Gerardo Matos Rodríguez (1897–1948)

Born in Montevideo in 1897, Gerardo Matos Rodríguez was an architecture student when, around 1916, he wrote a little march for his friends’ carnival troupe, a “comparsa”. The bandleader Roberto Firpo arranged it as a tango and played it in 1917 in a Montevideo café: it was La Cumparsita.

The piece became the most played tango in the world. Matos Rodríguez, who had sold the rights early on, fought long lawsuits to recover them. He wrote other tangos and led his own orchestra in Uruguay, Argentina and Europe.

He died in Montevideo in 1948. In Uruguay, La Cumparsita is regarded as a popular and cultural anthem of the country.