Terig Tucci (June 23, 1897 – February 28, 1973) was an Argentine composer, orchestrator, conductor, violinist, pianist, and mandolinist. He was a leading advocate of music for the

tango Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries from a combination of Arge ...

in the United States who collaborated with the singer

Carlos Gardel Carlos Gardel (born Charles Romuald Gardès; 11 December 1890 – 24 June 1935) was a French-born Argentine singer, songwriter, composer and actor, and the most prominent figure in the history of tango. He was one of the most influential inter ...

Biography

Tucci was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1897. His first composition, "Cariños de madre" was performed for a

zarzuela () is a Spanish lyric-dramatic genre that alternates between spoken and sung scenes, the latter incorporating operatic and popular songs, as well as dance. The etymology of the name is uncertain, but some propose it may derive from the name o ...

at the Avenida Theatre in 1917. Following a career as a violinist in local cinema orchestras, he left for New York City in 1923. From 1930 to 1941 he performed for

NBC Radio The National Broadcasting Company's NBC Radio Network (also known as the NBC Red Network from 1927 to 1942) was an American commercial radio network which was in continuous operation from 1926 through 1999. Along with the NBC Blue Network, it wa ...

as a member of the NBC Orchestra under the direction of Hugo Mariani.''Hispanic New York: A Sourcebook''
Remeseira, Claudio Ivan. Editor. Columbia University Press, 2010, pp. 457-458 "Carlos Gardel in New York" The

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic ...

recording label named Tucci as its executive producer of their lucrative Latin American music unit in 1932. In 1934 he collaborated as an orchestrator with his fellow countryman

as part of the

vocalist's contract with

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

in their

Astoria, Queens Astoria is a neighborhood in the western portion of the New York City Boroughs of New York City, borough of Queens. Astoria is bounded by the East River and is adjacent to four other Queens neighborhoods: Long Island City, Queens, Long Island C ...

studios. Tucci also served as both a close friend to Gardel as well as his musical scribe during the early 1930s. While remaining at the helm of RCA Victor's Latin unit, Tucci was appointed to the post of Musical Director for the new Latin American Network at

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

Radio in 1941. In this post he also served as the lead

music arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestratio ...

for CBS' Pan American Symphony Orchestra from 1940 to 1949 where he collaborated with the accordionist John Serry Sr. and the conductor Alfredo Antonini on the radio program ''Viva America''. During this tenure at CBS in New York City, he also collaborated with singers Juan Arvizu,

Nestor Mesta Chayres Néstor Mesta Cháyres (aka Nestor Chaires, Ciudad Lerdo, February 26, 1908 - Mexico City, June 29, 1971) was an acclaimed tenor in Mexico and a noted interpreter of Spanish songs, boleros and Mexican romantic music on the international conce ...

and Elsa Miranda. In addition, while orchestrating music for CBS's Cadena de Las Americas Orchestra, he collaborated with the actress Eusebia Cosme from 1943 until 1946. He also performed for

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

from 1941 to 1947, and subsequently for the

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is an international broadcasting network funded by the federal government of the United States that by law has editorial independence from the government. It is the largest and oldest of the American internation ...

network, from 1951 until 1959. Later in life, Tucci continued to compose and arrange music which was enjoyed by audiences even in South America. In 1967 he was commissioned by the Asociacion Venezolana de Artistas de le Escena to compose a work for the Caracas Festival of Music in celebration of the fourth centenary of the founding of the city of

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...

. The work featured a tenor accompanied by women's voices and orchestra."The Many Words of Music''
Broadcaste Media Inc. (BMI) 1967 Tucci led his tango orchestra in numerous RCA recordings, including "My Buenos Aires" in 1958. He retired from RCA Victor in 1964. In 1969, Tucci wrote a reflection on Gardel's last days, ''Gardel en Nueva York''. He lived out his own final years in his

Forest Hills, Queens Forest Hills is a neighborhood in the central portion of the borough of Queens in New York City. It is adjacent to Corona to the north, Rego Park and Glendale to the west, Forest Park to the south, Kew Gardens to the southeast and Flushing ...

home.

Death

Tucci died during a visit to Buenos Aires in 1973 and was buried on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

References

External links

*
''Record albums - Terig Tucci y su Orquesta de la Columbia Broadcasting System'' - Performances by Terig Tucci on archive.org
Argentine composers Argentine male pianists Argentine people of Italian descent American people of Argentine descent Musicians from Buenos Aires 1897 births 1973 deaths 20th-century Argentine composers 20th-century Argentine pianists 20th-century Argentine violinists {{Argentina-composer-stub