Mar del Plata, 1921 – Buenos Aires (Argentina), 1992
By Alberto Ikeda
Astor Pantaleón Piazzolla is one of the most celebrated musicians from Argentina and Latin America. A composer, arranger, and performer (bandoneón), he was a major innovator in the music of his country, particularly through his stylizations of tango. His groundbreaking compositions and performances earned him immense respect in the fields of popular music, jazz, and symphonic music, often collaborating with internationally renowned musicians and orchestras. However, for a long time, he faced detractors in his own country, especially regarding tango. Piazzolla was an innovator within a genre that was seen as a quintessential symbol of Argentine nationality and identity, which many believed should remain untouched. Nonetheless, his work was imbued with deep human emotions such as pain, loneliness, and lyricism, which, when translated into his music, achieved widespread recognition and transcended borders.
Piazzolla began his musical studies as a child in New York, where his family moved when he was three years old. In 1936, his family returned to Argentina, and in 1938, Piazzolla settled in Buenos Aires. There, he began playing with various musical groups before joining the famous tango orchestra of Aníbal Troilo (1914–1975) the following year. In the early 1940s, he resumed his music studies, this time under the guidance of renowned composer Alberto Ginastera. He also studied piano and later ventured into scholarly composition, producing the Suite for Strings and Harp. At the time, Ginastera was concerned with nationalist aesthetics and was also interested in 20th-century avant-garde techniques, influences he undoubtedly passed on to his student. After leaving Troilo’s orchestra, Piazzolla gained experience as a conductor with the orchestra accompanying the famous tango singer Francisco Fiorentino. In 1946, he formed his own group, though still adhering to the more conventional principles of the genre. During the first half of the 1950s, he composed several scholarly pieces and won awards in Argentina, the United States, and France. He also received a scholarship and traveled to France in 1954 to further his studies under the renowned teacher Nadia Boulanger (1887–1979). Upon his return to Buenos Aires, Piazzolla embarked on his most radical departure from traditional tango.
In 1958, he moved back to New York for two years, working as an arranger. There, following his father’s death in 1959, he composed the famous Adiós Nonino, with lyrics by Eladia Blázquez (1931–2005). Upon his return to Argentina, he formed the Nuevo Tango quintet, which gained distinction and toured various Argentine cities as well as other countries. A decade later, in 1969, he composed one of his most celebrated and internationally acclaimed pieces, Balada para un loco, with lyrics by poet Horacio Ferrer (1933). The piece premiered with the voice of Amelita Baltar (1940), whom Piazzolla was married to until 1974. That same year, he recorded memorable sessions with American saxophonist Gerry Mulligan, blending baritone saxophone with his bandoneón, accompanied by an orchestra. One of the album’s standout pieces is Years of Solitude. Toward the end of the decade, Piazzolla also resumed his symphonic and chamber music compositions. Although his career was already well-established, he continued composing, recording, and touring internationally, collaborating with world-renowned orchestras, conductors, and musicians from both popular and classical realms.
Numerous books have been published about his life and work, even in Japan, where he enjoyed great prestige. Since 1995, the Astor Piazzolla Center in Buenos Aires has been dedicated to promoting and disseminating his work.
