Moisés Simons Rodríguez

Composer, pianist and orchestra conductor. Author of El manisero, one of the worldwide successes of Cuban popular music.

Moisés Simons (whose first surname was actually Simón) was born in 1888 in La Habana. At only five years of age he began studying music with his father, piano professor Leandro Simón Guergué, teacher, among others, of Eliseo Grenet. He also received lessons from José Mauri, Ignacio Tellería and Fernando Pellicer.

As a child he worked as organist of the church in the Jesús María neighborhood and, later, was choirmaster at Nuestra Señora del Pilar.

At fifteen years old he directed the orchestra of the children's company managed by actor Alberto "Chicharito" Garrido, which provided entertainment for variety shows in Havana theaters. Later he directed the musical group of the Tivolí amusement park, in Palatino, and joined the Spanish zarzuela company of the Teatro Irijoa (later named Martí).

From 1909 he began writing articles for the newspaper La Lucha. Earlier he had begun composing music, with works of a religious character.

In 1912 he created his first theatrical piece, the operetta Deuda de amor (with libretto by Fermín Samper), which was premiered in 1913 by the company of Mexican vedette Esperanza Iris at the Havana theater Albisu. He would later present other operettas, revues and zarzuelas at the Martí and Payret theaters.

In the early 1920s, Simons directed the orchestra of the Plaza hotel, with which he made some acoustic recordings.
He was technical director of the Sociedad de Conciertos Típicos Cubanos, and the first orchestra conductor to incorporate the danzón rhythm into jazz band ensembles.

In 1928 he composed the pregón son El manisero, which he dedicated to singer and actress Rita Montaner. According to Eduardo Robreño, Simons was, one night, in a café located at the Havana corner of San José and Amistad streets, when "inspiration struck him," probably motivated by the passage of a "little Chinese" vendor selling roasted peanuts, one of many who populated La Habana in those years. On a napkin he wrote a sketch of what would become his most popular work, and one of the most internationally known Cuban pieces. The song El manisero was originally included in a revue premiered at the Molino Rojo theater.

Moisés Simons wrote scores incessantly for revues and other musical spectacles presented by Havana theaters in the late 1920s, since broadcasting had not yet achieved the preeminence it would later have in the transmission of popular music.

Regarding his production of those years, Cristóbal Díaz Ayala observes—in his Discografía de la música cubana—that, since revue music has to be varied, Simons became accustomed to composing and handling different genres of Cuban music, from "Afro" motifs such as Lamento negroide to songs like Serenata cubana.

Other compositions of his from that decade won popular favor. Thus, the song Palmira left words and expressions of frequent popular use such as "tener billí-billó," with which a woman of incomparable sensuality is described.

In 1929, invited by the Edward B. Marks publishing house, Simons traveled to New York. In that city, according to his own account, El manisero was "a musical epidemic" and they called him "Mr. Peanut," for, with lyrics by Marion Sunshine, in the United States the piece had been recorded as The peanut vendor. Don Aspiazu's orchestra, with Antonio Machín as performer, had popularized it in the country.

In 1928, the phonograph recording of Rita Montaner for the Columbia firm had contributed decisively to the popularity of this pregón beyond national geography, especially in Latin American countries.

Simons left for Spain in late 1930, and at the Madrid theater Calderón he premiered, the following year, the lyric comedy La niña Mersé, with libretto by Antonio Asenjo and Ángel Torres del Álamo.

Later he moved to Paris, where he verified that El manisero had also become a success. After Rita Montaner's performance at the Palace theater, in 1929, many Latin American performers had included the pregón in their repertoires. El Manisero reached the cinema, sung for the first time in the film The cuban love song. It was recorded, among many others, by Italian tenor Tito Schipa in 1933.

Based in the French capital, Simons achieved a success that placed him among the favorite authors of popular music in Europe with the operetta Toi c'est moi—whose libretto was by Henri Duvernois—premiered in 1934 at the Teatro de los Bufos Parisienses, where it remained in production for a year, with Simone Simon in the leading role.

