Modern Tango World #8 (Moscow)

Magnolias on the Snow
Andrey Klimovich
Vera Kholodnaya
Russian tango dates from the days of Czar’s winter palace to the present. The rhythm of the tango reached
Moscow when it was first heard in the 1910s. Many very popular tangos were produced in Russia during the
20th Century. This article reviews Russian tango from its earliest days through the fall of the Soviet Union. By
the 1960s, tango music and dance had lost their popularity, to be reborn at the end of the century.
Muscovites were fond of everything fashionable, from
the early cameras, exotic imports from Africa and Asia,
the Art Nouveau style. Moscow culture was very progressive
and international. For example, the ballet Russian
Seasons by Sergei Diaghilev was performed. in Paris
Europeans were stunned by the artists Lev Bakst and
Roman Tyrtov.
Tango, was something exotic that instantly gained popularity
among the Moscow bourgeoisie. In 1911, the Russian
Emperor Nicholas II, discovered this new passion
among the aristocracy, and allowed dancing tango in
the Winter Palace. But, the tango was unknown to the
general public. It was a dance for the elite. Tango was
brought to the masses by performing artists and comedians.
By 1914, this new dance found the way to the
cafes of Moscow.
The theatrical actor and singer, Alexander Vertinsky,
presented in Moscow a comic performance entitled
Tango. Two dancers simulated the dance of love, and Vertinsky
recited a parody monologue, talking about Argentina
and the passions that were storming there. The
name of Vertinsky then was not known to anyone, at
the timwe. He will later become the greatest singer of
Russian tangos in the 1920s and 1930s.
Another artist, Izabella Kremer. the opera singer, performed
romances in Russian and Yiddish, before the
Second World War in support of resistance forces.
No tango recordings with her voice exist now. But,
many sources name her as the first singer to popularize
tango in Russia. Exotic
Argentina and this new dance of embrace, caused many
artists to reconsider their repertoire. For example, in
1913, Kremer performed on stage the new Tango of
Death. The song was, in fact, the artistic translation of the
lyrics El Choclo. But in the musical terms, it sounded like a
classical romantic ballad.
In far off, sultry Argentina,
Where the southern sky is so blue,
Where any woman is like a picture,
There Joe fell in love with Clo ...
When she lit the evening lamp,
She danced with him in the tavern
For a drunk and roaring mob
teasing tango.
Tango of Death, 1914.
from the repertoire of Iza Kremer
This lyrics became so popular that the story became a plot
for a silent movie, with starring actress Vera Holodnaya.
This was a bohemian period of Russian tango. It was performed
mainly by self-taught artists, and orders for new
tangos were made by the aristocracy. However, in 1917
the situation began to change rapidly. During the revolution
the old aristocracy ceased to exist, and many of the
artists emigrated abroad.
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