Music Extended Essay

Music Extended Essay

Finding Piazzolla in Tango: a Comparison Between the Traditional Tango “La Cumparista” and Piazzolla’s Tango “Adios Nonino”.

Name: Victor Manuel Rodríguez Núñez. IB Number: 000034-078. School Name: Lester B. Pearson College of the Pacific. First Language: Spanish.

Contents:

Abstract……...…………………………………………………...…………ii Introduction……………………………………………………..…...Page 1 Structure analysis and comparison of the pieces…………..….. Page 6 Rhythm analysis and comparison of the pieces……….…..……Page 9 Melody analysis and comparison of the pieces………………..Page 15 Conclusion………………………………………………………....Page 18 Appendix A: The Score of “Adiós Nonino”…………………...…Page 20 Appendix B: The Score of “La cumparsita”…………………….Page 22 References…………………………………………….…………..Page 24 Discography………………………………………………………..Page 26

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Finding Piazzolla in Tango: a Comparison Between the Traditional Tango “La Cumparista” and Piazzolla’s Tango “Adios Nonino”.

This essay is fundamentally a music analysis and comparison of a tango song by Astor Piazzolla with a traditional tango. There exists a cultural and musical conflict between these two styles. For this analysis two pieces will be used, which are the masterpiece “Adios Nonino” of Piazzolla and the legendary “La cumparsita” of Gerardo Matos Rodriguez. After an introduction that gives some cultural and contextual background of the issue, this essay will be developed in three main parts: structure, rhythm and melody. The analysis is focused on finding characteristic and details that would be able to link these two styles, and then, based on those characteristics, place and recognize Piazzolla’s music within tango.

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Introduction

Astor Piazzolla revolutionized the history of the tango using his musical knowledge in order to improve a traditional Argentine music style that he considered boring and unchanged for almost fifty years. But first, what is tango and what makes it such a popular and important tradition for the Argentinean people and LatinAmericans in general? Who is Astor Piazzolla and why does he interfere in the development of this music? Tango is actually hard to define. For some people, it is “a sad thought that can be danced”1; for others it is “the happiness of meeting as a couple in order to feel intimate vibrations and beatings that pass through all our body with its music. It is the dialogue of two bodies.”2 Clearly tango is music and dance. It is melody and harmony that make people go into a trance where the bodies of a man and a woman move to its rhythm. So we can certainly say that tango is about feelings and sensitivity. Its lyrics are full of stories about disappointment, oblivion and woes. As Jorge Luis Borges wrote: "The tango is a direct expression of something that poets have often tried to state in words: the belief that a fight may be a celebration.”3 Tango lyrics are the direct representation of history, emotions and culture celebrated by dancing. Unfortunately, this work will not digress into the

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Juan Ramón Silva, “El tango: un intimo dialogo corporal” (Carlos Gardel: Tango que me hiciste bien), p.73. 2 Silva, p.73. 3 Jorge Luis Borges, "Notable Tango quotes" http://www.nytutoring.com/libertango/tangology/quotes.html (accessed January 6, 2008)

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lyrics and their meaning in tango because Piazzolla doesn’t interfere with the lyrics much. Instead, this essay is going to talk about the musical features. Musically, tango can be “a very simple and humble thing. It was played by guys who had no formal musical training like Ángel Villoldo, Eduardo Arolas, Enrique Delfino played it.”4 Traditionally, it was written in two-four time and it had its own rhythmic structure (often written as 3-2-2) where unexpected accents, expressive and short rests and syncopations come out. It was composed for instruments such as large accordion (bandoneón), flute, violin, double bass, piano, and sometimes guitar. It was very common to find sextets that played Tangos; these were made up of two bandoneones, two violins, a piano and a double bass. No percussion was used. In the following example from the tango “Inspiración” of Peregrino Paulos as played by the Aníbal Troilo’s orchestra in 1924, the first six measures present a simple introduction.

