MARIA DE BUENOS AIRES A little tango opera in two parts for orchestra, narrator, and singers Texts by Horacio Ferrer | Music by Ástor Piazzolla Premiere May 8, 1968, Sala Planeta, Buenos Aires NOVEMBER 10, 11, 12, 2O17 The Noah Liff Opera Center Judy & Joe Barker | Jessica & Zach Liff Co-sponsors Directed by John Hoomes Conducted by Dean Williamson Featuring the Nashville Opera Orchestra CAST Maria Cassandra Velesco* El Payador Luis Alejandro Orozco* El Duende Luis Ledesma* Tango Axis Mariela Barufaldi* Jeremías Massera* The Girl Zazou France Gray* Sofia Viglianco* * Nashville Opera debut † Former Mary Ragland Young Artist TICKETS & INFORMATION Contact Nashville Opera at 615.832.5242 or visit nashvilleopera.org. Study Guide Contributors Anna Young, Education Director Cara Schneider, Creative Director THE JUDY & NOAH SUE & EARL LIFF FOUNDATION SWENSSON THE STORY Ástor Piazzolla’s tango opera, Maria de Buenos Aires, premiered on May 8, 1968, in Sala Planeta, Buenos Aires. The seductive quality of nuevo tango and the bandoneon play such an important role, they embody a central character in the story. Some say that the opera is a metaphor for tango and the city of Buenos Aires, with Maria herself being the personification of the tango. The surrealist plot is conveyed with the words of a narrator character and poet, El Payador, and his antithesis El Duende, an Argentinian goblin-spirit from South American mythology whose powers cause the loss of innocence. The opera, separated into two parts, first tells the story of the young Maria, her struggles on earth, and ultimate demise. The libretto states she “was born on the day God was drunk.” In the second part of the opera, we explore her existence as “Shadow Maria,” experiencing the dark underworld of Buenos Aires. The story unfolds with a tangle of dance, religion, and resurrection. Mariela Barufaldi and Jeremías Massera, originally of Buenos Aires, will perform in Nashville Opera’s MARIA DE BUENOS AIRES. They are founders/directors of Tango Axis Argentinian Tango School, Miami, Florida. LISTEN FOR THIS! A very special part of Piazzolla’s orchestra - pushing, and four different keyboard for - break away from tradition; the effect caus - tion and style depend on the seductive mats must be learned in order to the play ing him both political and professional sound of the bandoneon. Though the the instrument. struggle. instrument may resemble the accordion, they are quite different. Invented in 1846 by Heinrich Band in The central idea of nuevo tango is the Krefeld Germany, it was originally intend - blending of jazz and classical music to Many buttons on the bandoneon provide ed for church music. By 1890, the bando - tango using both electric and acoustic a different note or pitch depending on neon was fully accepted into the tango cul - instruments. Innovations including new whether the square-shaped bellows are ture of Buenos Aires and is now thought of rhythms and melodies along with counter - pushed in or pulled out. The Bandoneon as an Argentinian folk instrument. point, aid in the stylistic traits more associ - keyboards are located on both sides of the Nuevo tango (new tango) refers to the evo - ated with the improvisational characteris - instrument asymmetrically. The format of lution of the traditional tango and its com - tics of jazz. Nuevo tango may incorporate a the keyboards change depending on positional style. Ástor Piazzolla is one of chamber ensemble highlighting the bando - whether or not the player is pulling or the first and most famous composers to neon, saxophone, and electric guitar. The bandoneon RECOMMENDED RECORDINGS Kock Int’l Classics, 2006 CD Teldec Classics, 1998, CD Conductor: Murry Sidlin Version by: Gidon Kremer, violinist Artists: Jennifer Hines, Pepé Raphael, Artists: Ástor Piazzolla, Gidon Kremer, Jairo Enrigque E. Andrade, Jorge “Coco” Trivisonno Cascade Festival of Music Chamber Orchestra ABOUT THE COMPOSER ÁSTOR PIAZZOLLA | 1921 –1992 Ástor Piazzolla, composer and virtuosic bandoneon player, was with her he tried to conceal his tango style and work solely on clas - born March 11, 1921, in Mar del Plata, Argentina to a family of sical compositions, but after hearing one of his tango works Italian immigrants. He spent much of his childhood in New York Boulanger encouraged him to remain true to his style and continue City where at the age of 8 his father bought him his first bandoneon writing tango music. at a pawn shop. Piazzolla grew up listening to his father’s tango records, as well as jazz and classical music. In 1933 he Piazzolla combined his passions for classical composi - began studying music with Hungarian classical tion and tango to form two groups, an octet and pianist Bela Wilda who taught him to love a string orchestra, upon his return to Bach, and to play his music on the ban - Argentina. Piazzolla’s new style was doneon. A