{{Short description|Mexican composer (1885–1951)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = María Grever | image = Maria-Grever-composing-music.jpg | image_size = 220px | landscape = no | alt = Photograph of María Grever composing music | caption = María Grever composing music | birth_name = María Joaquina de la Portilla Torres Grever | alias = María Gréver | birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1885|09|14}} | birth_place = León, Guanajuato, Mexico | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1951|12|15|1885|09|14}} | death_place = New York City, New York, U.S. | genre = Bolero, Film music, Jazz influences | occupation = Composer, Songwriter, Pianist | instrument = Piano, Vocals | years_active = 1900–1951 | label = Hudson | associated_acts = Stanley Adams, Irving Caesar, José Mojica, Dinah Washington | spouse = Leo A. Grever | website = }}
'''María Grever''' (14 September 1885 – 15 December 1951) was the first female Mexican composer to achieve international acclaim.<ref name=BIOGRAPHY>Rodríguez, Lee M. L. María Grever: Poeta Y Compositora. Potomac, Md: Scripta Humanistica, 1994. Print.</ref> She is best known for the song "What A Difference A Day Makes" (originally "Cuando vuelva a tu lado"), which was popularized by Dinah Washington and has been covered by numerous artists.
==Early life== '''María Joaquina de la Portilla Torres''' was born to a Spanish father (Francisco de la Portilla) and Mexican mother (Julia Torres) in León, Guanajuato. For the first six years of her life she lived in Mexico City, moving to her father's natal city, Sevilla, in 1891. She studied music in France, with Claude Debussy and Franz Lenhard among her teachers. In 1900, she moved back to Mexico and continued her musical studies at her aunt's solfège school. In 1907, the then 22-year-old de la Portilla married Leo A. Grever, an American oil company executive, and in 1916 became a U.S. citizen and moved to New York City, where she lived for the rest of her life.<ref name=BIOGRAPHY/><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HQ_UAAAAQBAJ&q=Mar%C3%ADa+Grever+%22us+citizen%22&pg=PT134|title=Musical Ritual in Mexico City: From the Aztec to NAFTA|first=Mark|last=Pedelty|date=3 June 2009|publisher=University of Texas Press|isbn=9780292774186|access-date=16 February 2019|via=Google Books}}</ref>
==Career== Grever wrote more than 1000 songs — the majority of them boleros — and her popularity reached audiences in Latin America, Europe, and the United States. She was said to have possessed perfect pitch and wrote most of her songs in one key. Her first piece of music, a Christmas carol, was composed when she was four years old. She wrote her first song when she was 18 years old, "A Una Ola" (To a Wave), and it sold three million copies.<ref name=BIOGRAPHY/>
thumb|left|Photo of María Grever, a renowned Mexican composer known for her popular songs such as "What a Difference a Day Makes" (originally "Cuando vuelva a tu lado").
In 1920, she began work as a film composer for Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox studios. Joining ASCAP in 1935, her chief musical collaborators included Stanley Adams and Irving Caesar.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0340472/|title=María Grever|website=IMDb.com|access-date=16 February 2019}}</ref>
Grever once said: "I had to leave my country, and now in New York, I am interested in Jazz and Modern Rhythms, but above all, in Mexican Music, which I long to present to the American people. I am afraid they don't know much about it. It is music worth spreading; there is such a cultural richness in Mexican Music (its Hispanic and indigenous origins and how they mix) where melody and rhythm merge. It is my wish and yearning to present the native rhythms and tunes (of Mexico) from a real perspective, but with the necessary flexibility to appeal to the universal audience."<ref name=BIOGRAPHY/>
{{ external media |audio1 = You may listen to Grever's ''Todo Mi Ser'' as sung by Nestor Mesta Chayres in 1947 [https://archive.org/details/78_todo-mi-ser_nestor-chayres-maria-grever-isidor-handler-y-su-orquesta_gbia0021458b/Todo+Mi+Ser+-+Nestor+Chayres+-+Maria+Grever.flac'''here''']}}
Grever's first international hit was "Júrame" (Promise Me), a habanera-bolero interpreted in a masterly manner by tenor José Mojica.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/200060845/BVE-40023-Jurame|title=Victor matrix BVE-40023. Jurame / José Mojica – Discography of American Historical Recordings|website=Adp.library.ucsb.edu|access-date=16 February 2019}}</ref> Other hits continued to follow, such as "Volveré" (I Will Return); "Te quiero dijiste" (I love you, you said), written for the 1944 Esther Williams film ''Bathing Beauty'', as well as "Cuando vuelva a tu lado" (When I Return To Your Side as recorded by Nestor Mesta Chayres)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/CuandoVuelvaATuLado_801|title=Cuando Vuelva A Tu Lado|access-date=16 February 2019|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> and "Por si no te vuelvo a ver" (In case I don't see you again).<ref name=BIOGRAPHY/> Other songs of hers include "Tipitipitin" (recorded as "Ti-Pi-Tin" by the Andrews Sisters), "Para Qué Recordar", "Ya No Me Quieres", "Tú, Tú y Tú" (as recorded by Mexican tenor Juan Arvizu in 1928),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/78_tu-tu-y-tu-you-only-you_juan-arvizu-maria-grever_gbia0021641a|title=Tu, Tu y Tu (You, Only You)|first1=Juan|last1=Arvizu|first2=Maria|last2=Grever|date=26 December 1928|access-date=16 February 2019|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> "Que Dirías de Mí", "Eso Es Mentíra", "Mi Secreto", "Dame Tu Amor", "Una Rosa, Un Beso", "Despedida", "Así", "Chamaca Mía",''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/78_chamaca-mia-sweet-girl-of-mine_juan-arvizu-maria-grever-e-vigil-y-robles_gbia0021641b|title=Chamaca Mia (Sweet Girl of Mine)|first1=Juan|last1=Arvizu|first2=Maria|last2=Grever|first3=E.|last3=Vigil|author4=Robles|date=25 January 1929|access-date=16 February 2019|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> "Todo Mi Ser",''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/78_todo-mi-ser_nestor-chayres-maria-grever-isidor-handler-y-su-orquesta_gbia0021458b|title=Todo Mi Ser|last1=Nestor Chayres|last2=Maria Grever|last3=Isidor Handler y su Orquesta|access-date=16 February 2019|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> and "Alma Mía".
