The Mysterious Maria Grever
Soon after my website went up in early 2010 (wildwomenofsong.com), I started to get emails asking about Maria Grever. Did I have any idea where to get out of print LP’s of Maria singing? Could I find any more photos?
If you don’t know who Maria Grever was (and I certainly didn’t, before I began this project), her most remembered composition is the beautiful music to “What a Diff’rence a Day Made”, which Dinah Washington turned into a classic.
One man wrote to me from the Dominican Republic to claim that his father had been the inspiration of Maria Grever’s most ardent love songs (much to the chagrin of this gentleman’s mother!) A woman wrote that she had been terribly jealous of how much her own father and brothers loved Maria Grever…then grew to love Maria’s music later in life. And I was fascinated to read an email which informed me that in pre-revolutionary Cuba it was common practice to play a Maria Grever song before social/political club meetings.
They played Maria Grever music at the meetings because Maria was proud of her Mexican heritage and celebrated it through her songs. She clearly represented so much to so many people; cultural pride, a romantic time in their lives, and of course, much beautiful and beloved music.
So I was eagerly looking forward to deepening my research about Ms. Grever, as one of the featured chapters in my book, Wild Women of Song (which will be coming out November 1, 2011). There was a lot of conflicting information out there – books, articles, and almost nothing in the way of photographs of this beloved woman. I reached out to Latin Music journalists, bloggers, and even the Mexican Consulate. Although everyone seemed delighted to hear I was writing about Maria Grever, there was very little information to be found that didn’t have a contradiction in the next article I read.
For example: She was born in 1894, but some articles claim this date as 1884, and two books have it as 1885. Many bios have her studying composition in Paris under Claude Debussy and Franz Lenhard when she was a teen, but a few articles, including the fine liner notes off a 1951 RCA tribute LP to Maria Grever (written by Bill Zeitug) swear she was mostly self taught on the piano, wrote almost every song in the same key, (just like Irving Berlin) and only took a few classes with Debussy later in her life.
She was married at 16 – or was it 22?
Her husband, an American oil man, helped her launch a career in New York, hosting concerts at Carnegie Hall, featuring her lovely, slightly thin voice, and encouraging her to record albums. (Although her singing was just above average, her concerts and albums always sold out. People LOVED her). Or – her own success at songwriting, starting with “A Una Ola” when she was 18 years old (selling 3 million units of sheet music) continued when she moved to New York, and she composed for Big Bands, American movies (Esther Williams’ Bathing Beauty, for example) scoring Hispanic-American movies for Paramount in Hollywood, while writing music for light opera, ballets and television theme shows.
And how do we pronounce her name – for some say “Grebveh”, “Greh-vare” ….and others say it as “Gree-ver”.
Recently I invited some friends to help watch and translate a ‘bio-pic’ of Maria Grever, Cuando Me Vaya, produced by and starring Libertad Lamarque, the Argentinian-Mexican actress and singer. Plying my guests with dinner and an assortment of sorbets, we spent an enjoyable evening, but certainly didn’t clear up any details about Maria Grever. In this film, Maria is abandoned by her husband when his business goes sour. On the brink of starvation, her songs, celebrating what she loves and misses about Mexico, are discovered. Long montage of concert halls and ball gowns and arias showing off Lamarque’s soprano voice. This film only served to deepen the confusion about Maria Grever, (they did, however, pronounce Maria’s name as “Gree-ver” throughout) but later, over our sorbets we had a lively discussion about her music.
Listen to “Jurame” sometime (there’s a wonderful version by Andrea Bocelli on youtube) or “Volvere”, “Asi” or the gorgeous “Cuando Vuelva a tu Lado” (which later became “What a Diff’rence a Day Made” when Stanley Adams gave it an English lyric) These songs all have a sort of aching tenderness within the melody that makes the singer soar, and the listener smile wistfully. The delightful “Ti-pi-tin” is still a classic sung worldwide. Caruso, Placido Domingo and Aretha Franklin all carried Maria Grever songs in their standard repertoire.
She generously mentored and promoted many fine singers and poets (Agustin Lara, Nestor Chayres among them). She was devoted to the concept of introducing the boleros and particular sounds of her homeland Mexico to the world. She was unabashedly romantic in her musical tastes. She raised money for the education of the Blind in Latin America, and her altruistic devotion to music education in particular caused schools to be named after her in Spain and in Mexico.
