Nadia

She was the most famous music teacher of the 20th Century.

Graduating with honors from the Paris Conservatoire, Nadia Boulanger didn´t think she was talented enough as a composer. So, she gave up composing and dedicated her life to teaching.

Among her many notable and multi-faceted students are Aaron Copland, Daniel Barenboim, Quincy Jones, Dinu Lipatti, Igor Markevich, Phillip Glass, and, Astor Piazzolla.

Among the many anecdotes Piazzolla told about his teacher Nadia, one particular event was decisive in his life and career, and I´d like to share it with you:

Astor Piazzolla won a scholarship to study in Paris with Nadia. And Astor, being a bandoneonist who formerly dedicated to play at cabarets with tango orchestras, was ashamed of what to him was his “dark” past in Argentina.

But Nadia was curious.

Astor dreamed of becoming a “serious” composer of “serious” music. After Nadia had looked at his works, she remarked that they were excellently written but that she struggled to find the soul in the music, the real Piazzolla.

She asked him what kind of music did he play when he lived in Buenos Aires.

Piazzolla was cornered, and he had no chance but to tell her the truth.

He played tango.

To which Nadia remarked, much to his surprise, that she loved tango!

She asked him to play one of his tangos for him, and Piazzolla sat down at the piano (he didn´t even have his bandoneon with him!). He played his beautiful tango called Triunfal.

Nadia was overjoyed. “This is the real Piazzolla! Do not ever abandon him.”

Over the course of that year, Piazzolla learned some of the most advanced composition techniques with her.

But never again did he betray the real Piazzolla.

What a fabulous piece of advice.

Today is Nadia´s birth anniversary, so I´d also like to share in her and Piazzolla´s memory, the tango that she heard Piazzolla play for the first time: Triunfal.

I´ve just added it at the top of my bandoneon playlist, which you can listen to here.

Enjoy, and have a great day.

Claudio.