The pope, the tango and the furlana
« Furlana » ? What’s that again?
Well, the furlana is the dance that wanted to oust the tango. Unsuccessfully, as you suspect. But the story reveals some not-so-ethical practices amongst the journalists and the dance teachers.
It is often said that the furlana is the pope’s dance. At the time where I write those lines, this information still appears on the Wikipedia page « Furlane » (in French). But what if this story was actually a well-staged marketing campaign?
The story of today starts as a fairy tale, and end as a prank.
Being a French native speaker, I write in English as good as I can. Please let me know if you sot any error. thank you!
Tango in Europe in 1914
A word of context to begin with.
In 1911, tango make its entrance in Paris. or, to be precise, some Argentinians initiate a few young and wealthy Parisians to a dance, that quite badly imitates the true tango from the houses of ill reputes of Buenos Aires and Montevideo.
That silly tango knows a dazzling success in the French capital, and, from there, in the whole world. but it daring reputation don’t please everyone. The marginal conservative groups of the population try to make it forbidden. Amongst them, the Catholic church.
Here are a few cherry-picked examples.
In New York
At the end of the year 1912, cardinal Farley, archbishop of New York, discovers that tango will be danced at the charity ball of the Roman Catholic Institute for the Blind – the highest-profile ball of the season. He then opposes publicly and resolutely to the practice of tango.
The organizers must cancel the ball, and the 600 pertaining invitations. Indeed, on on hand, it is imposible to hold the ball without the support of the Catholic church; but on the other hand, the guests are blackmailing the organizers: they will not come if no tango is offered.
In Rome
On January 17th 1914, the cardinal-curate Basilio Pompilj, Eminence of the Vatican administration, condemns firmly the tango in a very emphatic pastoral letter.
Immoral, lustful, offensive, all the words (but the positive ones) are good to qualify the new fashionable dance. The letter is so virulent, that the pope Pius X must temper it before it gets published.
In Paris
The cardinal Amette, archbishop of Paris, is so searing against tango that he gets sued by a dance teacher in January 1914.
Those are only a few stories in the heated debate that shakes Europe during the winter 1913-1914: “Should we dance tango?”
The supporters of tango argue that the dance has nothing indecent. That the dance is so complex that one cannot think about anything else that one’s feet while dancing it. And so, in fact, the tango is no more immoral than waltz or boston.
Famous dancer couples, as Irene and Vernon Castle, Joan Sawyer and Maurice Mouvet, fight relentlessly to rehabilitate tango.
In short, electrical mood in Rome and in the world, between the supporters and the critics of the South-American dance. All the editorial board in Europe are following that case closely.
The triggering of the “furlana” case
On January 28th 1914, Jean Carrère, reporter in Rome publishes in “Le temps“. This article tells a surprising story. [Read the article on Gallica.]
We learn that the pope Pius X asked two Roman noblemen to “expliquer et décomposer le pas du tango” (explain and break down the tango step) to him. The pope then reacts:
« – C’est cela, le tango ? demanda Pie X. (…)
– Eh bien, les chers enfants, vous ne devez pas beaucoup vous amuser !
Et Pie X manifesta la plus railleuse commisération pour ces infortunés gens du monde, qui, s’ils étaient contraints de danser le tango par pénitence, trouveraient qu’on les traite avec trop de cruauté. »
” – That is the tango? Asked Pius X. (…)
– Well, dear children, you must not enjoy yourself a lot!
And Pius X showed the most mocking pity to those unlucky people of the world, that, if they were forced to dance tango as penance, would think that they are treated too cruelly”
Jean Carrère, “La ‘furlana’, danse du pape”, dans Le Temps, 28 janvier 1914, p.4-5.
The holy man lifts the ban on tango. He advises the young dancers a more enjoyable dance: the “furlana”, from Venetia. The article even states:
« Et le pape, tout guilleret, faisait déjà le geste de se lever, comme s’il se disposait à révéler lui-même les harmonieuses évolutions de cette coquette danse. Mais il se ravisa, soit rappelé au souvenir de son auguste mission, soit retenu pas un peu de rhumatisme. »
” And the pope, light-hearted, was already making the gesture of getting up, as if he arranged himself to reveal the harmonious steps of that elegant dance. But he changed his mind, either remembering his noble mission, either held up by some rheumatism.”
