Astor Piazzolla died in 1992 at the age of 71. He was the one who renewed the Tango by adding jazz techniques and his natural talent for improvisation on the bandoneón, as well as influences from the European classical music tradition. The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires are a good example of this. They represent a dialogue with Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, set against the backdrop of the “porteño” landscapes.
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Although inspired by Vivaldi’s most famous work, Piazzolla did not feel compelled to follow a predetermined script. Nevertheless, he sought characteristic sounds and effects that engage with the same scenes evoked by the Venetian composer, particularly with his musical poetics. Here, Nature dissolves into the bustle of Buenos Aires city life. Autumn, winter, spring, and summer unfold in intricate intertwinings, featuring quotations from Vivaldi’s most famous melodies, imitations of cicada sounds, and even a distant echo of Pachelbel’s canon.
Among the many references that explicitly connect with the past, Piazzolla’s music inevitably transports us to another hemisphere—specifically to the poor port neighborhood of Buenos Aires where Tango was born. For this reason, they are called the Four Seasons of Buenos Aires. Created between 1965 and 1970, without the intention of forming a set, none of the four pieces tells a narrative. Freely inspired by Baroque musical archetypes, they explore different expressive registers related to the “moods” of the seasons, as well as the worldview of a major Latin American metropolis in the second half of the twentieth century.
Rui Campos Leitão
Image: «El Viejo Almacén», current façade of the Buenos Aires restaurant dedicated to tango in the 1970s | Jrivell, “Bar Viejo Almacén,” 2013. Licensed under CC-BY-SA-3.0, via Wikimedia Commons