The Forgotten Polish-French Couple at the Heart of the European Tango Craze

tango-tea-in-paris-_illustrated_london_news_in_may_1913.jpg, default, ‘A Tango Tea in Paris’, photo: Illustrated London News, May 1913 / public domain

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‘Tango! Tango! Tango!’ screamed one advertisement in the Illustrated London News in 1913, around the time when the dance – that delirious number, all passion, transgression and smouldering sensuality – was taking Europe by storm. ‘London has already been bitten severely with the craze; it has swept Paris clean off its feet; every other capital is getting the infection.’

The pre-World War I popularity of tango in Europe – first in Paris, then London, and then around the continent (including, of course, in Poland itself) – has long been seen as a significant chapter in the growing international reach and transforming style of the dance, as well as contributing to its various symbolic meanings in culture and society.

There are several stories about the origins of tango in Europe – and the true tale of its arrival on the continent remains unclear. But the activities of one Polish tenor and opera star who lived in Paris, Jan Reszke, and his French wife Marie de Mailly-Nesle, proved instrumental in the initial popularity of tango across the stages, ballrooms and dance halls of the French city, and then across Europe and beyond…

Jan Reszke – from partitioned Poland to Paris

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Packet of 'De Reszke' minors cigarettes by J Millhoff & Co. Ltd., Picadilly, London, 1920-1950, photo: © The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum / CC 4.0

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Born in 1850 in Warsaw, a city which, at the time, was within the borders of Russian-partitioned Poland, Reszke nonetheless had a comfortable upbringing; the son of a state official and singer.

He was first taught singing by his mother and vocal coaches in Warsaw, and sang as a child in the city’s Cathedral. Though he initially pursued a legal career, enrolling at Warsaw University to study law, he soon switched to music, and studied at the Warsaw Conservatory, training as a baritone under the Italian tenor Francesco Ciaffei. After a trip to Venice, he was also tutored by the Italian baritone Antonio Cotogni.

But his debut in 1874 – under the pseudonym Giovanni de Reschi – and subsequent performances in Italy, London and Paris in fact received little attention, with many critics commenting that his voice was more of a tenor quality. Reszke even fainted from exertion more than once when performing at the Théâtre-Italien in Paris. But, after he retrained as a tenor under Giovanni Sbriglia in Paris, Reszke quickly began to gain popularity – particularly following his performance in Giacomo Meyerbeer’s Robert le Diable, in Madrid in 1879. Reszke subsequently performed major tenor roles in French and German (including Faust in Faust, Vasco da Gama in L’Africaine [The Africans] and Raoul in Les Huguenots [The Huguenots]) at venues across western Europe.

Thumbnail — Jan Reszke, 1889, photo: Polona.pl

He became the leading tenor at the Paris Opéra; he also performed to great acclaim in London’s Drury Lane and Royal Opera House, contributing to the revival of opera in London and attracting widespread popularity, including from Queen Victoria. In America, he sang alongside his brother, Édouard de Reszke, an equally successful operatic singer – with their performances dubbed the ‘de Reszke season’ in the press. Some primitive recordings of his voice – the only recordings to still exist today – were also made during performances in the US.

In 1896, Reszke married Marie de Mailly-Nesle, a French countess who had run away from her husband for a relationship with the singer, and who later taught dance at their house at 53 Rue de la Faisanderie in Paris.

He retired from performances in 1904, but subsequently taught singing in France, in Nice and Paris – remaining a well-known figure. In fact, in the early 20th century, he was also the inspiration for a brand of cigarettes – De Reszke cigarettes, advertised as ‘the Aristocrat of Cigarettes’ –produced by a Russian cigarette maker, J Millhoff, who lived in London. Allegedly, Millhoff created a special blend of tobacco that would not damage Reszke’s voice – and in return, Reszke allowed him to sell the cigarettes under his name.

Paris & ‘tangomanie’

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Steps from the tango, 17 November 1913, photo: The Tatler / public domain

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But opera, fame, counts and cigarettes aside, Reszke and his wife also played a pivotal role in the growing popularity of tango in Europe before World War I.

