1921-1955: from Buenos Aires to Paris via New York

Astor Piazzolla was born on March 11, 1921 to Vicente Piazzolla and Assunta Manetti. He was given a middle name, Pantaleón, after his paternal grandfather. ThePiazzollas were originally from Trani, the Manettis from the province of Massa-Carrara. Children of immigrants, both of Astor’s parents were born in Mar del Plata, and the future composer liked to call them Nonino and Nonina1, to kid them about their age: the family had a certain carefree spirit.

Vicente Piazzolla settled in New York with his family from 1924 to 1929 and then again from 1931 to 1936, at which time he definitiely returned to Argentina. During the firstof the two New York periods, Astor studied music. He was only six years old when his father, passionate about tango, decided to give him a bandoneon bought at the pawnshop for 18 dollars2. Don Vicente could never have imagined that that event would forever change the history of Argentine music.

Starting in 1934, the young Piazzolla (by now thirteen) began to assiduously follow one of the stars of Tango-Canción, Carlos Gardel. Thefamous singer and actor often took Piazzolla with him to his shows, receiving valuable help with the English language in exchange. Thebest known

2 Cfr. Diego Fischerman, Abel Gilbert, Piazzolla el mal entendido – Un estudio cultural, Edhasa, Buenos Aires, 2009; Natalio Gorín, op. cit. Fischerman and Gilbert claim that Astor received the bandoneon at the age of eight. Gorín, who wrote up the composer’s memoirs from a series of taped interviews, reported the age of six, and told of Astor’s disappointment from that very moment, since he expected skates image that portrays them together is a still from the film El día que me quieras (1935), in which Astor plays the canillita, a boy who sells newspapers on the street3. Soon after, however, their destinies would diverge: on June 24, 1935, at Medellín airport, Gardel dies tragically in a collision between two aircraft. Thescenes of his funeral, easily available on the web, give an idea of the level of popularity reached by the “creole nightingale”, world ambassador of tango.

When the Piazzolla family returns to Argentina in 1936, the influenceof Gardel on the young Astor is still alive. What makes him a professional musician is the purchase of a prized Alfred Arnold bandoneon (in jargon

“Doble A”) and the discovery of the instrumental sextet of violinist Elvino Vardaro. What ignites his passion, in particular, is Vardaro’s arrangement of José Pascual’s tango Arrabal4 .

Mar del Plata is certainly not the place to gain experience. Astor soon moves to Buenos Aires, where he auditions as a bandoneonist for the tango orchestra of Francisco “Tano” Lauro. For the occasion, in an attempt to impress him, he performs pieces by Mozart and Gershwin, but Lauro brusquely dampens Astor’s enthusiasm: more than certain daring executions on the fueye5, his orchestra needs rhythm and accent! In short, he wanted to hear a tango. Astor complies and thus obtains his firstcontract6. His study of classical composers would bear fruit later on.

Lauro’s orchestra soon proves to be too confininga space for the qualities and ambitions of the young Piazzolla. Finally, in 1939, he becomes a part of the ensemble of Aníbal Troilo, one of the best bandoneonists around, but he is still not satisfied.He wants to compose, to arrange, to mature musically. He has already written a piano piece, which he calls Concerto. One fineday, he presents himself to Arthur Rubinstein, who is visiting Buenos Aires, to make him listen to it. Thegreat Polish pianist, who at that time

3 It can be found in Natalio Gorín, op. cit., p. 145. On the taringa.net website, on the page dedicated to Piazzolla and Gardel, there is the still, a video fragment of the scene, and a letter that Astor wrote in 1978 to the late Gardel, a full forty-four years after their encounter is fifty-thee years old and at the peak of his success, is staying in one of the most beautiful aristocratic residences in the city – the Palacio Álzaga Unzué. While not expecting any visit, Rubinstein kindly welcomes the young Astor and, after playing his Concerto at the Steinway, he points out that the title is inappropriate, since it is a solo piano piece. In any case, sensing his passionate desire to study, he immediately put Astor in contact with the Argentine composer Juan José Castro. Before taking his leave, however, Astor has one more request: he would like to hear Rubinstein play a piece by Maurice Ravel. Themaestro complies. Now he can go home, happy, with a photo and a dedication in his pocket 7 .

4 Natalio Gorín, op. cit.

5 From the Spanish “fuelle”, or “bellows”. In the popular language of Buenos Aires, it means bandoneon.

6 Natalio Gorín, op. cit.

Castro, who is very busy, directs the young Piazzolla to Alberto Ginastera 8 . Thegreat porteño composer will teach him the basics of composition and orchestration, but also the importance of widening as much as possible his own cultural horizons and of exposing himself to other artistic expressions (from painting to theater to literature). In tango orchestras, on the other hand, one speaks only of soccer, racing, and gambling.

In 1944, Astor Piazzolla leaves the Troilo ensemble to become the conductor of Francisco Fiorentino’s orchestra. Here he has the opportunity to experiment, and, for example, he writes a rather original arrangement of the tango Copas, amigos y besos by Mariano Mores. Surprisingly, the opening is given to a solo cello. Such a daring choice could not be favorably looked upon by a traditionalist like Fiorentino, but above all by the patrons of the clubs, who openly mock it by satirically mimicking a classic ballet 9 .

7 Gorín, op. cit., reports the date of 1941; Fischerman e Gilbert, op. cit., that of July 1940.

8 According to Fischerman e Gilbert, op. cit., the teaching relationship between Piazzolla e Ginastera is interrupted in 1945.

