The group emerged from members of the university classical choir I Musicisti.[5][6] Initially a quartet (Masana, Maronna, Mundstock, and Rabinovich), they became a quintet with the addition of Carlos Núñez Cortés, then a septet with Carlos López Puccio in 1969 and Ernesto Acher in 1971. After Masana's death in 1973, they continued as a sextet, and following Acher's departure in 1986, they stabilized as a quintet—López Puccio, Núñez Cortés, Maronna, Mundstock, and Rabinovich—for 29 years until Rabinovich's death in 2015. Since 2000, Horacio "Tato" Turano and, from 2012, Martín O'Connor joined as substitute Luthiers.[7][8] After Rabinovich's death, Roberto Antier (previously tested in 2010) and Tomás Mayer Wolf were hired as replacements, with Turano and O’Connor becoming full members.[9] With Núñez Cortés's retirement in September 2017, Mayer Wolf became a full member, maintaining a six-member lineup. Due to health issues, Mundstock stepped away, and Antier joined as a full member, with Santiago Otero Ramos and Pablo Rabinovich hired as stable substitutes. This lineup, known as Les Luthiers Elenco 2019, persisted until 2023.
During the 1960s, nearly every faculty in Argentine universities had its own musical choir. Some members began meeting outside rehearsals to create musical jokes for fun, which they later performed as humorous interludes at inter-choral festivals throughout the academic year.
Gerardo Masana, author of Cantata Laxatón and one of the group's founders
In September 1965, the VI University Choir Festival took place in San Miguel de Tucumán,[18][19] located in Northwest Argentina. A group of young university students presented a humorous musical performance they had long prepared, featuring a novel orchestral ensemble of instruments they invented and built from simple materials. They staged a parody of a concert, with a soloist, a small choir, and these unconventional instruments.
The centerpiece was Cantata Modatón,[18][19] composed by Gerardo Masana, a member of the Faculty of Engineering choir at the University of Buenos Aires. Masana, alongside Buenos Aires luthier and musician Carlos Iraldi, invented most of these “informal instruments.” The music parodied Baroquecantatas, drawing inspiration from Johann Sebastian Bach’s St Matthew Passion, BWV 244,[20] while the lyrics were sourced from a popular laxative's prospectus. Later renamed Cantata Laxatón to avoid issues with the laxative's manufacturer,[18][21] the performance was a resounding success, praised for its originality, humor, and precision by attendees and critics in music publications.
Shortly after, the group unexpectedly received a contract to repeat the Tucumán show at a renowned avant-garde venue in Buenos Aires. Performing as I Musicisti,[18][22] they again achieved great success. They were then invited by the Di Tella Institute of Arts,[18][23] Buenos Aires’ premier center for theater, music, and visual arts studies, known globally as a “temple of artistic vanguard.” Their show, IMYLOH (short for I Musicisti y las óperas históricas[es]),[24] was another triumph.[25]
In 1967, internal disputes over compensation led to the dissolution of I Musicisti. Key members—Gerardo Masana, Marcos Mundstock, Jorge Maronna, and Daniel Rabinovich—continued under the name Les Luthiers, joined by Carlos Núñez Cortés, while I Musicisti soon disbanded without its instruments or main writers.[26] Around this time, Les Luthiers’ compositions began appearing in theater soundtracks and short films like Angelito el secuestrado by Leal Rey[es].
The group performed in theaters and café-concerts. In 1969, they hired Rosario native Carlos López Puccio as a violinist, and in 1971, Ernesto Acher joined, initially replacing Mundstock before becoming a permanent member. Early shows included:[27]
They also appeared on television in Todos somos mala gente[es] with prominent comedians and in Los mejores, performing exclusive recitals. This period marked successful seasons in Buenos Aires and Mar del Plata.
On November 23, 1973, the group lost its founder, Gerardo Masana, to leukemia at age 36.[18][28] His absence strained member relations, leading them to undertake institutional therapy with psychoanalyst Fernando Ulloa for 17 years.[29]
After nine years in Argentina, they began international tours in 1977, producing a new show every two to three years. Early tours visited Uruguay and Venezuela, followed by Spain. By the late 1970s, they performed in Mexico City, including at the Palacio de Bellas Artes.
In 1985, they received a Special Mention at the Konex Awards for their significant contribution to Argentine popular music, one of the highest honors from the Konex Foundation.
In 1986, a landmark performance at Buenos Aires’ Teatro Colón and their debut in Colombia’s Teatro Colón coincided with Ernesto Acher’s departure on August 28 due to internal differences, reducing the group to five members until 2015, when substitutes became more regular.
