1950s.-Synopsis:...
is based loosely on her.