La Trilogie De L'Ange

1. Milonga del Ángel
2. Muerte del Ángel
3. Resurrección del Ángel
4. Adiós Nonino
5. Los Sueños
6. Milonga
7. El Viaje
8. Oblivion (performed by Richard Galliano)
9. Aurore (performed by Richard Galliano)
10. Aria (performed by Richard Galliano)

An angel who appears in a building in Buenos Aires to purify the soul of its inhabitants: this is the subject of the play by playwright Alberto Rodrigues Muñoz, for which Piazzolla composed one of his most mysterious, captivating and popular works.

The Angel Trilogy by Astor Piazzolla is one of his most popular compositions. The trilogy was composed as the counterpart to another series which presented certain similarities but also definite contrasts, at the same time: The Trilogy of the Devil, an altogether more difficult piece, which never received the same acclaim, nor enjoyed the same success.

In 1955, after studying in Paris, Piazzolla had returned to Argentina, founding his Octeto Buenos Aires. He came in for hard criticism every time that he broke away from tradition and even his preference for playing the bandoneon standing up, rather than sitting down, subjected him to scathing attacks. It was during this « pioneering » period that he composed the Angel’s Tango.

Between 1958 and 1960, he lived in the United States, where he tried to develop a « jazz-tango » style, without really fully believing in it himself. He then returned to Argentina, where he formed the first of his quintets. His work gradually began to be recognised, but, strangely enough, more so in the provinces or in Uruguay than in Buenos Aires itself.

It was at this time that the writer Alberto Rodriguez Muñoz asked Piazzolla to write an accompaniment to one of his plays: The Angel’s Tango. The play, which was performed in 1962, tells the story of an angel who makes an apparition in a block of flats in Buenos Aires, in order to purify the souls of its inhabitants.

So, Piazzolla composed Introduction to an Angel (which would not feature in the future trilogy), The Angel’s Milonga and Death of an Angel.

The Angel’s Milonga is a soft, sweet and sentimental piece and also happens to be one of the prettiest of Piazzolla’s melodies. The milonga is the musical precursor of the tango, comprising of similar, but lighter rhythms.

The Death of an Angel provides us with a striking example of the way in which Piazzolla pushes the limits of the traditional tango to the extreme. It is a fugue for three voices, sustained by a vibrant bass line. The angel is attacked with a knife, and, although he defends himself, he is finally killed in the fight. The rhythms and the chords used are uncompromisingly hard, which renders the piece totally exalting to listen to. Even the most hostile Argentinian audiences had to admit that Piazzolla’s music matched the action of the play perfectly and The Angel’s Milonga and The Death of an Angel both gained unexpected popularity because of this. (The Introduction is more rarely performed, and so is far less known nowadays.)

In 1965, in order to create a concert suite with a happy ending, Piazzolla composed a new piece, called Resurrection of an Angel, to add to the first two. In this tremendously appealing composition, a most joyful, flighty theme alternates with developments on the original theme of the milonga representing the angel.