==Death== Grever died in 1951 in New York after a prolonged illness. At her request, her remains were transported to Mexico City.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1951/12/16/archives/maria-grever-57-a-composer-dies-tipitin-besame-what-a-difference-a.html|title= Maria Grever, 57, A Composer, Dies; 'Ti-Pi-Tin,' 'Besame,' 'What a Difference a Day Makes' Among Her Successes|author=<!--Not stated--> |date= December 16, 1951|website= The New York Times|access-date= February 11, 2021}}</ref>
==Posthumous tributes and success== Her songs have been covered internationally by a variety of artists: * In 1953, Argentine singer-actress and Latin American star Libertad Lamarque portrayed Grever in ''Cuando me vaya'' (When I Leave), a biopic directed by Tito Davison.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045662/|title=Cuando me vaya|access-date=16 February 2019|website=IMDb.com}} {{unreliable?|date=October 2024}}</ref> Three years later, Lamarque released a best-selling tribute to Grever's most popular songs titled ''Libertad Lamarque canta canciones de Maria Grever''.<ref>RCA Victor MKL 3020 Mono LP</ref> * In 1959, Dinah Washington recorded "Cuando vuelva a tu lado" under the title "What A Difference A Day Makes" with English lyrics. The recording won a Grammy Award in 1959, and in 1998 it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. * In 1964, operatic tenor Alfredo Kraus recorded "Júrame" on his album "Siboney."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.amazon.com/Alfredo-Kraus-Latinos-Songs-Siboney/dp/B01ABC2GVM|title=Alfredo Kraus, Latino's Songs, Siboney – Jurame – Lamento Borincano by Kraus, Alfredo|website=www.amazon.com|access-date=2019-12-14}}</ref> * In 2018, operatic soprano, Ailyn Perez performed "Júrame" live for WFMT in Chicago.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ailynperez.com/press/soprano-ailyn-perez-performs-live-at-wfmt/|title=Soprano Ailyn Pérez performs Live at WFMT « Ailyn Pérez|website=ailynperez.com|access-date=2019-12-14}}</ref> * On 11 February 2021, Google celebrated her with a Google Doodle.<ref>{{cite news |title=Celebrating María Grever |url=https://doodles.google/doodle/celebrating-maria-grever/ |date=11 February 2021|via=Google}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.slideshare.net/Aavmvazquez/maria-grever-biografia-y-musica SlideShare.net – María Grever Biografía] (Spanish) * [https://web.archive.org/web/20160313113651/https://aydiosmexiuala.wordpress.com/2010/10/21/maria-grever-1894-1951/ The Art Music of Mexico and Guatemala – Maria Grever (1894–1951) Biography and Images] * [https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/109650 María Grever recordings] at the Discography of American Historical Recordings. * [https://www.flickr.com/photos/10771167@N00/8095879701 1921 passport photo of Maria Grever and her children] * [https://archive.org/search.php?query=Maria%20Grever Recordings of performances of boleros composed by María Grever as archived on Archive.org]
{{Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grever, Maria}} Category:1885 births Category:1951 deaths Category:20th-century Mexican musicians Category:20th-century Mexican women composers Category:Latin music songwriters Category:Mexican emigrants to the United States Category:Mexican film score composers Category:Mexican people of Spanish descent Category:Mexican women songwriters Category:Musicians from Guanajuato Category:Musicians from Mexico City Category:Composers from New York City Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States Category:People from León, Guanajuato Category:Writers from Guanajuato Category:Writers from Mexico City Category:Women in Latin music