These six measures of the beginning of the first section are repeated at the end of the same section, in the exactly same way (measures 21 to 26) but played as 4

Antonio Rodriguez Villar. "Tango needs not to be changed.” (accessed January 5, 2008)

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legato rather than staccato by the Troilo’s orchestra. Simplicity of structure and melody were liked by the musicians and dancers. A simple descending chromatic scale in measures 4 to 6 reflects the poor creativity of tango players. Astor Panteleón Piazzolla was a bandoneón player, piano player, director, composer and arranger. He was born in Mar del Plata in 1921 and when he was four years old his family moved to New York. There, his father Vicente Piazzolla (who was also called Nonino) got his first bandoneón and when he was six years old Astor began to play it. After moving several times between Mar del Plata and the United States, he returned to Argentina in 1937. During his adolescence he listened to and learned about classical music and jazz. Within his repertory were pieces of Gershwin and Bach, but he grew up always listening to tango, especially Laurenz and Maffia. In Argentina he had many experiences that drew him to tango: he studied bandoneón with Líbero Paoloni, he listened to the Vardaro´s sextet and played in Caló, Lauro and Clausi´s orchestra. In 1939 he joined Troilo’s typical orchestra where he first began to develop his arranging skills and to discover his tango style. I will not go further into Piazzolla’s biography because there are many books and websites full of information about his life (see references). When he was at Troilo’s orchestra and he started to arrange some tango pieces for the orchestra, the high musical level he implemented, the intensive necessity of music reading skills and the use of more creativity in structure and availability of notes got Troilo annoyed at Piazzolla´s interference, or Piazzolla annoyed at

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Troilo. “One day I got fed up with Troilo and his punishments. Of the thousand notes I wrote, he erased six hundred…”5 Looking at the following arrangement Piazzolla did of the tango “Inspiración” for his orchestra in 1946, it is clear which notes Troilo didn’t like.

Piazzolla changes the last repetition of the descending scale in a more complex way; He used a descending chromatic scale decorated with escape tones and repeated notes. This is representative of what Troilo though was annoying for the dancers. This is how Piazzolla started to find so many ways of change, or even better, to improve this music that many people of course considered good enough as it was. As Enrique Cadícamo said “Tango must stay as it is…Tango is already set. It is impossible to talk about the tango that is coming up.”6, many people started to conflict with Piazzolla. Against this argument, people as the guitarist Horacio Malvicino said “At the beginning everybody said this was not tango, and of course it is not tango but not traditional tango”.7

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Omar García Brunelli, “La obra de Astor Piazzolla y su relación con el tango como especie de música popular urbana." (Revista del Instituto de Investigación Musicológica “Carlos Vega” Nº 12 )p. 166. 6 Rodriguez Villar. 7 Mike Dibb, “Tango Maestro-The Life and Music of Astor Piazzolla”

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When I played Piazzolla, I could not ignore the musical quality and beauty of his music. I had played some tangos before (“Por una cabeza” of Carlos Gardel and “El choclo” of Angel Villoldo) but Piazzolla’s music definitely has something strange by comparison. It has without question the scent and flavor of tango, but something about its rhythm, melody, harmony, and structure makes us realize how brilliant this musician was for taking this folklore into a world of music complexity, inventiveness and talent. This essay aims to find the main differences between Piazzolla’s tango and traditional tango to clarify if Piazzolla is actually a tango composer. For this purpose I will use two important pieces that represent these two styles. Representing traditional tango I will use “La cumparsita” by Gerardo Matos Rodriguez, because it is certainly a tango that has passed through generations of musicians, dancers and audience; and representing Piazzolla’s tango I will use his own piece “Adios Nonino”, a song he wrote when his father died and that represents all his feelings and talent in an emblematic master piece. The essay will be divided in three main parts: The first deals with structure of the pieces, the second with rhythm, and the third with melody. This work is also complemented by the reduction scores of each piece and an aural sample of each piece that doesn’t necessary correspond with the score. I know that tango pieces are many and it is infinite the number of aspect to consider in the search of tango identity and its differences with other styles, but just comparing this two pieces is a good beginning to a research and discovering adventure that could last during my whole life.

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Structure analysis and comparison of the pieces

Ramón Pelinski says that like Euro-Afro-American music in general, the tango has two sections, one (rhythmic) in verse form and another (melodic) in refrain form, which were preceded by an introduction and joined together by a bridge. Also, these sections commonly feature two opposite tonalities (major-minor or the other way around)8, although this is not always true. It is interesting to see how our tango in question by Piazzolla follows this two-section structure while the symbolic tango “La cumparsita” actually presents a structure of three main sections. A simple diagram of the structure of “Adios Nonino” would be: ABAB where section A goes from measure 1 to measure 17, and section B goes from measure 18 to measure 50/51. But it is clear that Piazzolla doesn’t like conventionalism so it expected that for every time this song is performed there would be a change in its structure by adding some measures to the very first introduction, or by starting with section B instead of section A (as Leopoldo Federico and his orchestra do in their version of “Adios Nonino”, included in the complementary CD). Even though the song “Adiós Nonino” is never sung, it is appreciated by the score that it has a first section as an introduction. This is characterized by its rhythmic richness and dialogue between motives.

