Ástor Pantaleón Piazzolla was born in Mar del Plata, Argentina in 1921 to immigrant Italian parents, Piazzolla spent most of his childhood with his family in New York City. While there, he acquired fluency in four languages: Spanish, English, French, and Italian. He also started playing the bandoneon, quickly rising to the status of child prodigy. While still quite young, he met Carlos Gardel, another great figure of Argentine tango. He returned to Argentina in 1937, where strictly traditional tango still reigned, and played in night clubs with a series of groups. The pianist Arthur Rubinstein (then living in Buenos Aires) advised him to study with the Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera. Delving into scores of Stravinsky, Bartók, Ravel, and others, he gave up tango temporarily and worked as a modernist classical composer.
At Ginastera's urging, in 1953 Piazzolla entered his "Buenos Aires" Symphony in a composition contest, and won a grant from the French government to study in Paris with the French composer and conductor Nadia Boulanger. The insightful Boulanger turned his life around in a day, as Piazzolla tells beautifully in his own words:
"When I met her, I showed her my kilos of symphonies and sonatas. She started to read them and suddenly came out with a horrible sentence: ‘It's very well written.’ And stopped, with a big period, round like a soccer ball. After a long while, she said: “Here you are like Stravinsky, like Bartók, like Ravel, but you know what happens? I can't find Piazzolla in this.” And she began to investigate my private life: what I did, what I did and did not play, if I was single, married, or living with someone, she was like an FBI agent! And I was very ashamed to tell her that I was a tango musician. Finally I said, “I play in a ‘night club.’” I didn't want to say “cabaret.” And she answered, “Night club, mais oui, but that is a cabaret, isn't it?” “Yes,” I answered, and thought, “I'll hit this woman in the head with a radio....” It wasn't easy to lie to her.
She kept asking: “You say that you are not pianist. What instrument do you play, then?” And I didn't want to tell her that I was a bandoneon player, because I thought, “Then she will throw me from the fourth floor.” Finally, I confessed and she asked me to play some bars of a tango of my own. She suddenly opened her eyes, took my hand and told me: “You idiot, that's Piazzolla!” And I took all the music I composed, ten years of my life, and sent it to hell in two seconds."
Piazzolla returned to Argentina in 1955, formed the Octeto Buenos Aires to play tangos, and never looked back.
Upon introducing his new approach to the tango (nuevo tango), he became a controversial figure among Argentines both musically and politically. The Argentine saying "in Argentina everything may change — except the tango" suggests some of the resistance he found in his native land. 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.
During the period of Argentine military dictatorship from 1976 to 1983, Piazzolla lived in France, but returned many times to Argentina, recorded there, and on at least one occasion had lunch with the dictator Jorge Rafael Videla. However, his relationship with the dictator might have been less than friendly, as recounted in Astor Piazzolla, A manera de Memorias (a comprehensive collection of interviews, constituting a memoir):
In 1990 he suffered a thrombosis in Paris and he passed away two years later in Buenos Aires.
Piazzolla's nuevo 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. Piazzolla also introduced new instruments that were not used in the traditional tango, including the flute, saxophone, electric guitar, electronic instruments, and a full jazz/rock drum kit.
Piazzolla played with numerous ensembles beginning with the 1946 Orchestra, the 1955 "Octeto Buenos Aires", the 1960 "First Quintet", the 1971 "Noneto", the 1978 "Second Quintet" and the 1989 "Sextet". As well as providing original compositions and arrangements, he was the director and Bandoneon player in all of them. He also recorded an album with jazz sax player Gerry Mulligan. His numerous compositions include orchestral work such as the "Concierto para Bandoneón, Orquesta, Cuerdas y Percusión", "Doble-Concierto para Bandoneón y Guitarra", "Tres Tangos Sinfónicos" and "Concierto de Nácar para 9 Tanguistas y Orquesta", as well as song-form compositions that still today are well known by the general public in his country, like "Balada para un loco" (Ballad for a madman) and "Adiós Nonino" (dedicated to his father) which he recorded many times with different musicians and ensembles. Biographers estimate that Piazzolla wrote around 3,000 pieces and recorded around 500.
He suffered a cerebral haemorrhage in Paris on 4 August 1990, which left him in a coma, and died in Buenos Aires, just under two years later on 4 July 1992, without regaining consciousness.
other albums not listed here
~ The Birth of Tango Nuevo, Vol. 1 - Sinfonia de Tango
~ Mis 30 Mejores Tangos
~ Piazzolla Interpreta A. Piazzolla (Original Album - Remastered)
~ Ensayos
~ Tiempo Nuevo
~ Se Armó
~ El Milrago - The Early Recordings, Vol. 2 (Astor Piazzolla With His First Own Orchestra, So Called 1946 Band.)
~ Tango Moderno
Balada para mi muerte
Astor Piazzolla Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
guardaré mansamente las cosas de vivir,
mi pequeña poesía de adioses y de balas,
mi tabaco, mi tango, mi puñado de esplín.
Me pondré por los hombros, de abrigo, toda el alba,
mi penúltimo whisky quedará sin beber,
llegará, tangamente, mi muerte enamorada,
Hoy que Dios me deja de soñar,
a mi olvido iré por Santa Fe,
sé que en nuestra esquina vos ya estás
toda de tristeza, hasta los pies.
Abrazame fuerte que por dentro
me oigo muertes, viejas muertes,
agrediendo lo que amé.