Still, as admirable as are all these qualities, she seems to have inspired a devotion from her fans that is usually reserved for superstars. It’s clear that many people felt she was writing and singing personally for them. And that, for all the mysteries and legends surrounding Maria Grever, seems to be empirically true.
The fitting tribute to this remarkable woman was recorded by an equally immensely talented artist named Olga Guillot. Long out of print and, sadly, never released on cd, “Olga Guillot y las canciones de Maria Grever” is a definitive retrospective of what made Maria Grever the lyricist and composer she was. The images in her poetic lyrics are amazing. In “Asi”, she compares the desperation of seeing her lover again as roses eagerly awaiting the morning’s dew. The Guillot/Grever cd never ever leaves my compact disc case and I play it at least once a day.
Maria Grever (it’s pronounced GREE-VER) was born in Hacienda de los Ollates in what is now Leon, Guanajuato in Mexico. Her father was a native of Seville, Spain, her mother was Mexican. When Maria was very young, her father won the National Lotery (yes, they had the Lotery even back then) and her father then decided he wanted to take his family to Spain so that his family in Spain could meet his parents. She (Maria) was a child protoge, or so her family thought and so the father took his family to Paris where she did take private lessons from Debussy. The father was spending money like crazy and then suddenly died. Maria and her mother (she also had a sister)soon found that the father had spent most of his earning from the lotto. As Benjamin Franklin said, “Fish and vistors stink in three days” and especially when they are penniless. Mom and daughters were soon on their way home to Mexico to her father’s hacienda “Los Ollates” where she grew to adulthood amidst her loving grandfather and grandmother’s care. Leon Grever (you are very mistaken and misunderstood the movie “Cuando Me Vaya”, Miss, Leon did not abandon his family on purpose. The Mexican Revolution prevented him from returning to Mexico. Without any money she went to all the music publishing houses in Tin Pan Alley and everyone said her songs were lovely but NON-COMMERCIAL in the US. Juan Arvizu did record one “A Una Ola” which was her first big hit. Then Mexican tenor Jose Mojica found one of her songs in a music shop (the sheet music). What troubled him was the GREVER part. He recorded it. It was a tango “Jurame” called “Promise Love” in English. This made her famous. She later met Mojica who sang opera for the Chicago Opera and who had made films in Hollywood. After the Revolution of 1910 in Mexico Maria and her husban Leon were reunited. She wrote “Cuando Vuelva a Tu Lado” (her most famous song) which describes her separation from Leon Grever trapped in Mexico, she not knowing whether he was dead or imprisoned. Sadly, the English lyrics for the song say nothing about this. It’s known as “What a Difference a Day Makes” in English and is actually very well-known. She had a Broadway musical “Viva O’Brian” and she was hired by Paramount Pictures in Hollywood to score films. When they wanted to translate Cole Porter’s “Begin the Beguine” into Spanish, Cole flatly stated that he wanted no one but Maria Grever to do the honors. She did return to Mexico, Leon had brought her to America and they resided in New York City. Maria did record records. She was hailed as a heroine upon her return to Mexico and given many honors. She returned to New York and had a massive stroke which paralyzed her. Still she planned to return, but had another stroke and died. She asked that her boy be returned to her place of birth Mexico. The Mexican Congress stated that she should be buried in the Rotonda of the Illustrious Men of Mexico! And her remains reside there. No, there is much mytery, but Maria Joaquin del Portilla Torres (her real name) never wanted it so. I know her nephew Bob Grever in San Antonio, Texas, and met her son, Charles once. If Charlie is still living he should be very old by now. Also, you can talk to Bob Grever (he’s in the phone directory in San Antonio). He will verify what I have written. Her life isn’t a secret. She also wrote an operetta which not long ago was staged in the East.
Hello,
Thanks for your website and the research you have done on Maria Grever.
After doing a little digging I was able to find Maria Grever’s passport applications at ancestry.com. I have posted her 1921 passport photo an some biographical material here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/puzzlemaster/8095879701/in/photostream
It appears that her husband’s name was “Leon” not “Leo”, as it usually given. Maria’s date of birth appears to be August 16, in either 1888 or 1889.