- Written in 1985, Piazzolla’s Histoire du Tango is a four-movement work for flute and guitar that follows the evolution of the tango in the 20th century.
- Piazzolla provided the following program notes for each movement:
- Bordel, 1900: The tango originated in Buenos Aires in 1882. It was first played on the guitar and flute. Arrangements then came to include the piano, and later, the concertina. This music is full of grace and liveliness. It paints a picture of the good-natured chatter of the French, Italian, and Spanish women who peopled those bordellos as they teased the policemen, thieves, sailors, and riffraff who came to see them. This is a high-spirited tango.
- Café, 1930: This is another age of the tango. People stopped dancing it as they did in 1900, preferring instead simply to listen to it. It became more musical and more romantic. This tango has undergone total transformation: the movements are slower, with new and often melancholy harmonies. Tango orchestras come to consist of two violins, two concertinas, a piano, and a bass. The tango is sometimes sung as well.
- Nightclub, 1960: This is a time of rapidly expanding international exchange, and the tango evolves again as Brazil and Argentina come together in Buenos Aires. The bossa nova and the new tango are moving to the same beat. Audiences rush to the nightclubs to listen earnestly to the new tango. This marks a revolution and a profound alteration in some of the original tango forms.
- Concert d’aujourd’hui (Modern-Day Concert): Certain concepts in tango music become intertwined with modern music. Bartók, Stravinsky, and other composers reminisce to the tune of tango music. This [is] today’s tango, and the tango of the future as well.1
Sources
- Wikipedia contributors, “Histoire du Tango,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia (2026), accessed August 31, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Histoire_du_Tango&oldid=1362440916.
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