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
Revirado
Astor Piazzolla Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Es fing so gut an.
Ich hatte Erfolg und ich wurde dein Mann.
Doch ich muß gesteh'n
Ich hab' auch mal versagt
Du hast mir vergeben und niemals geklagt.
Amanda
Bleib wie du bist
Auch wenn du mal nicht sprichst.
Amanda
Ich mag dich sehr
Du bist meine Frau und ich liebe dich sehr!
Ich machte Karriere
Es ging stets bergauf
Dann wurd' es mal schwerer
Die Jobs blieben aus
Nach rosigen Zeiten gab's Jahre in grau
Doch Liebe bleibt Liebe
Du bist meine Frau.
Amanda
Bleib wie du bist
Du sagst mir viel
Auch wenn du mal nicht sprichst.
Amanda
Ich mag dich sehr
Du bist meine Frau und ich liebe dich sehr!
Amanda
Bleib wie du bist
Du sagst mir viel
Auch wenn du mal nicht sprichst.
Amanda
Ich mag dich sehr
Du bist meine Frau und ich liebe dich sehr!
These lyrics belong to Astor Piazzolla's song Revirado. The singer begins by saying that this song is his life, and it started off well. He had success and became someone's man. But he admits that he has also failed before, and that person (Amanda) forgave him without complaint. He then praises Amanda, telling her to stay as she is because she says a lot even when she doesn't speak. He loves her very much and she is his wife.
Moving on to his career, he says that he was always climbing up until it became more difficult and jobs started running out. After good times come gray years, but love remains love and Amanda stays his wife. He repeats the chorus, telling Amanda to be herself because she says a lot even when she's quiet and that he loves her very much and she is his wife.
These lyrics are a testament to the power of love and forgiveness. Even when someone fails, love can still remain and forgive them. The singer sees Amanda as an anchor in his life, someone who remains constant and supportive no matter what happens. It's a reminder that love requires work but can also provide a sense of stability and comfort in difficult times.
Line by Line Meaning
Dies Lied ist mein Leben
This song is my life
Es fing so gut an.
It started so well
Ich hatte Erfolg und ich wurde dein Mann.
I had success and I became your husband
Doch ich muß gesteh'n
But I must confess
Ich hab' auch mal versagt
I have also failed
Du hast mir vergeben und niemals geklagt.
You have forgiven me and never complained
Amanda
Amanda
Bleib wie du bist
Stay the way you are
Du sagst mir viel
You tell me a lot
Auch wenn du mal nicht sprichst.
Even when you don't speak
Ich mag dich sehr
I like you very much
Du bist meine Frau und ich liebe dich sehr!
You are my wife and I love you very much!
Ich machte Karriere
I made a career
Es ging stets bergauf
It was always going up
Dann wurd' es mal schwerer
Then it became harder
Die Jobs blieben aus
The jobs were not coming
Nach rosigen Zeiten gab's Jahre in grau
After the good times, there were years of grey
Doch Liebe bleibt Liebe
But love remains love
Du bist meine Frau.
You are my wife
Contributed by Carter E. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
pabloantonio pizarro bossay
Maestro Astor un ser de Amor y Pasión, interpretando sus obras junto a Extraordinario músicos que fueron parte de su Orquestas..
fabricio ü
Conocí esta pieza hoy en un tributo a Piazzolla y no pude evitar emocionarme, son muchos los sentimientos
Shidi
esta es una de las cuantas razones por la cual estoy orgulloso de de argentino, por tener a estos genios de la música. me hubiera encantado poder escucharlo en vivo, tanto a piazzolla como pichuco, libertella, maffia, entre otros grandes de este género..
Artemio García
Un hombre de un talento extraordinario y una sensibilidad más allá de lo palpable. Lástima que nos duro tan poco!
La Roca Cine
Duro 70 años, un tiempaso, pero a mi no me llego a tiempo para poder verlo en vivo porque yo tenia 14 cuando al genio se le arremolinaron los tangos en la cabeza y lo dejaron plantado hasta que partio, despues empeze a conocer su brutal música , por suerte
Chaotic Firl
Tengo 18 años, y si, el tango no es mi genero favorito, ni uno de mis favoritos. Pero este señor, traspasa los géneros musicales, edad, todo. Se de Piazzolla por mi abuelo que ya no está, así como conozco a Chopin (por dar un ejemplo), y la verdad, solamente genios, como Beethoven, Mahler el mismo Chopin, etc. me hacen emocionar como Piazzolla... y hablo de el en presente, porque como todos los genios de la musica, es eterno. Gracias, Maestro.
Diego German Cora
Chaotic Firl Tenes 18 años y haces mención de Mahler, Beethoven, Chopin y te interesa Piazzolla, evidentemente sabes apreciar la buena música. Y ya que estamos escuchate algo de Debussy.
Clark MirkBell
Una pregunta como se llama la chica de tu foto?
tango feroz
piazzolla esta muy lejos del tango la verdad. Yo lo consideraria musica clasica moderna. Tango es D'arienzo, Pugliese, Salgan, Troilo...
Daniel Bouchet
Querido Astor!! I just love you man.You will never die.