[Tango-L] Transition of Tango Music

[Jeff Gaynor]

Gregory wrote:

>Hello All,
>
>
>	As a dedicated musician and dancer, I worry about the future of Tango – the
>music and the dance.  This is why I first posted my thoughts on Tango as a
>polyphonic form, comparable to Baroque music.
>  
>
No. They are different creatures entirely, if you are using the term 
"polyphonic" in anything approaching its classical meaning. There is 
counterpoint in tango and some of it quite striking and effective, but 
no strict polyphony and imitation of voices. Piazolla (who studied with 
Nadia Boulanger who was my teacher's teacher I should point out) wrote a 
few tango-ish fugues which are deemed weird and undanceable by most. As 
a musician you can probably figure out ways to dance it though.

>   	Polyphonic music is not just counterpointed. It is the whole philosophy
>of structure ,phrasing, chord progression, accentuation, voice-leading, the
>placement of an adornment (“melisma”), 
>
Melisma is incorrectly used here. It precise meaning is having multiple 
notes per syllable of text, e.g. in Gregorian Chant. If there is no 
singing there can be no melisma. You are referring to ornamentation 
generally.

>the style of playing, etc.  I used
>the term polyphonic because it was the closest word I could find to describe
>the style of Argentine tango.  Of course, not all tango has counterpointed
>melody. By the way, not all of J.S. Bach’s and Handel’s compositions are
>counterpointed, but when we think about baroque music and the polyphony, we
>think about Bach and Handel.  Mozart composed amazing fugues, but for
>musicians Mozart is a classical composer and not an example of polyphony.
>The same is true for Beethoven, Shostakovich, Schnittke, Freidlin, Lerich,
>and others.  
>
Again, I just don't understand your use of the word polyphony in this 
context. I'm sure you mean something by it though.

>The great romantic Felix Mendlessohn, during the Romantic Era,
>composed preludes and fugues inspired by Bach’s music.  
>
He studied with Karl Zelter who was a pupil of Kirnberger who studied 
with Bach. Mendelssohn was raised on Bach and is credited with pulling 
him back from oblivion. At that time, Bach was largely forgotten about.

>One of my music
>theory teachers said that if you hear music that sounds like Bach, but you
>have a feeling it’s not Bach – genius music but different phrasing, harmony,
>adornments, and so on - it’s Mendlessohn.  Why?  Because it’s not the
>Baroque Era anymore.  The Baroque period expired with Bach and Handel.
>
>  
>
Actually it expired before them. Bach and to a lesser extent Handel were 
the last Baroque composers and were thought of as pretty old-fashioned 
as compared the newer "gallant" styles of music in vogue starting in the 
1730's. This is one reason that JS Bach was so soon forgotten after his 
death. His music was found wrapping cheese in markets and propping up 
wine casks when Mendelssohn finally kindled some interest in it.

>	In music history, the style changes when it reaches its climax, the highest
>level of the composition and performance.  After Bach and Handel, who could
>do better?  Composers decided, “we will never get to this level; let’s do
>something different.”
>
No they didn't. Are you making history right now? Are you sure? The 
grand Artiste that has become a romantic staple is largely a media 
creation of the last 50 years (Prince does a good job of being 
insufferable this way.) Back until the late 1700's people were raised in 
musical families and trained in guilds as craftsmen. It was their job to 
supply music for events secular and sacred in the prevailing taste. This 
meant that most composer's music had a very limited geographical 
distribution and it was only a few who actually had their works printed 
(which meant being laboriously & expensively engraved). It is doubtfull 
that more than a handfull of people knew who Bach was in his lifetime. 
Most often to get a piece of music by another composer meant you had to 
borrow the score and copy it out yourself by hand.

> And after a few decades of transition, the Classical
>Period began.  By the way, the romantic and simple sounds of sonatas by
>Domenico Scarlatti will always be an example of counterpointed Baroque music
>while the very complex sonatas by Mozart are an example of Classical, not
>counterpointed music.
>  
>
Mozart has excellent counterpoint. I do not understand this statement. 
Scarlatti was court composer in Madrid and was tasked with writing 
colorful pieces for the queen who was a very able performer. She wanted 
harpishord music that sounded like guitars and street songs and that is 
what Scarlatti wrote. Before landing that position he was engaged in 
writing church music, which he did admirably too. Check out his gorgeous 
Stabat Mater. These composers plied their trade much as a silversmith. 
Again, the rise in mass economies where you make something then find a 
buyer is light-years away from the patron-based system where you were to 
supply wares according to the patron's taste.

>   	In my personal vision, the period of Tango music is already gone.
>  
>
True. Tango music from the Golden Age was written in a very specific 
cultural envirnoment which is past. We can try to write imitations but 
are unlikely to really capture the sound without sounding strained. At 
least part of this is because the older musicians took all their tricks 
of the trade with them to the grave. Pity it is that nobody cornered 
Canaro and the others and had them write a How-To book... Of course, 
since these guys were in it as a business they would not be happy about 
giving up their secrets either I suspect.

>Pugliese, with his orchestral arrangements, Salgan, Piazzolla with his
>virtuoso bandoneon and the complexity of his works finished the century of
>traditional Tango music.  Now it’s in a transitional period.  Some may call
>it a degradation of Tango music; I prefer think of it as transitional.
>  
>
Just food for thought. When was the last time any of you did a minuet? 
What do you mean that's an extinct dance?! Are you sure? Oh sure it was 
waning in popularity in the 1780's but those gol' durn commoners sped it 
up and varied the steps, which became the waltz. Then a bunch of 
completely untutored laborers in Argentina integrated some polka-type 
steps and fused it with newer, racier rhythms and made the vals. Music, 
like language, changes because people use it. They are unaware that they 
are making history but just live their lives. That people are 
experimenting with tango is a good thing. It might not be tango in a few 
years but as long as we all keep honest about what we are doing, what is 
the harm? I personally think that it is just grand that people experiment.

Cheers,

Jeff G