year later he met Carlos called nuevo tango (new tango) and Gardel who used Piazzolla in his was characterized by new instru - movie El Día que me quieras mental combinations, jazz-like which became an important improvisation, counterpoint, work in the history of tango. and new harmonies and In 1936, Piazzolla and his fam - rhythms. He disbanded ily returned to Mar del Plata these two groups in 1958 and where he began to play with moved to New York where a number of tango orches - he unsuccessfully attempted tras. He was inspired by to blend tango and jazz and Elvino Vardero’s unconven - struggled to make a living. tional interpretation of tango Just a few years later he and took that inspiration to moved back to Argentina and Buenos Aires where he eventu - formed his first and most pop - ally joined the tango orchestra of ular quintet, Quinteto Nuevo Anibal Troilo, one of the greatest Tango. The quintet would tango orchestras of that time. He prove to be the form that best then began taking lessons with expressed Piazzolla’s style of nuevo Alberto Ginastera, a classical Argentinian tango and he went on to write a great composer who taught him the art of orches - deal of music for quintets. tration. While studying piano with Arthur Rubinstein, Piazzolla wrote his first classical works. In 1967 Piazzolla signed a five-year contract with poet and tango lyricist Horatio Ferrer. They collaborated on María de In 1944 Piazzolla left Troilo’s orchestra because of artistic differ - Buenos Aires, a new tango opera, and introduced a new style in the ences. He played with the orchestra that accompanied singer tango genre – the tango song. The two wrote a number of songs Francisco Fiorentino for a short time and in 1946 formed his own together as well as an oratorio entitled El Pueblo Joven which pre - orchestra entitled Orquesta Típica. Leading an orchestra gave miered in Germany in 1971. Afterwards he spent several years com - Piazzolla the liberty to experiment with different styles of orchestra - posing, performing, and recording his music around the world. tion and harmonic content within tango. Around this time he also began composing scores for film. Orquesta Típica did not survive Piazzolla received the honor of Illustrious Citizen of Buenos Aires long and Piazzolla almost abandoned tango completely out of frus - in 1985. He won a number of awards throughout his life including tration. He began listening to jazz and studying classical composi - the Hirsch Prize and the César Award in Paris for best film music, tion intently in search of his own unique musical style. Between and has been nominated for a Grammy in best instrumental com - 1950 and 1954 he composed a series of works that differed greatly position twice. Over the span of his career Piazzolla wrote over from the then-current style of tango. These works helped to define 1,000 works including over 40 film scores. His innovation in tango Piazzolla’s personal style of writing. In August of 1953 he entered and compositional style continues to influence composers and per - his work Buenos Aires for the Fabian Sevitzky Award. Although formers today such as Yo-Yo-Ma, Emmanuel Ax, and the Assad the public was outraged because of his changes to the traditional Brothers. tango orchestra, Piazzolla won the award and was given a grant to study composition in Paris with Nadia Boulanger. While working FUN FACTS Ástor Piazolla was a virtuosic bandoneon player and even played Bach on the instrument! Piazzolla’s first bandoneon was purchased at a pawn shop for $19. Some say that the opera is a metaphor for tango and the city of Buenos Aires, with Maria herself being the personification of tango. Horatio Ferrer, the librettist, wrote in a style of slang called “Lunfardo.” Lunfardo is a mix of Spanish and Italian that is believed to be created by criminals so that police officials couldn’t understand their conversations. Piazzolla’s unique style of composing blends elements of classical music, jazz, and tango. The airport in Piazzolla’s hometown, Mar del Plata, Argentina, is named after him. THE LIBRETTIST HORATIO FERRER cians, such as Ástor Piazzolla, who were cre - opera. At the premiere of the opera in 1968 ating new developments in tango music. He Ferrer played the role of El Duende. After Horatio Ferrer was born in Montevideo, also edited, illustrated, and directed the the opera, Piazzolla and Ferrer continued to the capital of Uruguay, to a well-educated magazine Tangueando. In 1956 he began write tangos together for several years. and artistic family. At a young age he began studying the bandoneon and eventually writing poems and marionettes plays, and joined a small tango orchestra. Three years Horatio Ferrer’s style is characterized by a learned to play the guitar. His Argentinian later he published his first book, El Tango: unique use of language and imagery.