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Ramón Pelinski, “Astor Piazzolla: entre tango y fuga, en busca de una identidad estilística”. p. 4. 6

E.g.:

The first two measures present motivic development through the utilization of call and response. In the piano reduction score it is seen how the right hand “calls” with an ascending arpeggio and the left hand “responds” with a sequence of descendent chords (F-, Eb and Db). By hearing the aural sample of Piazzolla’s quintet Nuevo Tango it is easier to distinguish these two small structures: At 2:14 the bandoneón plays a noticeable antecedent which corresponds to the first measure from the score, and at 2:16 the consequent appears. Also, it is easier to recognize it because the slight breath of the bandoneón in between those two motives. The second section of the song is characterized by its melody (“TEMA”), Piazzolla used legato in the phrases and simplicity in the rhythm with quarter notes in the accompaniment. This matches very well with what tango is supposed to be: a rhythmic section and a melodic section. Remember that rhythm and melody will be analyzed by themselves and deeply in the other parts of this essay. The diagram of structure of “La cumparsita” is AABBACCA and this is likely to not be changed as much as Piazzolla does with his compositions.

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Section A is the measures from 1 to 16; section B the measures from 17 to 29; and section C the measures from 30 to 44. Although, if we consider this tango as having an introductory section (A) and also consider it as a bridge between sections B and C, and as a Coda or ending, then it can be said that this tango does matches with Pelinski’s tango form. This piece, just like “Adios Nonino”, also develops contrasting motives. All measures from 1 to 8 make together a hypermeasure that starts with the dominant 7th chord on D and finishes with a G- chord. This contrasts the second hypermeasure from measure 9 to 16 that starts with the C minor chord and finishes again with a G- chord.

Hypermeasure 1

Hypermeasure 2 Hypermeasure 2

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Having a clearly defined structure (like “La cumparista”) always makes it easier for the dancers to understand the piece. Piazzolla always played with the structure of his pieces, one reason why dancers and audience found his music difficult to follow.

Rhythm analysis and comparison of the pieces

Tango is characterized by its distinctive and playful rhythm. Full of syncopation, rests and unpredictable off beats accent, the rhythm of tango comes from the Andalusian tango and the habanera of the nineteenth century.9 Most of the time tango is in two-four (which gives to tango a fast and active tempo), and its irregular accent system, which sets out the sixteenth notes in groups of three-three-two (3-3-2):

♪. ♪. ♪ But this order comes from the formula 3-1-2-2, which has been present in tango and milonga since the end of the nineteenth century:

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Pelinski, p. 8. 9

It is easy to see how the “3-3-2” comes from this last structure just by using a tie joining the last sixteenth note from the first beat with the eighth note of the second beat:

Our traditional tango, “La cumparsita”, uses the 3-1-2-2 rhythmic formula. Being from the beginning of the twentieth century (1915-16), this song has all the rhythm qualities of the old tango derived from la milonga.

In this last example, the 3-1-2-2 rhythmic formula is played by the accompaniment. Also, many other rhythms are derived from this same formula: a) By joining notes:

b) By dividing notes:

c) By rearranging notes:

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An example of a in “La cumparsita” is:

An example b in “La cumparsita” is:

And an example of c in “La cumparsita” is:

Like most of tangos, “La cumparsita” is in two-four and if we hear the aural sample it is clear how this condition makes it active and fast. On the other hand, Piazzolla uses four-four time. As Enrique Roizner said: “His music has very sad and slow moments in four-four…”10 Piazzolla liked to develop a melody, and because most of his songs are not sung, he put all his effort into the expressive quality of his melodies and harmonies. A four-four time signature allowed him to develop a slower and deeper music rather than a fast a solid structured one.

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Dibb.

