Nuevo Tango
1954
Astor Piazzolla, like many other brilliant
young musicians of our century, had migrated to Paris to study with the
world-famous Nadia Boulanger. His tangos having been rejected as "too
radical" and "too serious" by Argentine colleagues, he was attempting to
find another outlet for his creative energies in writing European-style art
music--only to encounter more frustration.
"`Throw it away. This is no good. I can't find Piazzolla in this classical
concert music.' She wanted to know what I really did in life for a
living. I was very much ashamed to tell her that I played tango, and above
all I wouldn't dare to say to Nadia, `I play the bandoneon.' ... [but] she
wanted to know about my tangos, and she took my two hands together and she
said, `This is Astor Piazzolla. Don't ever leave it.'"
Tom Schnabel,
Stolen Moments,
pp. 120-121.