Jean Carrère, “La ‘furlana’, danse du pape”, dans Le Temps, 28 janvier 1914, p.4-5.
The pope finally asks one of his Venetian domestics to teach the dance to the young people.
The follow-up of the case
This article is relayed on the next day by many French and international newspapers.
On February 6th 1914, a similar article is published in Belgium. Le Soir states that « une personnalité éminente » (a leading figure) of the prelates of Belgium has attended a tango demonstration. And that here neither, no immorality was detected.
The journalist ends with this sentence: « Attendez-vous maintenant… à voir injurier le « Soir » : c’est la danse préférée de certains thugs de la presse » (Expect now… to see Le Soir insulted: it’s the favourite dance of some Apaches of the press). Yup, the press world is not for the faint of heart!
[During the Edwardian era, Apache is the name given by journalists to gangs. It is not actually related to the Apache nation]
A few days later, Jean Carrère drives the point home, stating that “tea furlana” (the equivalent of “tea tango”), will take place soon in Rome.
The mythbusting of the furlana story
The anecdote is great, artfully told, except that… all is false!
As soon a February 1st, some newspaper express reservations about the authenticity of this story.
On February 9th, in an article titled « Pour l’histoire du journalisme » (For the history of journalism), M. Fidely explains how Jean Carrère and the Prince of Carini (both reporters in Rome), and the Pichetti dance academy have set up this case.
The Pichetti dance academy was achieving a great success with it tea tango. But, when the cardinal-curate wrote his heated letter against tango, the Pichettis feared to lose a big part of their incomes.
Carrère and Carini, announced that, in two weeks, they would have launched a new dance. That is how two articles about the furlana and the pope were enough to inflame passions in the whole world.
An inquiry led by another journalist reveals that the pope has no domestic native from Venetia. The original article also gave, as reference, Rafaël Errazuriz Urmeneta’s book La ciudad de los dux (the City of the doges). Urmeneta (1861-1923), chilian ambassador to the Holy See, indeed wrote several books about the history of Venice and Italy… but none tells a word about the furlana!
Fidely finishes:
« Une page de l’histoire du journalisme de notre temps, n’est-ce pas ? Elle montre, au vif, comment se fabriquent des informations fantaisistes, et comment on lance des danses nouvelles ».
“A page of the history of today’s journalism, isn’t it? It shows, sharply, how fanciful news are build, and how one launches new dances”
M. Fidely, “Pour l’histoire du journalisme”, dans La Gazette de Charleroi, 9 février 1914.
This is a story that serves us as lesson, even today, when fake news proliferate on the web!
Furlana, a made-up dance ?
Enrico Pichetti evoques “La Nuova Furlana” in his book La Danza Antica E Moderna. The man that caused the scandal, does not let go of his story of the furlana-lover pope.
Pichetti doesn’t give precise instructions for the dance, while he does for the other dances in his book. This is an opportunity to spur the reader to follow lessons at the Pichetti academy.
It is also a way to sell his music sheet with instructions, on a music by Angelo Caccialupi.
Pichetti states that this dance was rebuild based on a traditional folk dance from Friuli, that dates back to the 18th century.
The 1914’s furlana combines 2 highly fashionable qualities of the era:
- First, the regional characteristic, very popular in the beginning of 20th century – for example, Théodore Botrel wrote La Paimpolaise (“the girl from Paimpol” – Brittany) ou Le mouchoir rouge de Cholet (“the red handkerchief of Cholet” – Maine-et-Loire) that are hits of the time (in the french-speaking world, anyway)
- Then, the dance is connected to the 18th century, very in vogue at the time. There are several attempt to revive the baroque Menuet, for example.
The furlana comes at the right time: avatar of the tango, backed by the pope himself (well, kind of), with a strong regional vibe and a reference equally strong to the 18th century…
“It’s too good to be true” did I think. I was already planning the long text I would write about the choreographer’s audacity, ready to make up baroque and Venetian origins for his dance, with the sole goal to lure more students in his dancing lesson.
Furlana, a dance made up in the 20th century… or not!
… Then I checked.
And I had to concede my mistake. Indeed, I found traces of the “forlane” (also: forlana, furlana, frulina or friulana), typical dance from Friuli. Friuli being a region of Italy, East of Venice. The region is not so well-known internationally, because it was annexed in 1420 by the powerful city of Venice.
