Ada Falcón: the star who gave up fame and fortune to retreat in a convent.
Francisco Canarosaw her and froze. Those who knew him say that he never felt anything so deep for a woman. Not even for his wife. Those eyes not only seduced: hipnotizaban.Ada Falcóneraaware of its beautyand her talent as an actress and singer. It was, just, Canaro the one who dedicated that“I do not know that I have your eyes” in honor of its charms. Enrique Santos Discépolo said about her: “She is so beautiful that it hurts to look at her”.
Had it all: fame, prestige, and an incalculable fortune, unusual for a star of the time. But nevertheless, in love he was suffering. Fell in love with the poet, but it could never be confirmed as official love, the one that is born not to be hidden. Falcón and Canaro formed one of the most intense couples in the Argentine show. Discreet, according to the time, they kept that bond of lovers with elegance. A gallantry that, to her, it was transformed into pain and torture. He never left his family. That second plane ended up driving Ada crazy., who left everything to never return. With his escape he built an enigmatic story.
The singer and the poet, a novel with no happy ending crossed by silences, ostracism and mysteries. A fairy tale that ended badly. Falcón reached the top that everyone longs for, but, determined, he got off early trying, in voluntary ostracism, experiencing oblivion that never got. His story is worthy of a melancholic tango, like the ones she played. As fatal as real.
A star Is Born
Aída Elsa Ada Falcone was born, in Buenos Aires, the 17 August 1905. The exact place of his birth was the Estancia Los Paraísos, located in Ituzaingó. That western area, in those times, it was rural, depopulated and considered very far from the city. To the small, Buenos Aires lights aroused fantasies. Mysterious illusions. His father was a wealthy rancher. His two sisters, Amanda and Adhelma, they also wanted to enter the world of singing, but they did not get the remarkable impact of Ada. It was even said that one of them wanted to impersonate the great diva in order to collect some money. Legends. The tragedy marked them all from a very young age: before Ada's birth, his father passed away when he was, for business, in Paris.
Beyond the pains, Little Ada had a happy childhood since Cornelia, his mother, stimulated her in her artistic vocation. To the 4 years debuted as Joyita Argentina in the Association San Vicente de Paul. To the 14, participated inThe Feast of the caranchos, debuting early in the film world. In those times, he had already performed tunes at the Apolo Theater. His was to be in front of the public. Before a decided vocation, his mother, Wisely, He looked for a name that had more media impact and empathy with the print letters of the newspapers. Thus was born the Ada Falcón with whom he consecrated. The small, due to his artistic commitments, he had to complete his schooling extracurricularly and with teachers who taught him freely at home. His artistic career was very brief, as short as transcendent.
The 15 July 1925 recorded his first record material. Osvaldo Fresedo was in charge of the orchestra that accompanied her. Ada entered the world of music through the front door. The seal was RCA Víctor, one of the most important companies of the moment. Ada was one of those who made it possible for women to enter a world of men. Although figures such as Azucena Maizani and Rosita Quiroga also fought battles. Ada is said to have been the third woman to record an album in our country.
Cinema, quickly, gave him a place, but not as stellar as the one he got in the music world. Filmed little, only three films told it in their casts: to the mentionedThe Feast of the Caranchosthey followedYour cradle was a conventilloin 1925 Y, in 1934,Radio idol. The incipient theater of magazines and the varieté counted her as one of the figures that most attracted the public towards the box office.
1929 it wasn't one more year. His cycle with the prestigious pianist Enrique Delfino has already concluded, during that season he began working with one of the most renowned musicians of the moment: Francisco Canaro, with whom he wrote glorious pages of popular music and wove a private story that plunged her into a pain that never healed.
I do not know that I have your eyes
The 24 July 1929, Falcon recorded “La morocha” with the Francisco Canaro orchestra. The barrage of requests for titles to be added soon arrived: the duo had become fashionable. further, Ada was also very summoned to introduce herself, Live, on the radio, the mass media par excellence in a world without television. Splendid, stentorian, Belgrano and El Mundo were some of the stations that hired her regularly. His cachet was thickening rapidly. That Ada of Spanish nightmares was becoming the great national star. People say that, at its peak, was the figure that billed the most, surpassing the number of male stars, quite a rarity for a world in which women were one step behind men. He was a mezzo-soprano and that gave his interpretation a very special identity. The engraving seals disputed it. After Victor came the millionaire contract with Odeon.
And “The Santa Lucia pulpera” it was one of those battlehorses that the public always asked him, everything would be little before the event of “I don't know what your eyes have done to me”, a theme not born for massiveness that, in her mouth, rang and well. There was a feeling behind the deep interpretation. That waltz, that Canaro composed for her, premiered in the filmRadio idol, the one who shared a poster with Tita Merello and Ignacio Corsini.