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Within the four-four time signature, Piazzolla moved the 3-3-2 formula from twofour to four-four, maintaining the three beats or accents in each bar. In regards to the 3-3-2 he said: “Tango is four beats […]. I used three, a layout that I introduced in the four-four; I used three beats inserted in those four”11 Although, Piazzolla did not utilize the 3-3-2 formula just like it is, he used the 3-3-2 in order to derive some other rhythms. An example from “Adiós Nonino” is the formula (1)-3-3-1, where the number in brackets represents a rest.12

Referring to the syncopation in tango, both composers show this essential characteristic in their pieces. In measures 29, 30 and 31 of “La cumparsita”, Rodriguez uses syncopation (in sixteenth notes) in the melody over a sequence of continuous eighth notes in the bass:

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García Brunelli, p 171 Pelinski, p 9

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Piazzolla, for his part, uses the syncopation (in eighth notes) in bars 9 and 10 over the quarter-note pulsation in the bass:

Another important rhythmic element of tango is the use of ostinato. It is seen in both pieces how ostinato is always present. The piece of Piazzolla has the perfect example of the second section where the melody of the song is developed over a bass ostinato in quarter notes:

Whereas in the introduction of “La cumparsita” (section A), Rodriguez uses an ostinato bass of rhythm

from measure 1 to 8.

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As I said in the introduction, Piazzolla has much influence from the jazz and classical music because of his music studies in New York, Argentina, and France (with Nadia Boulanger). From all those factors, Piazzolla also used some features from jazz and Baroque music in his compositions. In tango, the off beat accent on the last eighth note of a measure and the second one of the next measure recalls to the syncopation of jazz (because the off beat accent and the rhythmic acceleration of the melody).13

Also, the fact that the syncopation can become a mordente has an approximation to Baroque ornamentation.14 Even though Piazzolla changes the time signature in his compositions and uses elements from jazz and classical music, he still keeps the rhythmic identity of tango as syncopation and ostinato, and keeps the tango’s main formula of three beats in a bar, which derives from the mentioned 3-3-2.

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Pelinski, p12 Ibid.

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Melody analysis and comparison of the pieces

As to melody, in tango, as in any other kind of music, there is not much to analyze, because what is melody if it is not a representation of emotions through sound. As a poem can be analyzed for the number of words that each verse has, music can be analyzed by looking at the way the notes are put together. However, the beauty and emotion of music cannot be distinguished by recognizing the contrast, tune or melodic contour, but by being sensitive. In fact, tango is characterized by an emotional and mostly sad melody. Especially if we talk about Piazzolla, his melodies have an expressive impact, which is a combination of life experience and musical influences. As a result Piazzolla’s music is quite complex. By looking at “Adiós Nonino” and its melody, the first thing we can notice is its complexity. Just by looking at the first two measures and comparing them with the beginning of “La cumparsita”, we notice that it has a more complex development of phrasing between the high notes and the bass. As I say before, even though the first section of “Adios Nonino” is characterized by rhythm more than melody, it has a more motive development than “La cumparsita”. After the first two measures there is already a phrase, whereas in “La cumparsita” it takes until the first eight measures to develop at least one hypermeasure. Now, in the second section where the melody is actually developed, we can notice a particular and interesting phenomenon that Piazzolla creates. He develops a sad

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and emotional expression based on a four measure long phrase and in a curious dark mayor key (Ab) that is able to create a nostalgic and melancholic feeling:

In “La cumparsita”, fast and short phrases with contrasting tonality (G- and C-):

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If we now listen to the aural sample of “Adios Nonino” and focus on the melody section (0:46) we can hear how the expressive melody is intensified by the sad sound quality of the violin (especially when it reaches the high notes) and also by the slower tempo (affected by the four-four time signature). Even when the bandoneón plays this same part the second time (3:23) the melody is intensified in the same way and communicates the sadness and emotions from Piazzolla (remember that this song was composed in memory of his recently deceased father). The bandoneón has a protagonist role in Piazzolla’s music. It characteristic sound is one of the man tools Piazzolla used to create his emotive and sad melodies. As Piazzolla said ”Bandoneón was played in the whore’s houses, but it was quickly adapted to tango because it has a very sad sound”.