Paris, as Rafael Mandressi and Heloise Finch-Boyer note, eventually became:

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The centre of the first wave of the international spread of tango, and was an important staging-post for the establishment of representations, but also of practices that influenced the public representation of tango for a long time after. One could go even further, and observe the significant and longstanding influence of this first moment of the Parisian history of tango in the sphere of choreography, as well as on the vast resource to be found above all in the tens of thousands of lyrics of the tango-as-song.

In the early 20th century, the sumptuous sounds, moves and culture of tango gradually began to emerge in the French capital – although the exact date this took place is uncertain. Mandressi and Finch-Boyer write that whilst ‘evidence for the presence of tango in Paris is […] scattered until 1911’, due to the roots of the dance, there are some records of South American singers and musicians recording tango music in Paris as early as 1907, though this was fairly insignificant at the time. The following year, as the pair also note, the now renowned tango El Choclo by Angel Villoldo was recorded, whilst in 1909, the tango was beginning to be mentioned in dance journals, and reached Parisian salons.

But around 1911, this brief dabbling in tango began to transform into a full-on frenzy. And one crucial moment for the growing popularity of tango took place at the Reszke residence, at 53 Rue de la Faisanderie. On one night in 1911, a group of guests gathered there for a social event – and, as the evening wore on, began to improvise dancing to different national songs. After Argentina was suggested, the Argentine writer Ricardo Güiraldes – one of Reszke’s friends – embraced a nearby woman and began to dance a few steps of the tango, to the guests’ delight and fascination. The story of the events then spread across Paris, and ‘tangomania’ was born.

That year, Güiraldes also penned a poem called Tango:

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Creator of silhouettes that glide by silently
as if hypnotized by a blood-filled dream,
hats tilted over sardonic sneers.
The all-absorbing love of a tyrant,
jealously guarding his dominion
over women who have surrendered submissively,
like obedient beasts...
Sad, severe tango...
Dance of love and death...

Author

Trans. Mike Gonzalez, Marianella Yanes

But far from just one solitary soirée, Reszke and his wife also played a far larger role in the popularity of tango at the time.

As Mandressi and Finch-Boyer point out, Mailly-Nesle invited the Uruguayan tango musician Enrique Saborido to teach tango in Paris in 1911, and he also attended events she held in the city. Around the same time, the actress (and later Countess) Lilie Bouton de Fernandez-Azabal recalls meeting the cabaret dancer Maurice Mouvet (also known as Monsieur Maurice) at the Reszke residence, when ‘the Argentine tango was the rage’:

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[I] took a few lessons from [Mouvet]. He was then having a great success, dancing the Apache dance at the Café de Paris with a young girl called Léonie […] but their earnings were pitifully small. So they were overjoyed when I had the novel idea of engaging them to come to afternoon teas in my salon to tach the Tango to the smartest members of the younger set.

Author

From ‘The Countess of Iowa’

Mouvet also wrote a dancing guidebook, The Tango and Other Dances, in 1914, which offers a useful glimpse at the changing style of the dance in Paris in the early 20th century. Noting how the tango as danced in Parisian ballrooms and stages was a marked contrast from the more improvisational Argentine original, Mouvet lists eight ‘basic [...] figures’ for would-be tango dancers, in order to replicate the Argentine style:

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No dance offers a wider scope to the dancer than the Tango; there are at least twenty authentic figures which may properly find a place in the dance although there are but eight generally used in its native land. These eight figures, which I shall describe in detail, give all the opportunity for variety which the most energetic dancer might demand, and it is just as well to confine one’s attention to them instead of trying to master the almost endless variety of steps which have been grafted into the dance.

Mouvet also stresses the dance should not be performed fast, as was the fashion in ballrooms of the period. But crucial here is how his book provides a snapshot of the changing attitudes towards tango (and other dances) in the early 20th century. And, as he describes the stylistic variations of dances, Mouvet also quotes Reszke:

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“The new dances are the most healthful form of indoor exercise that I know,” said Jean de Reszke, who has been one of the best friends that I have ever made, and is an enthusiast about them.

