Astor Piazzolla

Piazzolla was born in Mar del Plata, Argentina, in 1921, the only child of Italian immigrant parents, Vicente "Nonino" Piazzolla and Asunta Manetti. His grandfather, a sailor and fisherman named Pantaleón Piazzolla, had immigrated to Mar del Plata from Trani, a seaport in the southeastern Italian region of Apulia, at the end of the 19th century.

In 1925 Ástor Piazzolla moved with his family to Greenwich Village in New York City, which in those days was a violent neighbourhood inhabited by a volatile mixture of gangsters and hard-working immigrants. His parents worked long hours and Piazzolla soon learnt how to take care of himself on the streets despite having a limp. At home he would listen to his father's records of the tango orchestras of Carlos Gardel and Julio de Caro, and was also exposed to jazz and classical music, including Bach, from an early aBack in Argentina, Piazzolla formed his Orquesta de Cuerdas (String Orchestra) and his Octeto Buenos Aires in 1955. With two bandoneons (Piazzolla and Leopoldo Federico), two violins (Enrico Mario Francini and Hugo Baralis), double bass (Juan Vasallo), cello (José Bragato), piano (AtilioStampone), and an electric guitar (HoracioMalvicino), his Octeto effectively broke the mould of the traditional orquestatípica and created a new sound akin to chamber music, without a singer and with jazz-like improvisations. This was to be a turning point in his career and a watershed in the history of tango. Piazzolla's new approach to the tango, nuevo tango, made him a controversial figure in his native land both musically and politically. However, his music gained acceptance in Europe and North America, and his reworking of the tango was embraced by some liberal segments of Argentine society, who were pushing for political changes in parallel to his musical revolution.

In 1958 he disbanded both the Octeto and the String Orchestra and returned to New York City with his family where he struggled to make a living as a musician and arranger. Briefly forming his own group, the Jazz Tango Quintet, his attempts to blend jazz and tango where not successful. He received the news of the death of his father in October 1959 whilst performing in Puerto Rico and on his return to New York City a few days later, he asked to be left alone in his apartment and in less than an hour wrote his famous tango, AdiósNonino, in homage to his father. This was based on his earlier tango Nonino, composed in París in 1954, of which he kept the rhythmic part and re-arranged the rest with some additions.

Back in Buenos Aires in 1960 he put together the first, and perhaps most famous, of his quintets, the Quinteto Nuevo Tango, comprising bandoneon (Piazzolla), piano (Jaime Gosis), violin (ElvinoVardaro), electric guitar (Oscar Lopez Ruiz ) and double bass (Kicho Diaz).ge. He began to play the bandoneón after his father spotted one in a New York pawn shop in1929.

Piazzolla'snuevo tango was distinct from the traditional tango in its incorporation of elements of jazz, its use of extended harmonies and dissonance, its use of counterpoint, and its ventures into extended compositional forms. As Argentine psychoanalyst Carlos Kuri has pointed out, Piazzolla's fusion of tango with this wide range of other recognizable Western musical elements was so successful that it produced a new individual style transcending these influences. It is precisely this success, and individuality, that makes it hard to pin down where particular influences reside in his compositions, but some aspects are clear. The use of the passacaglia technique of a circulating bass line and harmonic sequence predominates in most of Piazzolla's mature compositions. Another clear reference to the baroque is the often complex and virtuosic counterpoint that sometimes follows strict fugal behavior but more often simply allows each performer in the group to assert his voice. A further technique that emphasises this sense of democracy and freedom among the musicians is improvisation that is borrowed from jazz in concept, but in practice involves a different vocabulary of scales and rhythms that stay within the parameters of the established tango sound-world. Pablo Ziegler has been particularly responsible for developing this aspect of the style both within Piazzolla's groups and since the composer's death.

Vocabulary

Violent – шалений

inhabited – населений

volatile – невловимий

despite – всупереч

limp – хромота

mould – шаблон

watershed – вододіл

approach – наближення

controvercial – спірний, полемічнийй

acceptance – прийняття

to gain – отримувати

to embrace - обхопити

briefly – ститсло

to attempt – намагатися

to venture – ризикувати

influence – вплив

sequence - послідовність

strict – суворий

to assert – затверджувати

to borrow – брати у борг

Task 2. Choose the correct answer

1. Piazzolla was born in Mar del Plata, Argentina, in …

a. 1921 b. 1990 c. 1873.

2. In 1925 Ástor Piazzolla moved with his family to Greenwich Village in….

a. New York b. Rome c. San Francisco

3. This was to be a turning point in his career and a watershed in the history of…

a. tango b. romanz c. concerto grosso

a. His … gained acceptance in Europe and North America.

a. music b. literature c. photos

Task 3. Put the questions to the underlined words:

1. Piazzolla was born in Mar del Plata, Argentina, in 1921, the only child of Italian immigrant parents.

2. He received the news of the death of his fatherin October 1959 whilst performing in Puerto Rico.

Task 4. Answer the following questions:

1. Where was Piazzolla born?

2. When did composer move with his family to village in New York city?

3. Which year did the composer disband both the octeto?

4. When did Vicente Piazzolla die?

e. What instrument did Piazzolla play?

Task 5. Retell the text