Piazzolla's Orquesta Típica, also known as the 1946 Orchestra, was a tango orchestra formed in 1946 in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

by the

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bandoneon player Astor Piazzolla. This was Piazzolla's first orchestra of his own and from this spring board he would later go on to pioneer a new approach to the genre with his Octeto Buenos Aires.

History

Early in his career Piazzolla played in a number of orquesta típicas, including that of the renowned bandoneonist Aníbal Troilo from 1939. During this period he began to study classical orchestration with

Alberto Ginastera Alberto Evaristo Ginastera (; April 11, 1916June 25, 1983) was an Argentinian composer of classical music. He is considered to be one of the most important 20th-century classical composers of the Americas. Biography Ginastera was born in Buen ...

, the eminent Argentine composer, and took piano lessons with the Argentine classical pianist Raúl Spivak. Piazzolla combined this with a gruelling performing schedule in the tango clubs at night and between 1944 and 1946 he went on to lead the orchestra of the tango singer and bandoneonist

Francisco Fiorentino Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name '' Franciscus''. Nicknames In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed " Paco". San Francisco de Asís was known as ''Pater Comunitatis'' (father o ...

. Feeling restricted by the limitations of traditional tango, Piazzolla formed his ''Orquesta Típica'' in 1946 and began to experiment with a new approach to the orchestration and musical content of tango. A number of formations for the orchestra were tried including: Astor Piazzolla, Roberto Di Filippo, Angel Genta, and

Fernando Tell Fernando is a Spanish and Portuguese given name and a surname common in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Switzerland, former Spanish or Portuguese colonies in Latin America, Africa, the Philippines, India, and Sri Lanka. It is equivalent to the G ...

(bandoneon); Hugo Baralis,

Cacho Gianni Cacho may refer to: Dice Games *Cacho Alalay Cacho Alalay is a popular dice game from Latin America. It is similar to Yahtzee/Yatzy. The purpose of the game is to roll five dice and score points from their combinations. The dice are rolled from a ...

Juan Bibiloni ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...

, and F. Lucero (violin); Atilio Stampone (piano),

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(cello) and Pepe Diaz (double bass). Over the next two years, Piazzolla recorded 30 pieces with this orchestra, mostly new arrangements of traditional tangos such as ''Taconeando'', ''Inspiración'', ''Tierra querida'', ''La rayuela'' and ''El recodo'', but also a number of his own compositions, including ''El Disbande'' (his first formal composition), ''Pigmalion'', ''Villeguita'', and ''Se Armo''. His works would quickly become classics in the repertoire of some of the most popular tango orchestras of the day, including those of Anibal Troilo,

Osvaldo Fresedo Osvaldo Fresedo (May 5, 1897 - November 18, 1984), nicknamed ''El pibe de La Paternal'' ("the kid from La Paternal") was an Argentine songwriter and director of a tango orchestra. He had one of the longest recording careers in tango history, fro ...

and

Jose Basso Jose is the English transliteration of the Hebrew and Aramaic name ''Yose'', which is etymologically linked to ''Yosef'' or Joseph. The name was popular during the Mishnaic and Talmudic periods. *Jose ben Abin *Jose ben Akabya *Jose the Galilean ...

. The young Piazzolla's music established itself as a distinct and contemporary sound which began to provoke comment amongst traditional '' tanguero''s . By 1950 he felt the need to disband the orchestra and to try something different, not even convinced at this stage in his life that he should make his career in tango. He concentrated now on the study of classical music, including a year in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

with the French classical composition teacher

Nadia Boulanger Juliette Nadia Boulanger (; 16 September 188722 October 1979) was a French music teacher and conductor. She taught many of the leading composers and musicians of the 20th century, and also performed occasionally as a pianist and organist. From a ...

, before returning to Buenos Aires where he would finally commit himself to tango with the founding of his next ensemble, Octeto Buenos Aires, in 1955. This would put him in the vanguard of tango and lead him into a head-on collision with the tango music establishment.

References

*Piazzolla, Ástor. A Memoir, Natalio Gorin, Amadaeus, 2001 *Azzi and Collier, Le Grand Tango: The Life and Music of Ástor Piazzolla, Oxford University Press, 2000. {{DEFAULTSORT:Piazzolla's Orquesta Tipica Tango music groups Musical groups established in 1946