The forlane knew some success between the 17th and the 18th century – right in the middle of the Baroque era.
You are going to laugh: that forlane,
Et vous allez rire : this dance, which in 1914 people tried to pass off as a wise alternative to the overly sensual tango, had a licentious reputation during the Enlightenment era!
So OK, the forlane is indeed a baroque dance. But Pichetti himself explains in his book that he got inspired by the name and the “spirit” of the dance, while he adapted it very much to the modern taste.
In conclusion, Pichetti retrieved the name of a baroque dance – and while he was at it, he choose a typically Italian one – and he sticked a 1910s choreography on it. Because don’t get fooled: the 1914 furlana has nothing in common with the 18th century one, except the name.
Other instructions for the furlana
I have yet to find a mention of actual furlana-dancing in the press. But I found several music sheet and théories (i.e. instructions). Given that all those documents dates back to 1914 and 1915, it is evident that the furlana didn’t get a lasting success.
Maybe because of the First World War.
Maybe because it was just a prank.
In London, in 1914, Walter E. Humphrey et Enrico Pappalardo publish a furlane titled “Venittza”. Humphrey claims he invented this choreography. That music sheet makes a clear reference to Venice, but not to the pop. The papacy is maybe not a strong enough reference for a publication in a protestant country.
F. Leslie Clendenen reproduces Humphrey’s text in Dance Mad, of The Dances of the Day, Arcade Print Co., Saint-Louis, 1914, p.141 : “Furlana”. On page 143, one also find “Venetian Rose (La Furlano)”, chroeography by Clendenen himself, that seemingly surfs (or try to) on the furlana trend.
I found nine other music sheets (in Bibliothèque Nationale de France and Bibliothèque Royale de Belgique), all published in 1914. The one by Paolo Apria, La vraie Furlana : Célèbre danse vénitienne, Edouard Salabert, Paris, 1914 is the most interesting. It bears the note:
« dite “La danse de notre Saint Père le Pape” parce qu’elle a eu l’honneur d’être préconisée par Sa Sainteté le Pape Pie X »
“so-called “the dance of our Holy Father the Pope”, because it had the honour to be recommended by His Holiness the pop Pius X). “
This is the only document where the pope is mentionned.
The most recent music sheet it the one by Manassero, I Balli Moderni : Tango, One Step, Maxixe Brésilienne, Furlana, La Valse Poudrée E Langoureuse, Milan, 1915. After that date, the furlana passes into oblivion.
Conclusion
In 1914, the tango knows an insane success in the Western World. Voices are being raised from everywhere to condemn this lascivious and provocative dance. Seeing his livelihood threatened, a dance teacher tries to launch a new dance: the furlana. Riding the trends for baroque and regionalism, his choreography has everything to succeed, but it lacks the little “extra”. Two journalist friends give him a hand (or a pen?) by inventing an incredible story from scratch, involving the Pope himself. This deception could have guaranteed a triumph for the furlana, if the truth had not been discovered.
What should you rememeber about that story?
It is hopeless to try to fight a popular trend. The tango knows a durable success from the 1910s. It daring origins, the multiples condemnations, the launches with great fanfare of rival dances, nothing will be able to stop this groundswell.
It it only in the 1950s that the tango with get ousted. Rock’n roll then kicked the tango out of favours.
Lastly: don’t believe everything you are told. Check the sources, that’s all that’s true!
Sources
Jean Carrère, “La ‘furlana’, danse du pape”, dans Le Temps, 28 janvier 1914, p.4-5.
M. Fidely, “Pour l’histoire du journalisme”, dans La Gazette de Charleroi, 9 février 1914.
Carlos G. Groppa, The tango in the United States: a history, McFarland & Company, Jefferson, 2004.
Sophie Jacotot, Danser à Paris dans l’Entre-Deux-Guerre. Lieux, pratiques et imaginaires des danses de sociétés des Amériques (1919-1939), Nouveau Monde éditions, Paris, 2013.
Enrico Pichetti, La Danza Antica E Moderna, Editrice Nazionale, Rome, 1914.
What do you think?
Tango, scandalous or sensual? Did you know furlana and tango? What do you think of the ethics of the journalists who launched the furlana? Tell me everything in the comments!
