Astor Piazzolla

Astor Piazzolla

Astor PiazzollaÁstor Pantaleón Piazzolla (March 11, 1921 – July 4, 1992) was an Argentine tango composer and bandoneón player. His oeuvre revolutionized the traditional tango into a new style termed nuevo tango, incorporating elements from jazz and classical music. An excellent bandoneonist, he regularly performed his own compositions with different ensembles.

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. As Argentine psychoanalyst Carlos Kuri has pointed out, Piazzolla's fusion of tango with this wide range of other recognizable Western musical elements was so successful that it produced a new individual style transcending these influences. It is precisely this success, and individuality, that makes it hard to pin down where particular influences reside in his compositions, but some aspects are clear. The use of the passacaglia technique of a circulating bass line and harmonic sequence, invented and much used in 17th and 18th century baroque music but also central to the idea of jazz "changes", predominates in most of Piazzolla's mature compositions. Another clear reference to the baroque is the often complex and virtuosic counterpoint that sometimes follows strict fugal behavior but more often simply allows each performer in the group to assert his voice. A further technique that emphasises this sense of democracy and freedom among the musicians is improvisation that is borrowed from jazz in concept, but in practice involves a different vocabulary of scales and rhythms that stay within the parameters of the established tango sound-world. Pablo Ziegler has been particularly responsible for developing this aspect of the style both within Piazzolla's groups and since the composer's death.

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Total 1763 sheet(s) found, listing between 0 - 20.
Song Added By Pages Instruments Sheet Type File
oblivion lzy123529 (2)
2420d ago
8 Saxophone Original
Libertango musict (15)
2594d ago
8 Cello, Violin, Viola Transcription
Libertango jkas (1)
2624d ago
5 Piano Transcription
Tears In Heaven vivilike_16 (1)
3127d ago
6 Piano, Vocal Original
Greatest hits johncarre (23)
3161d ago
50 Piano, Guitar, Vocal Book
Eric Clapton. Guitar PA vol.24. bagish207 (216)
3273d ago
56 Guitar Book
Eric Clapton. Sheet and tabs. Guitar PA vol.24. bagish207 (216)
3273d ago
0 Guitar Tab
No Woman No Cry breyne (12)
3439d ago
4 Piano Transcription
Five Tango Sensations portenodunord (1)
3552d ago
53 Cello, Violin, Viola, Accordion Other
oblivion joaogentil (3)
3597d ago
1 Accordion Book
10 Greatest Hits svda (39)
3615d ago
50 Piano Book
no woman no cry peter2105 (2)
3668d ago
1 Piano Transcription
change the world entchen (16)
3706d ago
6 Piano, Guitar, Vocal Original
An Old Love Song metoo76 (2)
3757d ago
4 Guitar Transcription
Tears In Heaven jessalyna (5)
3767d ago
5 Piano, Guitar, Vocal Original
Tears In Heaven abyssine (96)
3773d ago
5 Piano Original
No Woman No Cry zander_vdl (3)
3778d ago
4 Piano Original
Tears In Heaven sano236 (234)
3788d ago
4 Vocal Transcription
Calambre zucca (1)
3837d ago
1 Piano, Guitar Other
Libertango yose16 (7)
3955d ago
12 Accordion Transcription