Alma mía, vamos yendo,
llega el día, no llorés.
Moriré en Buenos Aires, será de madrugada,
que es la hora en que mueren los que saben morir.
Flotará en mi silencio la mufa perfumada
de aquel verso que nunca yo te supe decir.
Andaré tantas cuadras y allá en la plaza Francia,
como sombras fugadas de un cansado ballet,
repitiendo tu nombre por una calle blanca,
se me irán los recuerdos en puntitas de pie.
Moriré en Buenos Aires, será de madrugada,
guardaré mansamente las cosas de vivir,
mi pequeña poesía de adioses y de balas,
mi tabaco, mi tango, mi puñado de esplín.
Me pondré por los hombros, de abrigo, toda el alba,
mi penúltimo whisky quedará sin beber,
llegará, tangamente, mi muerte enamorada,
yo estaré muerto, en punto, cuando sean las seis,
cuando sean las seis, ¡cuando sean las seis!
In Astor Piazzolla's song "Balada para mi muerte," the singer reflects on his impending death in Buenos Aires, at dawn. He plans to calmly prepare the things he'll take with him into death: "my small poetry of goodbyes and bullets, my tobacco, my tango, my handful of spleen." The singer imagines his death in a romanticized way, personifying Death as "enamored" with him and arriving at exactly 6 o'clock when he will already be dead.
The second verse introduces the singer's lover, who is already mourning him at their corner in Santa Fe. The singer pleads with his lover to hold him tight as he experiences a cacophony of emotions and prepares to depart. The singer's journey through the city serves as a meditation on the life he's leaving behind: he walks the streets like a "tired ballet," repeating his lover's name and watching his memories dissipate. The final verse reiterates the singer's preparations for death, reminding us of his stoicism and the mourning his death will cause.
Line by Line Meaning
Moriré en Buenos Aires, será de madrugada,
I will die in Buenos Aires, in the wee hours of the morning.
guardaré mansamente las cosas de vivir,
I will quietly store away the things that belong to life.
mi pequeña poesía de adioses y de balas,
My small collection of goodbyes and bullets, my farewell poem.
mi tabaco, mi tango, mi puñado de esplín.
My tobacco, my tango, my handful of spleen.
Me pondré por los hombros, de abrigo, toda el alba,
I will wrap the dawn around my shoulders with my coat.
mi penúltimo whisky quedará sin beber,
My second-to-last whiskey will remain untouched.
llegará, tangamente, mi muerte enamorada,
My death, in its passionate embrace, will come tangentially.
yo estaré muerto, en punto, cuando sean las seis.
I will be dead on the dot when the clock strikes six.
Hoy que Dios me deja de soñar,
Now that God stops dreaming of me,
a mi olvido iré por Santa Fe,
I will go to my own oblivion through Santa Fe.
sé que en nuestra esquina vos ya estás
I know that you are already at our corner
toda de tristeza, hasta los pies.
Full of sadness, right down to your toes.
Abrazame fuerte que por dentro
Hug me tight because inside of me
me oigo muertes, viejas muertes,
I hear deaths, old deaths,
agrediendo lo que amé.
Attacking what I loved.
Alma mía, vamos yendo,
My soul, let's go
llega el día, no llorés.
The day has come, do not cry.
que es la hora en que mueren los que saben morir.
As is the hour when those who know how to die, die.
Flotará en mi silencio la mufa perfumada
The scented bitterness will float in my silence
de aquel verso que nunca yo te supe decir.
Of that verse that I never knew how to say to you.
Andaré tantas cuadras y allá en la plaza Francia,
I will walk so many blocks and there, in Plaza Francia,
como sombras fugadas de un cansado ballet,
like shadows fleeing a tired ballet,
repitiendo tu nombre por una calle blanca,
repeating your name along a white street.
se me irán los recuerdos en puntitas de pie.
My memories will slip away on tiptoe.
cuando sean las seis, ¡cuando sean las seis!
when the clock strikes six, when the clock strikes six!
Contributed by Jonathan N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@hnirvana19832006
MAGISTRAL!, felicidades Argentina por las excelentes voces y artistas que dan al mundo. Saludos desde Mexico.
@ANTONIORamirez-tf3su
Maravillosa composición la "Balada para mi muerte" del genial Astor Poazzolla, y magnifica interpretación de Amelita Baltar. Un regalo para los sentidos y los sentimientos. Gracias a ambos.
@rosarioponce456
ANTONIO Ramirez excelente interpretacion !!!!
@aldoraulduete9503
La.letra es del querido uruguayo (rioplatense como el se identificaba ) Horacio Ferrer.
@MrDepech23
Esta canción refleja tanto , sentir , emociones , lágrimas ,gracias grande interpretación ... Ya quisiera estar en Argentina ...Lima-Perú
@rosarioponce456
Ivo Espinoza
@abelardocardona8013
Mil gracias por compartir esta sentida interpretación 👌Un saludo especial desde Colombia!
@jberhau
Y una magnífica letra escrita por el uruguayo Horacio Ferrer....
@bernardocarlosblanco8397
Que como dice en este bello tango murió en Buenos Aires, en su departamento del Hotel Palacio Alvear en el barrio de Recoleta, cerca del famoso cementerio de Recoleta, ya que hablamos de muertes.
@valentinalorcatango6246
Tremendo!!! que sublime interpretación de Amelita, junto al gran Astor.