From then on, Simons's songs were incorporated into the repertoires of artists of the caliber of Georges Thill, Raquel Meller, Jean Sablon, Mistinguette and Tino Rossi, among other famous performers. Alejo Carpentier dedicated several chronicles to him, including "El piano Luis XV de Josephine Baker," in which he narrated the artistic relationship of the famous vedette with the Cuban composer.

In 1936 Simons premiered at the Paris theater the operetta Le chant des Tropiques, with libretto by Chamfleury, to which belonged numbers such as Coro del esclavo and Cubanacán, which was recorded and broadcast in many countries, with other numbers of his authorship, by the orchestra Lecuona Cuban Boys, of Armando Oréfiche.

In 1938 he made four recordings in Paris, performing at the piano works of his own with Antonio Machín's orchestra: Priquitín pin pón, Con picante y sin picante, A gozar and Cachumbambé.

While preparing the music for a new operetta, World War II broke out. After the German invasion of France, Simons returned to Cuba, in 1942. The Nazis seized his authorship rights, and he received threats because of the alleged Hebrew origin of his surname.

He arrived in Cuba sick and in difficult economic circumstances, but ready to undertake new paths. He presented at the Teatro América a show with Margot Alvariño, known then as "the queen of the pregón."

On February 22, 1943, the National Tourism Corporation organized a grand tribute at the Auditorium to bestow Medals of Honor on Moisés Simons, Eliseo Grenet and Ernesto Lecuona, for having popularized their musical creations abroad, of profound Cuban character, and for having thereby contributed to enhancing the artistic prestige of the country and promoting tourism.

But the few job offers Simons received in La Habana, and the difficult economic situation prevailing on the Island, decided him to return to Europe. Unable to return to Paris, occupied by Nazi troops, his new destination would be Spain.

In Madrid he was contracted to compose music for the film Bambú, starring Imperio Argentina and directed by José Luis Sáenz de Heredia. For Spanish vedette Celia Gámez he wrote Hoy como ayer. Later he premiered successful Spanish language versions of Toi c'est moi in the Spanish capital and in Barcelona.

Upon his death in Madrid, in 1945, he was fifty-six years old and left to Cuban music about forty operettas and more than one hundred scores of different genres. In the Havana magazine Carteles of July 8, 1945, Alejo Carpentier opined that with Moisés Simons Cuba lost one of its best authors of light music, although he left many pages that would figure, forever, in the anthological compilations of popular music.

Moisés Simons scored in France the films Toi c'est moi (1936, dir. René Guissart) and Lumières de Paris (1937, dir. Richard Portier).

His musical works appeared in the American feature films The cuban love song (1931, dir. W.S. Van Dyke), I like your nerve (1931, dir. William C. McGann), Bosko's knight-mare (1933, dir. Hugh Harman), The big idea (1934, dir. William Beaudine), Twenty million sweethearts (1934, dir. Ray Enright), Here comes the band (1935, dir. Paul Sloane), and Only angels have wings (1939, dir. Howard Hawks).

In Cuban cinematography his music is heard in Sucedió en La Habana (1938) and El romance del Palmar (1938), by Ramón Peón García.

Among other scenic works of his authorship were El pescador de coral (libretto: Jacinto Capella), El diamante verde (libretto: Pepe Moncayo), La cueva de los mochuelos (libretto: Gómez Navarro) La consigna (libretto: Gonzalo G. de Mello) and La feminista (libretto: Jesús J. López).

Moisés Simons left to the Cuban musical repertoire compositions of pronounced popular character, some of them true scenes of urban life of the time: Chivo que rompe tambó, La trompetilla, Patica y mondonguito, Con picante y sin picante, ¿Qué es el danzón?, Vacúnala, Rumba guajira and Palmira, many popularized by Rita Montaner. One of his most widely disseminated compositions is the "melodic song" Marta.

Upon his death in Madrid, he was fifty-six years old and left to Cuban music about forty operettas and more than one hundred scores of different genres. In the edition of the Havana magazine Carteles of July 8, 1945, Alejo Carpentier opined: With Moisés Simons our country loses one of its best authors of light music. But he leaves us, to perpetuate his memory, many pages that will figure, forever, in the anthological compilations of Cuban popular music.

Source: EnCaribe.org