Since 1970, their shows followed a format of comic pieces introduced by Marcos Mundstock with a description or fictional composer biography, followed by a performance. However, four later shows—Los Premios Mastropiero (2005), Lutherapia (2008), the anthology Viejos hazmerreíres (2014), and Más tropiezos de Mastropiero (2022)—deviated, weaving pieces into narratives like an awards ceremony, a therapy session, a radio broadcast, and a TV interview.
Three books have been written about the group. The first, published in 1991 by Colombian journalist Daniel Samper Pizano, is titled Les Luthiers from L to S. The second, released in 2004, was authored by Sebastián Masana, son of the group's founder Gerardo Masana, and is called Gerardo Masana and the Founding of Les Luthiers. The third, written by group member Carlos Núñez Cortés, is titled Mastropiero's Games, offering an in-depth analysis of the various humor techniques employed by Les Luthiers.[31]
In 2007, marking their 40th anniversary, the Buenos Aires legislature unanimously declared them Illustrious Citizens. Additionally, the Spanish government awarded Les Luthiers the Encomienda de Número of the Order of Isabella the Catholic, Spain's highest honor for foreigners, granting the musicians the title of “Illustrious Lords.”
On November 18, 2007, Les Luthiers celebrated their 40th anniversary with a free concert titled Cuarenta años de trayectoria at San Benito Park, located at the intersection of Figueroa Alcorta and La Pampa avenues in Buenos Aires. The event drew over 120,000 spectators.
In late 2017, Carlos Núñez Cortés retired, stating in an interview: "This is a personal decision tied to my desire for a well-deserved rest after 50 uninterrupted years on stage, but I'll remain connected to the group, which has been a huge part of my life and I hope will continue to be.” Mayer Wolf became a full member, filling Núñez Cortés's roles.
Health issues forced Marcos Mundstock offstage in 2019, with Antier replacing him during tours of Viejos Hazmerreíres and Gran Reserva into 2020.[35] Santiago Otero Ramos and Pablo Rabinovich joined as substitutes/alternates.
The Viejos Hazmerreíres tour in Spain was halted in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Mundstock died in April 2020, and a new show in development was postponed.[9]
In 2021, a favorable agreement on copyright and trademark rights allowed performances to resume in January 2022 under the artistic direction of Jorge Maronna and Carlos López Puccio as "Les Luthiers Elenco 2019," featuring anthologies Viejos Hazmerreíres and Gran Reserva. The "Elenco 2019" comprised Maronna, López Puccio, and four former substitutes turned full members: Turano, O’Connor, Mayer Wolf, and Antier.[36][9]
On November 18, 2022, they premiered their final show, Más tropiezos de Mastropiero, in Rosario (López Puccio's hometown), featuring 10 new pieces by Maronna and López Puccio. After six performances, it debuted in Buenos Aires’ Teatro Opera on January 12, 2023, receiving positive reviews.
On January 5, 2023, they announced their disbandment: "After 55 years, we announce our definitive farewell from the stage. Having achieved our goals over more than half a century, we (Carlos and Jorge) decided to bid farewell with a world tour featuring our final show."[37]
The 2023 farewell tour began in Buenos Aires on January 12, concluding there on March 25 after 30 performances, and included:
April: Quito (Ecuador); Monterrey, Guadalajara, Mexico City (Mexico)
May: Bogotá, Medellín (Colombia)
June: Madrid, Seville (Spain)
July: Nerja, Barcelona, Sant Feliu de Guíxols (Spain); Santa Cruz (Bolivia)
August: Tucumán, Salta, Córdoba, Mendoza, San Juan (Argentina)
September: Santiago (Chile); Rosario (Argentina)
October: Montevideo (Uruguay); La Plata (Argentina)
November: San José (Costa Rica); Lima (Peru)
The tour, totaling 113 performances (119 including Rosario's six in 2022), ended on December 9 at the Gran Plaza Theater in Bahía Blanca (Maronna's hometown), marking Les Luthiers’ final show.
Johann Sebastian Mastropiero
Jorge Maronna, 2017.
Les Luthiers frequently centered sketches and shows around the fictional Johann Sebastian Mastropiero. While they created other characters like folk composer “Manuel Darío,” maharishi “Salí Baba,” bossa nova artist “Dorival Lampada” (Lampiño), and pastor “Warren Sánchez,” Mastropiero appeared most often.[2]
The character originated in the early 1960s from a manuscript Marcos Mundstock dictated to Horacio López in a bar, initially named “Freddy Mastropiero.”[2]Gerardo Masana suggested “Freddy” gave a “mafioso” vibe. In 1966, Jorge Maronna renamed him “Johann Sebastian Masana,” honoring Masana's compositional role and admiration for Johann Sebastian Bach.[2] He debuted in ¿Música? Sí, claro on May 17, 1967, at the Teatro de Artes y Ciencias, still under “I Musicisti.”