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If we now go to the climax of the melody (1:40) we notice that one more time the high notes reached by the instrument give the audience the emotion and expected excitement:

In “La Cumparsita”, the climax is also enhanced by high notes:

However, the difference is clear between the rhythmic motive that uses fast and marked sixteenth notes, and the slow rhythmic motive of “Adios Nonino” which uses half and eighth notes. There are still some similarities between the melodies of the two pieces. If we look at the melodic profile, we can notice how both introductions of the songs present a rising melodic movement contrasting to a falling melodic movement.

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(Adios Nonino)

(La Cumparsita)

In addition, “La cumparsita” has a counterpoint melody played by the violin, which is also rising but not falling until it reaches the fourth bar:

This shows the actual capacity that Piazzolla had to compose melodies, making phrases and breaking them down in order to derive new ones.

Conclusion

This essay was aimed at finding characteristics and details that provide evidence as to whether the work of Piazzolla was tango or not. Personally, after doing all this work I can understand why tango composers, tango players and people in general started to become annoyed and disturbed by the music of Piazzolla. He actually changed things; he created and fused other styles of music with the tango. It was more difficult to dance and it was not clear and simple music anymore, but if Piazzolla did or did not compose tango is a “picky” question that only conservative people ask themselves. Piazzolla is for sure a tango player and

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a tango composer and those who think that it is not, it is just because a thing of liking. All his life he was in touch with tango, he based his compositions on tango structure (Introduction, rhythm, melody), and he kept and derived all his rhythmic formulas from the 3-3-2, but he was just a man that wanted to make a difference as many other people in the world and in the history of music. As Amelita Baltar said “Astor tore down walls. He destroyed structures to develop his music.”15 Developing a tradition is always difficult and there are many people who are against it. As the guitarist Oscar Lopez Ruiz said: “There were traditional musicians who were against him […] they didn’t love him too much in Argentina and the tangueros not at all […] He had a big fight here, but I think he enjoyed it”16 Piazzolla was, without any doubt, a brave person who took a huge risk and jumped to an adventure of exploration and discovery. Even though, for many, his music was not what they liked, for others, like the Parisian cellist Yo-Yo Ma, it was inspiration and quality. There are even tango dance companies from all over the world that use Piazzolla’s composition in their performances. This means that for dancing his music is no less appropriate than traditional tango. I am content to identify Piazzolla’s music as an honest, expressive and genuine new kind of tango. As Piazzolla said: “It is in my blood, I am a man of tango.”17

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Dibb. Ibid. 17 Ibid. 16

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References

García Brunelli, Omar. "La obra de Astor Piazzolla y su relación con el tango como especie de música popular urbana." Revista del Instituto de Investigación Musicológica “Carlos Vega” Nº 12 1992, p. 155

Pelinski, Ramón. "Astor Piazzolla : entre tango y fuga, en busca de una identidad estilística."

Ramón

Pelinski.

30

Novemebr

2007.

26

July

2007

.

Azzi, Maria Susana and Simon Collier. Le Grand Tango: The Life and Music of Astor Piazzolla. Azzi. Us: Oxford Press University, 2000.

Arteche, Miguel. Carlos Gardel: Tango que me hiciste bien. Andrés Bello. Santiago de Chile: 1985.

Rodriguez Villar, Antonio. "Tango needs not to be changed.” Todo Tango. 2006. 5 Jan 2008 .

Nudler,

Julio.

"Astor

Piazzolla."

Todo

Tango.

2006.

30

july

2007

.

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Astaria, Gaspar. "Adios Nonino." Todo Tango. 16 January 1999. 15 Jan 2008 .

García Blaya, Ricardo. "La Cumparsita." Todo Tango. 2006. 15 June 2007 .

"Notable

Tango

quotes."

Libertango.

2001.

6

January

2008

.

Pessini, Jorge and Carlos Kuri. "Astor Piazzolla: Chronology of a Revolution." Piazzolla.org. 2002. 26 May 2007 .

Dibb, Mike. 2003. Mike Dibb: Tango Maestro-The Life and Music of Astor Piazzolla. Directed by Mike Dibb. 106 min. BBC. DVD.

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Discography

“Astor Piazzolla y su Quinteto Tango Nuevo – Adios Nonino.” You tube Broadcast Yourself. 2006. 26 July 2007 .

Aires de Tango. Chile: Chilevision. 2007.

Todo Piazzolla (2CD). Argentina: Columbia/Sony Music. 1997.

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