tango between shadows and light | Histoire du Tango: II. Café 1930
May 5, 2024
Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992) stands as Argentina’s most celebrated musical innovator, the man who single-handedly transformed the tango into a global phenomenon.
Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992) is Argentina’s most famous musical name—the man who has almost single-handedly brought the passion, thrill and beauty of the tango to a worldwide audience. Would the composer and bandoneon player have been able to achieve this without years of studying in Paris with the great Nadia Boulanger?
Juliette Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979) was a French music teacher, conductor, and composer. She taught many of the leading composers and musicians of the 20th century, and also performed occasionally as a pianist and organist. She instilled in him a European flair for orchestration and arrangement, while encouraging him to remain true to the vibrant essence of his Argentine roots.
Maybe, but Boulanger clearly instilled in Piazzolla a European sensibility for orchestration and arrangement while encouraging him to preserve the essence of his homeland’s musical traditions.
– introductory comment for Piazzolla: Soul of the Tango (1997) recording by Yo-Yo Ma, Apple Music.
Piazzolla himself famously stated, “In Argentina, everything may change except the tango.” Yet, he was the very catalyst who infused traditional tango with elements of jazz and classical music, creating the Nuevo tango.
Nuevo tango (Spanish: New tango) is both a form of music in which new elements are incorporated into traditional tango music, and an evolution of tango dance that began to develop in the 1980s.
His iconic suite, “History of Tango,” is a musical chronicle that captures the evolution of tango through different eras. Originally scored for flute and guitar in 1985 and published in 1986, Each movement of the suite vividly portrays the spirit and transformation of tango from its humble beginnings in the bordellos of Buenos Aires to the concert halls of the world.
There’s an ephemeral turn of the piece, the chromatics transform where notes glide from the shadowy realms of E minor into the sunlit expanse of B major. It’s as if in a café hidden in a dim corner of an afternoon long forgotten, the sunlight, sly and golden, dances quietly around the dim walls. It sneaks through the window to cast a luminous glow, splitting the small table in half with a blade of light that cuts through the gloomy–a fleeting moment captured forever in music.
