- 74424/37548-A Victor Tres momentitos (fox) Roberto Ray 1934-01-26
- 74425/37548-B Victor En el baile de ñ'Anastasia (ranchera) Roberto Ray 1934-01-26
- 74490/37581-B Victor En la huella del dolor Roberto Ray 1934-04-27
- 74491/37581-A Victor El ultimo rodeo (canción) Roberto Ray 1934-04-27
- 86527/37611-A Victor Canto de amor Roberto Ray 1934-06-18
- 86528/37611-B Victor Madre dime porque Roberto Ray 1934-06-18
- 86552/1680-B Victor Vida mía Tito Schipa 1934-06-18
- 86573/37632-A Victor Las mujeres y el amor (ranchera)Roberto Ray 1934-07-11
- 86574/37632-B Victor Tigre viejo instrumental 1934-08-16
- 86647/37652-A Victor Segui mi camino Roberto Ray 1934-09-13
- 86648/37652-B Victor Glorias del ayer Roberto Ray 1934-09-13
Despite of the fact that the reasons for the trip were limited, this was not an obstacle for the flattering proposal of offering a recital from the National Broadcasting Company (N.B.C.) and its red WJS chain, which covers the whole country of the north, which broadcasted a symphonic version of tangos.
In a 1967 report, Maestro Fresedo commented on some details of the concert, which was the crystallization of an intimate desire: to conduct a world-renowned symphony orchestra:
"Do you know what orchestra they gave me to give my tango concert at Radio City, back in New York? No less than the symphony orchestra conducted by Toscanini. I couldn't believe it, but that's how it was. And there I was as first violin Remo Bolognini, a wonderful madman that I met in Buenos Aires and we used to ride together on a motorbikes -another of the great passions of Maestro Fresedo, the same as for his violinist Manlio Francia- (Author's note) with a brother of his who was a cellist, a great cellist. What was his name? Well, I'll remember it later.
It should be noted that Remo Bolognini's brothers, both like the previous one, who were remarkable instrumentalists, were Astor, also a violinist, and Ennio, a cellist.
Fresedo continues in the paragraph of the report that is transcribed:
"At that concert, which was unforgettable, were Carlos Gardel and Le Pera, Tito Guizar, Mr. Peer -an American publisher- his secretary and then wife and today a multimillionaire widow, Mrs. Monica Iberson; Adolfo Aviles -the author of "Los ojazos de mi negra"- Mr. Ralph Todd, Dr. Eduardo Rios and a lot of friends. Carlitos was going to sing with the symphonic, but he was working hard on one of his films and could not rehearse.
So the singer was the brother of Silvio Spaventa (presumably Carlos, Note of the author).
I integrated the program, among other songs, with "Aguacero" by Cátulo Castillo, "Vida mía" that I composed with my brother Emilio and opened and closed with "Canto de amor".
The Maestro's concert on Radio City was broadcasted on November 9, 1934 at 8:30 p.m., U.S. time, and was broadcasted over the "NBC" microphones as noted above. Fresedo also made presentations at the "Palace" and "Kenmore" theaters in the city of Brooklyn and made some recordings, in aluminum discs for the Brunswick label, singing Pilar Arcos, Genaro Veiga and Fortunio Bonanova and several instrumental pieces.
Upon his triumphant return on the American Legion, he was received by Alfredo Pelaia, Victor Donato, author of "Vayan saliendo", Guillermo del Ciancio -author of "Giuseppe el zapatero"-, his brother Emilio Fresedo and other personalities."
presided by Osvaldo Fresedo and in which there also were: Emilio Fresedo, Juan Carlos Cobián, Modesto Papávero, Alfredo Eusebio Gobbi y Alfredo Pelaia.
- CAAC (Circulo Argentino de Autores y Compositores) presided by Francisco Canaro with the following members: Francisco Lomuto, Gerardo Matos Rodríguez, Anselmo Aieta, Lito Bayardo, Cátulo Castillo, Charlo, Julio De Caro, Enrique Santos Discepolo, Celedonio Flores, Agustín Bardi, Manuel Romero, José Razzano, Pedro Laurenz, Rodolfo Sciammarella and others.
ASCAP was (and still is to this day)The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.
Judging by his lack of discographic activity from September onwards, one can assume that Osvaldo Fresedo made his 3rd travel to the US in late september 1934. This time, to arrange some royalty payments between Argentina and the US association ASCAP, since the SADAIC was yet to be born. Alongside Dr. Eduardo Ríos embarked to the US. Thankfully, royalty matters was not the only activity Fresedo realized. He also gave a free radial audition of tango for the National Broadcasting Company (N.B.C.) and its red WJS chain, which was transmitted all-around the country, and took the photo which illustrates this article. Fresedo thought that all of this work would give the Argentine association a representative contract by the US association ASCAP, but nonetheless... this didn't happen.
Fresedo 1934 on his US tour in New York (courtesy of Ricardo Stockdale) |
ASCAP asked Carlos Gardel, which was currently there to be the singer for Fresedo's symphonic orchestra, formed by 56 musicians. Two days later, Alfredo Le Pera called Fresedo to send greetings from Gardel and to inform him that it was impossible to participate in that radial audition, because of his busy schedule. The transmission and concert was roadcasted with Carlos Spaventa as singer and Remo Bolognini as 1st violin, regarding this concert, Fresedo said in a report from 1967:
"Do you know what orchestra they gave me to give my tango concert at Radio City, back in New York? No less than the symphony orchestra conducted by Toscanini. I couldn't believe it, but that's how it was. And there I was as first violin Remo Bolognini, a wonderful madman that I met in Buenos Aires and we used to ride together on motorbikes."
And later, he continues: "At that concert, which was unforgettable, were Carlos Gardel and Le Pera, Tito Guizar, Mr. Peer -an American publisher- his secretary and then wife and today a multimillionaire widow, Mrs. Monica Iberson; Adolfo Aviles -the author of 'Los ojazos de mi negra'- Mr. Ralph Todd, Dr. Eduardo Rios and a lot of friends. Carlitos was going to sing with the symphonic, but he was working hard on one of his films and could not rehearse. So the singer was the brother of Silvio Spaventa.
I integrated the program, among other songs, with 'Aguacero' by Cátulo Castillo, 'Vida mía' that I composed with my brother Emilio and opened and closed with 'Canto de amor'. "
The broadcast occured at Radio City, New York on November 9th, 1934 at 8:30PM US time. Fresedo also made presentations at the "Palace" and "Kenmore" theaters in the city of Brooklyn.
But what happened to the royalty matters and Fresedo's plan to get the representation contract by the ASCAP? Canaro won that battle. Fresedo was notified that Gardel, by request of Francisco Canaro, already made a contract for the Círculo Argentino de Autores y Compositores de Música. 2 years later, both associations would merge and form SADAIC.
Bibliography: "El bandoneón y sus intérpretes - Generación 1910" (Primera parte) Zucchi, Oscar. (Ed. Corregidor, 2001)
https://www.todotango.com/portugues/historias/cronica/354/Vida-mia-Los-pormenores-gremiales-de-Vida-mia/
Ciriaco Ortiz, César Vedani, Fresedo, Canaro, Juan F. Noli, Manzi, Discépolo and José Pécora. Parados García Jiménez, José María Contursi and Mario Benard |
A big thank you to Ricardo Stockdale, which kindly provided the picture to illustrate this article!