Maria de Buenos Aires
Tango Suite
by Astor Piazzolla
Concert Band - Sheet Music

Concert band Voice and concert band - Grade 4

SKU: BF.BM1150-SCORE

Tango Suite. Composed by Astor Piazzolla. Arranged by Gregor Kovacic. Baton Music orchestral series. Full score. Baton Music #BM1150-SCORE. Published by Baton Music (BF.BM1150-SCORE).

Astor Piazzolla (1921 - 1992) was an Argentine tango composer, bandoneon player and arranger. His oeuvre revolutionised the traditional tango into a new style termed 'nuevo tango', incorporating elements from jazz and classical music. He is best known for his 'Libertango' and 'Adiós Nonino'. In 1968 Piazzolla composed the 'operita', (little opera) 'María de Buenos Aires' in which he combines classical contrapuntal techniques learned from Nadia Boulanger with the vertically harmonic 'milongas' and mid-century jazz. The music draws on the ‘nuevo tango’ idiom for which Piazzolla is famous. The ill-omened María, born ‘one day when God was drunk’ in a poor suburb of Buenos Aires, heads to the centre of Buenos Aires, where she is seduced by the music of the tango and becomes a streetwalker. Thieves and brothel keepers, gathered at a black mass resolve her death. After her death, she is condemned to a hell which is the city itself: her Shadow, now walks the city. She has returned to virginity, is impregnated by the word of the goblin poet, and gives birth to a Child María, who may be herself. Slovenian arranger Gregor Kovacic arranged a ‘Tango Suite’ from ‘María de Buenos Aires’ for Voice, Accordion and Symphonic Band. Optional, the accordion part can also be played by the orchestra.