The tango is an Argentine dance, apparently originating in the poor neighborhoods of Buenos Aires in the late 19th Century, with roots in milonga (an Argentine traditional song form characterized by wry and playful texts) and Cuban dances such as the habanera. Like those antecedents, it has strong rhythmic elements and dynamic contrasts. Tango dancers are in tight embrace, their movements often in sudden, almost violent, change. In short, the tango is a very sexy dance!

Astor Piazzolla (1921-1991) is considered the most important figure in the history of tango. He was a national hero, a cult figure in both classical and jazz music who took the “earthy, sensual, even disreputable folk music” of Argentina and elevated it into a sophisticated form of high art. In his hands, the tango broke the bounds of dance music. Eventually in a form he called “Tango Nuevo,” it experimentally borrowed from classical and jazz forms and created new harmony and rhythm made more for the concert hall than the ballroom. (In the 1970s Piazzolla worked with a nonet called Conjunto 9, giving his work a more commercial rock/jazz-influenced sound than it had before.) Initially, tango purists attacked him for abandoning tradition (which actually helped drive him out of his country for several years), but he remained internationally respected as the tango’s emissary to the world.

History of Tango, written sometime before 1985 (we’ve been unable to track down a specific date), was composed originally for flute and guitar or violin and guitar. It was Piazzolla’s attempt to point out that the tango went through a musical evolution in the course of the 20th Century, altering its sound and mood through that process and time span. Today we’ll hear three of the suite’s original four movements.

• Bordel 1900 reminds us that, like North American jazz, the tango found its first home in bordellos. The relatively genteel milonga is jolted into a new form, eroticized by an exaggerated rhythm which was certainly not acceptable in “polite society.”
• Café 1930 reflects on the fact that, by that decade, the tango had become the favorite dance of all Argentine classes – and was known around the world as a “daring” dance. This movement has been described as a ”respectful depiction of the full-blown traditional tango,” and Piazzolla is writing directly from his memories of the type of tango heard in Argentine cafés of that time.
• Nightclub 1960 documents the time when Piazzolla returned to Buenos Aires after his efforts to create Jazz Tango in the United States. An early version of the composer’s “Tango Nuevo,” here we find more sophisticated jazz elements enlivening a music Piazzolla felt had become too standardized and complacent.

Manuel de Falla (1876-1946) was probably the most important figure in Spanish music in the first half of the 20th Century, following in the footsteps – and building on the traditions - of Isaac Albéniz (1860-1909) and Enrique Granados (1867-1916). Falla’s musical output was relatively small, but it is fastidiously conceived and crafted, with a subtle ear for color. His mature works are often described as Spanish but – as one writer has noted – “filtered through a French-derived workmanship,” not surprising since, after winning a national prize for his opera La vida breve (The Short Life) in 1905, Falla went to live and work in Paris for seven years. He was influenced by Debussy impressionism, but Falla’s musical voice is distinctly his own.

The Canciónes Populaires Españolas were written originally for voice and piano around 1914. Although they are heard frequently in vocal recitals, violinists and ‘cellists have found them irresistible and perform their own arrangements of them. The originally-specified accompaniment is for piano, but its phrases and gestures are reminiscent of the guitar, so today’s duo seems very much in line with the spirit of the music.

We shall hear six of the original seven songs, and though they will not be sung, we thought you might find their original texts of interest as you hear the instrumental versions.

• El paño moruno (The Moorish Cloth): “The fine cloth in the store has been soiled. It sells for less now, for it has lost its value. Ay!”
• Asturiana (Song fron Asturia): “Seeking consolation, I drew near a green pine tree. Seeing me cry, the pine tree, being green, cried.”
• Jota: “They say we don’t love each other because they don’t see us talking. They can very well ask your heart and mine. I leave now from your house and your window. Although your mother disapproves, goodbye, my girl, until tomorrow.”
• Nana (Lullaby): “Sleep, my child, sleep my dearest, sleep, little star of the morning. Lullaby.”
• Canción (Song): “Your eyes - for they are traitors - I will bury them. You don’t know how hard it is, my girl, to look at them. Mother! They say you don’t love me, but you once did. Let’s take what we’ve won for what we have lost. Mother!”
• Polo: ”Ay! I have sorrow in my heart, Ay! Of which I’ll tell no one. Curse be on love. Ay! And on one who first taught me love! Ay!

The great Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616) has two quotes about music in his monumental novel Don Quixote: “Where there is music, there can’t be mischief,” and “He who sings frightens away his ills.”