Today marks another anniversary of the birth of the great Italian-Yankee composer Johann Sebastian Masana [...] Born in Manhattan, son of an Italian mother and father (pause). His last words were for the instrument that accompanied him throughout life: "Piano, piano, me voy lontano."
—Biography from ¿Música? Sí, claro (1967)
In 1970, renamed Johann Sebastian Mastropiero, he headlined “Querida Condesa: carta de Johann Sebastian Mastropiero a la condesa de Shortshot.”[2]
Mastropiero's turbulent life, narrated by Mundstock, includes being born to an Italian mother and father (...); having a mafioso twin, Harold; a stable relationship with the Countess of Shortshot, with whom he had children whose surnames translate hers into various languages; employing a gypsy maid who left him an adopted son, Azuceno; and numerous other comedic escapades.
Informal instruments
Luthier, French for stringed instrument maker, inspired the group's name due to their creation of instruments from unconventional materials like cans, hoses, cardboard tubes, and balloons. Gerardo Masana crafted the first, the bass-pipe a vara,[18][38] using discarded cardboard tubes and household items. Forty years later, a version of this rolling tube remains in use.
Early instruments were simple, like the gom-horn (hose, funnel, trumpet mouthpiece), often parodying standard instruments (e.g., latín, violata). Later, luthier Carlos Iraldi refined their construction, blending technical precision and artistry, creating pieces like the mandocleta (bicycle wheel strumming a mandolin), ferrocalíope (steam-powered calliope with train whistles), bajo barríltono (double bass with a barrel body), and órgano de campaña.
After Iraldi's 1995 death, Hugo Domínguez took over, crafting instruments like the desafinaducha, nomeolbídet, and alambique encantador.[39]
Using standard classifications, their instruments include:
Stringed instruments
Latín or Tin Violin: resonance box is a ham can.[40]
Violata or Tin Viola: resonance box is a paint can with a viola pegbox.[41]
Dactilófono or Playing Machine: typewriter with aluminum tubes sounding like a xylophone.[58]
Cascarudo: small instrument with a güiro and yogurt container, mimicking a beetle's sound.[59]
Desafinaducha: shower-inspired, with water spinning a mill that strikes a metallophone.[60]
OMNI (Unidentified Musical Object): bicycle pump-like, ejecting a cork for a popping sound.[61]
Campanófono a martillo: keyboard triggering electromagnets to strike metal tubes like bells.[58]
Tablas de lavar: three washboards with tin, cymbal, woodblock, and cowbell, played with thimbles and horns.[62]
Shoephone or Zapatófono: crank mechanism lifting and dropping shoes on wood.[63]
Marimba de cocos: marimba with 19 hollow coconuts instead of wooden bars.[64]
Other
Antenor: robot producing sounds and moving, with adjustable facial expressions, controlled remotely by three people.[65]
Exorcítara: harp-shaped frame with neon tube “strings” (turquoise for treble, red for bass).
Instrument Gallery
Latín
Violata
Contrachitarrone da gamba
Chelo legüero
Alt-pipe a vara
Bass-pipe a vara
Tubófono silicónico cromático
Yerbomatófono d'amore
Manguelódica pneumática
Dactilófono
Musical stylings
Les Luthiers began writing humorous pieces primarily in a Baroque style, especially imitating vocal genres such as cantatas, madrigals and serenatas. Later, they diversified into humorous renditions of music in other genres, from romanticlieder and opera to pop, mariachi, rock and even rap. Their stage show is often intermingled with humorous skits, frequently involving absurd situations, the music and biography of fictional composer Johann Sebastian Mastropiero and a heavy reliance on fairly sophisticated puns and word play. Much of the humor derives from the basic contradictions between the formality and highly developed vocal and instrumental technique of classical musicians and the sheer silliness of their show. All members of the group provided their voices for the pigeons in the Latin American and Spanish dubbings of the 2008 Disney film, Bolt.
Les Luthiers have acknowledged the influence of Gerard Hoffnung and Peter Schickele in their work.[66] "Professor" Schickele invented in 1965 the fictional character of P.D.Q. Bach, son of Johann Sebastian Bach. He also invented many unusual instruments based on real ones, in the same style of the group. He also used the fictional biography of his imaginary composer as a running gag in his musical act.
