La Violetera

Raquel Meller fountain (1966), portrayed as La Violetera. Carrer Nou de la Rambla, Barcelona

La Violetera is a copla song, with the rhythm of a habanera, composed by José Padilla in 1914 with lyrics by Eduardo Montesinos and interpreted and popularized by the Spanish singer Raquel Meller. In Spanish, "Violetera" is a girl or woman who sells violets in the street.

History

Statue entitled La Violetera (1991)
by sculptor Santiago de Santiago
Gardens of Las Vistillas, Madrid

The song was composed by José Padilla during his stay in Paris as director of the orchestra of the Casino de Paris music hall. Its premiere took place in Barcelona, however, with an interpretation by Carmen Flores. Then the singer Raquel Meller popularized the song among the French and Spanish public first, and later worldwide.
Another popular Spanish interpreter is Sara Montiel. La Violetera is also in the repertoire of, among others, Montserrat Caballé, Dalida, Gigliola Cinquetti, Nana Mouskouri, Connie Francis, Mieczysław Fogg.
Movies using La Violetera include City Lights (1931) by Charles Chaplin with him and Virginia Cherrill; La Violetera (1958) by Luis César Amadori with Sara Montiel; All Night Long (1981) by Jean-Claude Tramont with Barbra Streisand and Gene Hackman; Scent of a Woman (1992) by Martin Brest with Al Pacino; In the mood for love (2000) by Wong Kar Wai named on the soundtrack "Lan Hua Nu" and sung by Rebecca Pan (recorded in 1949) / In 1991 a statue of a flower-seller was unveiled in Madrid, entitled La Violetera, by sculptor Santiago de Santiago, commemorating José Padilla, the author of the song. Since 2003, it is in Los Jardines de Las Vistillas, Madrid (40°24′45″N 3°42′53″W / 40.412607°N 3.714685°W).[1]

Versions, plagiarism and adaptations

City Lights (1931), for which Chaplin used La Violetera

In 1926 Anselmo Aieta wrote a tango to lyrics by Francisco García Jiménez, where the refrain is a straight borrowing of La Violetera's theme.[2]
Among the most famous adaptations is the one by Charles Chaplin in his 1931 film City Lights. The main theme used as a leitmotif for the blind flower-seller is the song "La Violetera" ("Who’ll Buy my Violets").[3] Chaplin was unable to secure the original song performer, Raquel Meller, in the lead role, but used her song anyway as a major theme.[4][5] In 1934, Chaplin lost a lawsuit to Padilla (which took place in Paris, where Padilla then lived) for not crediting him.[6][7] Some modern editions released for video include a new recording by Carl Davis.[8]
The version performed by Sara Montiel also became very famous, in the film also called La Violetera (1958), directed by Luis César Amadori.
The instrumental version is popular as a tango.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.madripedia.es/wiki/Monumento_a_La_Violetera Monumento a La Violetera
  2. ↑ 'La Violetera' (tango by Aieta) on TODO Tango
  3. ↑ "Chaplin as a composer". CharlieChaplin.com.
  4. ↑ "Portrait of Charlie Chaplin's Favourite for Sale at Bonhams". Art Daily. Retrieved 22 November 2010.
  5. ↑ "Luces de la ciudad" (in Spanish). ABC (Madrid). 27 July 1962. p. 30.
  6. ↑ "José Padilla" (in Spanish). El Poder de la Palabra.
  7. ↑ "Biografía de José Padilla Sánchez" (in Spanish). Marielilasagabaster.net.
  8. ↑ New recording by Carl Davis

External links