Whilst this quote suggests Reszke’s significant influence on early 20th century European dance culture, it also epitomises the range of views towards modern dances. The tango was just one of several modern styles which were gaining popularity at the time – and whilst many were seen as beneficial for health also, on occasion, they could be criticised for promiscuity, too:

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When it was first introduced into this country the Tango aroused a storm of protest. It was said that it was the most suggestive and immoral dance ever presented in public, and in the way it was danced it probably was […] Properly danced, however, the Tango is no more suggestive nor immoral from any viewpoint than the most dainty old fashioned waltz.

Though the tango was initially billed as an exotic and sensual dance, the dance incited criticism as much as its popularity increased in the early 20th century. The choreography of the tango brought partners into close contact – which was deemed vulgar – whilst the style was also ‘laden with gender confusion’ and social transgression, provoking questions about its decency and social impropriety. To a certain extent, as Jo Baim notes, tango also collided with the melodramatic ‘Apache dance’, which was associated with Parisian street culture (incidentally, this style also had a Polish counterpart, called ‘apasz’) – although the reception of tango in France also focused on the perceived foreignness of Argentine heritage, including rural gaucho culture and costuming, as well as evoking nostalgia, immigration and loneliness.

As Katherine Elaine Bliss writes, as tango grew in popularity among polite society, attempts were therefore made to ‘civilise’ the style to evade accusations of impropriety, with ‘the exotic, wild, and original choreography […] transformed by French pedagogues into a stylistic and almost balletic dance.’

The Reszkes were, therefore, not only instrumental in disseminating the tango across France, but can also be seen to exemplify conflicting attitudes towards the dance, and its changing style, during the 20th century.

Mandressi and Finch-Boyer write that, by 1913, Parisian papers were proclaiming a national ‘tangomanie’ (‘tangomania’), with the growth of tango-teas – some which were attended by the Reszkes, according to reports in the press – as well as tango dinner-dances, tango lessons, and all manner of tango fare.

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The word was used for describing all sorts of products, objects or events: tango cocktail (a mixture of beer and grenadine), tango colour (ranging from pale yellow to saffron by way of orange), tango cake which was served in tea dances, elements of fashionable clothing, a “tangometer”, the “tango train” which linked Paris to Deauville in the summer, and so on.

Yet even as the dance rippled its way into popular culture, the Reszkes still had an instrumental role in promoting tango technique among Parisian society. In early 1913, the New York Times even wrote a short article on a dance school partly organised by Reszke’s wife, under the headline ‘Tango captivates Paris’:

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The Tango craze has reached such a pitch here that a group of society leaders, including Princess Murat, Mme. Jean de Reszke, and a royal Princess, who keeps incognito for the present, has arranged to place a sumptuous mansion in the Champs Elysees at the disposition of a young and fashionable teacher of the Tango for him to give a course of lessons to the smart set during the season.

Tango & ‘The Sunshine Girl’

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George Grossmith Jr., photo: Wikimedia Commons

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But tango reached further across Europe than just Paris – and the Reszkes were also leading figures in its growing globalisation, especially through their dance lessons.

Around the time tango was taking off in Paris, several notable performers visited the Reszkes’ house at 53 Rue de la Faisanderie for dance lessons. One was the gangly British actor, performer, and cabaret connoisseur George Grossmith Jr, who visited Paris in 1911. He later recalled that he:

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[h]ad [his] first lesson in the Tango from Mme. Jean de Reszke at her house […] she was then an old lady, but danced like a girl of eighteen.

According to a 1912 edition of the magazine The Sketch, Grossmith subsequently became ‘proficient in the Tango’ – and returned to London with the dance. And, whilst Victor Silvester notes that tango was already known to a certain extent in England by that time, it was Grossmith who ‘gave the first big fillip to the Tango’ in 1912, in a performance of the dance with Phillis Dare at the Gaiety Theatre in The Sunshine Girl.

