The Poet
Carlos César Lenzi was a Uruguayan playwright, a rich man linked to the upper classes with a bohemian personality and universally referred to as a "gentleman". Among the many Uruguayan figures of the entertainment industry, he came to stand head and shoulders above the majority due in part to this particular contribution which, although definitely not the best tango, is nonetheless one of the most popular.
Carlos César Lenzi
November 3, 1895 - June 10, 1963
Lenzi's first opus was Flechas y Tizonas [Arrows and Swords]. In the same year, 1918, with his friend Carlos del Vallejo, he produced a theartical work in a theater in his native Montevideo which would be the predecessor of more serious work.
The Blanca Podestá Theartrical Company performed his first serious work called "El Domador" in Buenos Aires in the same year, 1918. From that point he continued to write original or translated works to a total of over sixty titles which were performed in the best theaters on both sides of the Plata. Among them, one must undoubtedly list Viaje al Paraíso, Hacéte el muerto Julián, Nadie escapa a su destino, El Escándalo del día, El Palco N° 9, Yo, Tú y El, Argentina-Brasil, La Noche Nupcial, Arriba El Telón and La Gran Milonga, the majority of which were written with Angel Curotto as partner.
For the tango he wrote one of the most successful lyrics in its history: A Media Luz, which with the music of Edgardo Donato was premiered in Su Majestad La Revista at the Cataluña Theater in Montevideo in 1925 and from there it spread like an oil slick throughout the world; the refrain (Y todo a media luz, que es un brujo el amor, etc.) sung, hummed, whistled or played by people of all ages, from childhood to old age.
In Paris he met his close friend Carlos Gardel (a tireless traveler who visited the city as often as possible) and, as history turned out, shared with him as no one else his joys, triumphs and disappointments. In the early days of 1932 Gardel invited Lenzi to go and spend the Carnival with him in Nice; Lenzi accepting the invitation and traveled with Gardel and his manager, Luis Pierotti to the French Riviera.
Edgardo Donato
Composer of A Media Luz
"Before leaving Paris, Gardel had invited me to spend a few days with him on the French Riviera. Therefore at the end of January, we left for there by car accompanied by Pierotti. It was a small sports car - almost a toy - and I remember when we arrived Carlos made fun of us, "So you came all the way in this little beetle? But you are crazy! Do you know what you look like sitting in this thing?" (Trivial anecdote which appeared in the ¡Aquí Está! magazine" of July 18, 1940, Issue no. 1365).
Of Lenzi's songs the immortal Gardel recorded the aforesaid A Media Luz, and Noches de Montmartre, music by Manuel Pizarro and accompanied on the violin by Mirim Ibáñez and on the piano by Juan Cruz Mateo. Carlitos also recorded the tango ¡Araca, París!, with music by Ramón Collazo, and Por tus ojos negros, a rumba for the film Espérame, with the collaboration of Alfredo Le Pera and Don Aspiazú.
Gardel's favorite of Lenzi's tangos was Adiós, Arrabal for which he felt a special sympathy and which he held back until the right film came along for including it.
With Donato, Baüer, Viapiana, González and several other composers, Lenzi published other tangos, such as Yo te amo, Mimí se fue, En voz baja, Si yo no supe querer, and in 1923, while editing the Uruguayan magazine Tabaré, he published Poemas a book of verse.
Lenzi was born in Montevideo on November 3, 1895 and died in Buenos Aires on June 10, 1963.