The bond between Ada and Canaro was quickly born. They saw each other, they liked and verified that, besides love, there was a lot of skin. The musicians were witnesses of looks and phrases. Although everything was expressed with remarkable discretion. It was the open secret. And everyone respected him, including the celebrity magazines that used to protect their stars. Ada was the great star of thestar systemlocal. But nevertheless, his life was torn between excessive love, carnal, of primary impulses, and the sadness of not feeling reciprocated. The “Honey”, the “other”: that was, despite himself.
Ada lived in a mansion today called Palermo Chico. Pioneer in everything, she was one of the first women to drive. He had a fleet of very expensive cars with which he used to travel the Buenos Aires night. And he even let himself be carried away by the adventure of leaving for Libertador in search of the north of Buenos Aires. Dressed under the strict mandate of European fashion. His wardrobe was exclusive. A staff of domestic staff took care of everything at home. It was said that she never answered the phone and was only available to Canaro. It was kind of scary, although not as much as his colleague Tita Merello. Ada was a diva. The public knew nothing of his personal life until, despite the discretion of the media, the news of the forbidden romance began to circulate strongly.
A thousand and one stories were built on it. His silence made the myth grow. Canaro's wife was said to, of French nationality, I had accepted the divorce, but the musician refused for not wanting to distribute his assets. The legend about the love affairs between Canaro and Adhelma, one of Ada's sisters, ran like wildfire. As usually happens before such figures, the mythology, with an air of Greek tragedy, was adding seasonings and chapters. The creepiest tells of a surprise encounter. It was vox populi, although nothing guarantees its veracity, that Canaro's wife would have surprised Ada sitting on her husband's skirt. Before such a photograph, the musician's wife would have taken a weapon from his wallet to end that extramarital affair that threatened the peace of his family. The truth is that Canaro and Ada could never be formalized, despite her requests. The singer was really in love with him. Sexual encounters were passionate. Understanding, Between both, was unique. And the successful and fluid work bond. They never argued. But nevertheless, he did not dare leave everything to live with Ada love in freedom.
Reasons that reason does not understand
Ada's life had turned into real torture. Not fame, nor the millions in your bank account, the luxuries that surrounded her were not enough. He secluded himself in the suite that he occupied in his Buenos Aires mansion for whole days to cry and lament. Canaro's photo framed his double bed, that same picture frame that, more than once, threw to the floor before a heartbroken cry. I was tired of sharing Canaro, and also of unfulfilled promises.
In 1935, being at the peak of his career, started to drift away from the world. The first decision was not to appear in public anymore. This motivated Radio El Mundo to confine her to acting in a smaller studio without the eyes of her fans.. In those times, the stations had seats so that listeners could witness the live broadcasts. The 28 September 1938 resolved to conclude with his artistic duo with Canaro. All a decision. As time went by, he was spacing his presentations. And he even sang, curtain through, so as not to have direct contact with their musicians. Phobia of showing off and disliking men. The wound of unrequited love began to seriously undermine his emotional balance and decimate his professional career.. In 1942 recorded one last material, paradoxically with tangos by Francisco Canaro and Ivo Pelay. “The Empress of Tango”, how was it baptized, started saying goodbye to public life forever.
Sad, lonely and final
“I am the Argentine brunette, the one who doesn't feel regrets, and happily spends his life with his songs”. Those verses of the first song that he recorded with Canaro in 1929, they already sounded absurd. “I had a wonderful vision of the Lord and I did not hesitate for a moment to leave everything and seclude myself in the mountains with mamita, in a Franciscan convent, and live humbly”, He confessed in one of the few reports he gave.
When Falcón decided to leave everything, the chosen destination was a humble chalet in the province of Córdoba. There, in Salsipuedes he put together his new life. In the middle of the Cordoba mountains, the neighbors who crossed it could not believe that such a star passed, like one more, the streets of the place. When her mother died, decided to deepen his ostracism. Totally absorbed in a mystical feeling, he secluded himself in a convent from which he never left. Senility were mining his head. The nuns of the place affirmed that he never sang, what, at times, denied his identity, and who claimed that he could not read. In the documentary by Sergio Wolf and Lorena Muñoz, I don't know what your eyes have done to me, she was seen, publicly, for the last time. Very aged, she spoke with the director and researcher obtaining final statements..
Ada Falcón had it all, but he decided to escape so as not to suffer anymore. The call of her God and a wounded heart that accompanied her until her death prompted the daring decision. There, before the oblivion of public opinion, in a closing life, austerity and mysticism spent half of his life. Those eyes that closed to 96 years. There, in the Molinari nursing home, town near Cosquín, surrounded by images, memories of heartbreak. The Salsipuedes house was converted into the museum where the few objects that were part of its heritage rest when it moved away from fortune and luxury.
The remains of Ada rest the Sadaic pantheon in the Chacarita Cemetery. A few meters, lie Francisco Canaro's. So in life, as in death.
Source: Pablo Mascareño – The nation – 11 March 2020