The play itself was ‘typically and characteristically English’, as Kerstin Lange describes – with even the introduction to the tango number, called The Argentine, ‘start[ing] with a pure piece of contemporary English idiom – “Wouldn’t it be jolly if we took a little holiday away from here?”’

But, as Carlos G. Groppa writes, the pair:

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[a]ppeared on stage dressed like Spaniards: he, with Andalusian hat, villainous thin mustache and chin musketeer beard; she, covered with a tremendous Manila shawl.

The performance went down a storm, with the release of the sheet music for the song also including a guide to dancing tango, ‘as demonstrated by Mr George Grossmith’.

The following year, Grossmith also recorded tango hits for HMV, including the song Tommy, Won’t You Teach Me How to Tango?, and featured in magazines, demonstrating tango dance moves.

The year 1913 became a crucial moment for the spread of tango across the continent. It was, as HG Wells put it, ‘the year of the tango’.

Rose Staveley-Wadham notes that, in Britain, tango-teas became all the rage around 1913, whilst tango records began to be much sought-after. Tango also became a widespread cultural symbol – an illustrator in Punch depicted a suffragette dancing the tango with a policeman; The Sketch showcased tango-inspired exercises; whilst an extravagant ‘super-tango tea’, held at the cabaret club Murray’s, was even reported on in The New York Times. Authors, including Robert Cunninghame Graham and John Rodker, penned stories and poems about tango.

Tango became a hit in fashion, too. The Bystander noted the ‘fantastic raffishness […] Maenadic boldness, unexpected angles and simple grace’ of tango-themed millinery. Alessandra Vaccari also details the popularity of slit skirts and dresses in the period, to ‘facilitat[e] movements in the modern dances’.

But the style of the dance was changing too. In 1913, The Illustrated London News suggested a new, more sanitised and rather socially-distanced version of the dance could be performed in ballrooms. Whilst this particular suggestion wasn’t taken up, a ballroom style (distinct from the original Argentine tango) was eventually standardised in 1922.

But the influence of the Reszkes wasn’t forgotten either. In 1914, the Sheffield Evening Telegraph reported a new dance craze, the Italian ‘furlana’, which was had been growing in popularity after it had been introduced in a few salons – including Mailly-Nesle’s.

Tango goes global

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Poster for the show Tango Miłości by Julian Krzewiński & Leon Idzikowski, photo: Polona National Library

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In addition to its success in France and Britain, the tango also achieved popularity in other countries across the world.

As Mark Knowles writes, in Germany, tango became a prominent part of culture – even after the Kaiser introduced a ban on uniformed officials performing the dance; in Russia, it was admired by the Tsar and danced throughout the population.

Tango-fever swept America, too. The Sunshine Girl was also performed there in 1913, with a revised script and score, and again helped bring tango to prominence; the dance made it into fiction – including short stories and newspaper reports by Djuna Barnes; and tango was later – and most famously – performed by Rudolph Valentino in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalpyse in 1926. But the dance also attracted condemnation, as it was banned in Boston and investigated in Chicago.

The tango also gained popularity in Shanghai, where tango teas and lessons were held; as well as in Finland – where a distinct tango style evolved.

Polish tango

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Photo promoting the event "100 years of tango in Poland", photo: press materials

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But that’s not to mention the extraordinary popularity of tango in Poland itself. Whilst tango music became a favoured style among many Polish musicians in the Interwar period, the dance was in fact first introduced in the country at the same time as it became fashionable in Western Europe.

Stories of the new European craze reached Poland through gramophone records and press reports – piquing the interest of dancer and choreographer Edward Józef Kuryłło, who worked with the Nowości Theatre. A piece of sheet music from 1913 also shows Kuryłło in a tango hold with the Polish film star Pola Negri.

But it was also in 1913 that the tango was first performed in public in Poland, as part of the operetta Targ na Dziewczęta (The Market for Girls), by the Hungarian composer Victor Jacobi – and composed by Kuryłło. The day before the premiere, Kurier Poranny (Morning Courier) reported that the operetta marked the moment when tango would begin to be taught in Warsaw – adding ‘it comes to us from Paris [and] like all fashions […], late.’