9 At that time, people would only go to clubs to dance. Themusical stimulus generated by the isolated sound of a cello was not a difficulchallenge but was culturally unacceptable, and therefore laughable. Nowadays, the tango’s revolutionary process has been completed, and thus, dancers are proud to try their hand at Piazzolla’s compositions, more stimulated by the most innovative musical passages.

Chronology and Listening Guide

1921 Astor Pantaleón Piazzolla is born in Mar del Plata on March 11 at 2:00 a.m. to Vicente Piazzolla and Assunta Manetti. Th name Astor is chosen by the parents perhaps to pay homage to their cellist friend Astor Bolognini. Pantaleón, on the other hand, is the name of his paternal grandfather.

1924 ThePiazzolla family moves to New York and lives in Greenwich Village .

1927 Vicente, his father, gives Astor a used bandoneon purchased at a pawnshop.

1929 Temporary return to Argentina with return to New York in 1930 (some texts claim in 1931). Thefamily moves to Little Italy

1934 Theyoung Astor meets Carlos Gardel. He often accompanies him shopping and sometimes plays the bandoneon during his shows. Due to his age, Astor cannot accept Gardel’s invitation to join him in Hollywood.

1935 At the age of 14, Astor Piazzolla is hired for $25 for a small role (the canillita, or street vendor of newspapers) in the film El día que me quieras with Carlos Gardel.

1936 ThePiazzolla family returns to Mar del Plata.

1938 Astor moves to Buenos Aires in hopes of success with the bandoneon.

1939 He joins Aníbal Troilo’s orchestra as second bandoneonist.

1941 He gets engaged to Dedé Wolff(Odette Maria Wolff),whom he has known since 1940.

1941 For Troilo’s orchestra, he arranges Azabache (text by Homero Expósito and music by Enrique Francini and Héctor Stamponi).

1941 Having learned that Arthur Rubinstein is in Buenos Aires, Piazzolla meets him to show him his own composition. Rubinstein immediately points out to the young man that in order to grow musically he needs to study with an excellent teacher. Thus,not long after, he would study with Alberto Ginastera.

1942 Astor and Dedé get married on October 31.

1943 Piazzolla composes Prelude No. 1 for violin and piano.

1943 Thefirstchild, Diana Irene, is born in July.

1943 For his daughter’s birth, Astor composes the Suite para cuerdas y arpa Op.1.

1943 For Troilo’s orchestra, he arranges Inspiración, a piece by Peregrino Paulos that would be recorded on disc. Subsequently, in 1947, Piazzolla would record this same arrangement.

1944 Piazzolla leaves Troilo’s orchestra to become the conductor of singer Francisco Fiorentino’s orchestra

1944 He composes Suite para piano op. 2 (Preludio - Siciliana - Toccata tritonale).

1944 For Fiorentino, he arranges En las noches and Noches largas.

1944 He composes Cuatro piezas breves para piano op. 3 (Paisaje - Titeres - Pastoral - Toccata).

1944 He composes Tres piezas breves para cello y piano op. 4 (PastoralSerenade - Siciliana).

1944 He composes Obertura dramática op. 5.

1945 He composes the Sonata n. 1 op. 7 for piano (Presto; Coral con variaciones; Rondó). In 1968, he would declare to Speratti that Alberto Ginastera made his students study it.

Listening – ADIÓS NONINO

This piece was composed in 1959, the year Vicente (Nonino) died. Astor receives the news while on tour in Central America, precisely in Puerto Rico. After the tour, he returns to New York and there – alone in a room and dejected – he sketches the well-known initial theme. To complete the whole piece, Piazzolla uses the rhythmic part of a previous 1954 work entitled Nonino, but in this case he works a lot on the two melodies (the faster one and the slower one) making them marvelously poignant.

Piazzolla always has had a fondness for this work and has included it many times in his recordings, probably also in testimony of the affection for his father, who had directed him towards the study of the bandoneon. In his live concerts, Astor included this piece often, even in his last years of concertizing. The longest performances of this piece – for example, that of the 1984 Montreal Festival – are preceded by very beautiful opening piano solos (on this occasion performed by Pablo Ziegler).

The piece presents some of the typical characteristics of tango compositions, such as the duality generated by the presence of two themes of contrasting character (often differentiated in tangos by tonality, by flow, and by melodic structure). For example, the two main themes of Adiós Nonino are identified with two typical rhythms in tango history. We must remember that several cultural elements influenced this musical genre: African, European, and American. The rhythms that merged into the tango are the habanera, the candombe, and the milonga.

The traditional rhythm of the tango was “squared” (or regular).

The influence then exerted by the evolutions that took place during the twentieth century led to defining the rhythm of contemporary tango (or, in the words of Piazzolla, of the New Tango) as 3+3+2.

The well-known opening theme of Adiós Nonino is based on the rhythmic structure of regular tango:

...while the second theme – the sweeter and more melodic one –takes on the features of the milonga:

In listening to the piece, it also emerges that Piazzolla very much insists in contrasting the incisive sound of the bandoneon right-hand manual, to which he assigns the principal melodies, with the more sombre and dark sound of its left-hand manual, to which he assigns rhythmic elements in response to the melody. In any case, his bandoneon is always the absolute protagonist. In the version of the Montreal Festival of 1984, on the other hand, you will notice that everything is built on the bandoneon / violin dialogue (Fernando Suárez Paz on that occasion).