Mr. Hoffnung predated both acts, starting in 1956 the Hoffnung Music Festival and publishing many cartoons with imaginary instruments for a classical orchestra. Malcolm Arnold probably was the first person to write a parody of classical music using odd instruments when he wrote for a Hoffnung Concert the score of A Grand, Grand Overture, a piece for orchestra and vacuum cleaners dedicated to US President Herbert Hoover.[67]
These members actively shaped the group's works, excelling in lyrics, music, or instrument creation, and were part of its economic and business structure.
Marcos Mundstock: professional announcer and copywriter; born May 25, 1942, in Santa Fe; presented works and acted, mainly singing or speaking, occasionally playing gom-horns, percussion, or keyboards; died April 22, 2020, in Buenos Aires at 77.[69]
Daniel Rabinovich: guitarist, percussionist, folk singer, lawyer, and notary; born November 18, 1943, in Buenos Aires; acted, sang, and played guitar, drums, latín, bass-pipe, and keyboards; authored Cuentos en serio and El silencio del final; died August 21, 2015, in Buenos Aires at 71.
Carlos López Puccio: licensed in conducting, choir director, and professor; joined officially in 1971 after assisting since 1969; born October 9, 1946, in Rosario; played latín, cellato, piano, harmonica, violata, percussion, and synthesizers.
Ernesto Acher: architect, composer, arranger; born October 9, 1939; played piano, winds (gom-horns, calephone, clarinet, horn, recorder, tubófono), drums, harmonium, and acted; left after the 1986 Bogotá Teatro Colón show; later co-founded a jazz group and conducted orchestras in Concepción and Santiago, Chile.
Contracted Members
These began as substitutes for absences, later becoming regular performers without creative or business roles.
Horacio "Tato" Turano: pianist, saxophonist, singer, arranger, composer; born November 10, 1953, in Buenos Aires; substitute since 2000, full member from 2015 to 2023.
Martín O'Connor: singer, actor; born August 2, 1966, in Buenos Aires; substitute since August 2012, full member from 2015 to 2023.
Tomás Mayer-Wolf: pianist, composer, arranger, producer; born December 10, 1982, in Buenos Aires; substitute from 2015, full member from October 2017 to 2023.
Roberto Antier: actor; born January 13, 1963, in Buenos Aires; tested in 2010, substitute from 2015, full member from 2020 to 2023 after replacing Mundstock.
Santiago Otero Ramos: actor, pianist, choir and music director; born November 26, 1980, in Buenos Aires; substitute from August 2019.
Pablo Rabinovich: multi-instrumentalist, singer, composer, producer, teacher, electronic engineer; born December 27, 1984, in Buenos Aires; no relation to Daniel Rabinovich; substitute from August 2019.
Unofficial recordings for TV or archives, available on YouTube via fans or the official channel, include:
Mastropiero que nunca (Chile, 1978)
Hacen Muchas Gracias de Nada (Mexico, 1980)
Luthierías (Colombia, 1981)
Por Humor al Arte (1983)
Humor Dulce Hogar (quintet version, 1987)
Viegésimo aniversario (unpublished version, 1989)
El reír de los cantares (1992)
Do-Re-Mi-Já! (2000)
Con Les Luthiers y Sin-fónica (2004)
Festival de Música y Reflexión (2014)
Official Bibliography
Since 1991's Les Luthiers de la L a la S by Daniel Samper, various books by or about the group or its members have been published:
Samper Pizano, Daniel. (1991). Les Luthiers from L to S. Ediciones De la Flor, Argentina (Out of print) / Ediciones De la Flor. Argentina (Discontinued).
Samper Pizano, Daniel. (1991). Les Luthiers from L to S. Editorial Lumen, Spain (Out of print).
Maranca, Lucía. (1997). Carlos Iraldi: Luthier of Sounds. Asociación Cultural Pestalozzi, Argentina (Discontinued).
Masana, Sebastián. (2004). Gerardo Masana and the Founding of Les Luthiers. Editorial Belacqva, Spain (Out of print).
Masana, Sebastián. (2005). Gerardo Masana and the Founding of Les Luthiers. Editorial Norma, Argentina (Out of print).
Samper Pizano, Daniel. (2007). Les Luthiers from L to S. Ediciones De la Flor, Argentina (Out of print).
Samper Pizano, Daniel. (2007). Les Luthiers from L to S. Ediciones B, Spain (Out of print).
Núñez Cortés, Carlos. (2007). Mastropiero's Games. Editorial Emecé, Argentina (Out of print).
Suárez, Bernardo (2007). Detrás de la risa [Behind the Laughter](PDF) (Master’s Thesis in Discourse Analysis). Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, University of Buenos Aires.
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