The tango in Targ na Dziewczęta was performed by Józef Redo and Lucyna Messal. And in fact, the latter had also studied music under Reszke – whose influence on the growth of tango Europe-wide was also not neglected by the Polish press. Describing the first performance of tango in Poland, a 1913 edition of Tygodnik Illustrowany (Illustrated Weekly) wrote:

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[The tango] debut was made easier by Jan Reszke […] The Argentinians delighted in their national dance – Reszke demanded they perform and…here, in the evening, for the first time in Europe, the unknown rhythms of a wizard from the Southern Hemisphere were heard.

Author

Trans. JB

From 1913, tango steadily became part of mainstream musical culture in Poland, inspired by European tango successes. Indeed, one of first tangos performed in Poland post-WWI was a Polish version of a French tango, Le Dernier Tango, with a melody lifted straight from that Argentine classic, El Choclo. Polish dance guides from the era emphasised how the tango had been simplified since its arrival in Europe, with easy, walking steps and a smooth style – the ballroom tango – which could be mastered before an evening dance.

At the time, Poland was also becoming a prominent European centre of dance, home to several nationally and internationally prominent choreographers and dancers – including Tacjanna Wysocka, the Halama sisters, Pola Nireńska, and Roman Jasiński. Warsaw also hosted dance competitions, including the 1933 International Artistic Dance Competition, which had Rudolf von Laban on the competition jury.

But the tango also had a significant musical impact on Polish culture. Although some songs were still steeped in stereotypical Argentine motifs, many became more melancholic and poignant, with softer and slower melodies. The stock bandoneon was replaced by violins, and several songs also bore musical echoes of klezmer.

Several interwar Polish tango hits are still known – and still cherished – today. Additionally, a wealth of lesser-known tango songs were also produced in the 1920s and 1930s, including a subgenre of apasz tangos, some of which were performed by Messal, as well as advertisement tangos, written to promote the latest products including cigarettes, coffee and the swanky Fiat 508 car. Some popular Polish tangos were also translated into Yiddish and Hebrew, gaining popularity in Palestine among Jewish emigrants. Tango also influenced poetry – including by Bolesław Leśmian – and sculpture, including by August Zamoyski.

Tango had a significant impact across European culture in the early 1900s, and the legacy of that globalisation is still going strong today. In her summary of the vast influence of the dance, Erin Manning deems ‘the twentieth century […] from one end to another, the century of tango’ – but at the very heart of that tango-crazed century, and with an instrumental role on the spread of tango across the world, were the Reszkes.

Written by Juliette Bretan, Apr 2021

_{^{Sources: Louise Wallenberg and Andrea Kollnitz, eds., Fashion and Modernism (London: Bloomsbury, 2019); Katherine Elaine Bliss and William E. French, eds., Gender, Sexuality, and Power in Latin America Since Independence (Lanham: Roman and Littlefield, 2007); W. S. B. Mathews, Music (Chicago, 1891-2); Kerstin Lange, Popular Musical Theatre in London and Berlin, 1890 to 1939 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014); Thomas S. Hischak, The Mikado to Matilda (Lanham: Roman and Littlefield, 2020); Carlos G. Groppa, The Tango in the United States (Jefferson: McFarland & Company, 2004); https://www.nytimes.com/1913/02/16/archives/tango-captivates-paris-group-of-society-women-hire-house-where.html; https://archive.org/stream/jeandereszkeandt000641mbp/jeandereszkeandt000641mbp_djvu.txt; https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000276/19140321/130/0003; https://blog.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/2019/10/08/the-tango-craze-of-1913/; http://shanghaisojourns.net/shanghais-dancing-world/2020/7/15/introducing-the-tango-to-shanghai-1913-1914; https://www.etaniec.org/teksty/tango-jest-metysem/transkrypcja}}

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interwar dance

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