Освальдо Пульезе: Маэстро аргентинского танго

Argentine tango composer, pianist and arranger

Osvaldo Pedro Pugliese (Buenos Aires, December 2, 1905 – July 25, 1995, Buenos Aires) was an Argentinian tango musician. He developed dramatic arrangements that retained strong elements of the walking beat of salon tango but also heralded the development of concert style tango music. Some of his music, mostly since the 1950s, is used for theatrical dance performances. In Buenos Aires, Pugliese is often played later in the evening when the dancers want to dance more slowly, impressionistically and intimately.

His father, Don Adolfo Pugliese (1877–1945), pushed him to work harder; his mother, Aurelia Terragno (1880–1947), often whispered to her son while he was practicing, ¡Al Colón! (To the Colón! ), referring to Buenos Aires' famous Teatro Colón, where only the country's finest artists play. His other brothers Adolfo Vicente and Alberto Roque were violinists. He was married two times, to María Concepción Florio and to Lydia Elman. His first wife died in 1971, and he had one daughter, Lucela Delma "Beba" Pugliese (b. 1939), a pianist in her own right.

In 1918 he left primary school to work as a print graphic artist. His father finally convinced him to take classes with the teacher Antonio D'Agostino, at the Conservatorio Odeon. He wrote his first tango, Recuerdo, in 1924, when he was 19. Two years later, when it was finally recorded, it became a classic. 'La yumba' (1946) is another famous and most popular Pugliese's tangos compositions. In 1939 he formed his orchestra as a cooperative and made his debut at Café El Nacional (980 Corrientes Avenue – "Cathedral of Tango") on 11 August 1939. The orchestra toured the former Soviet Union in 1959 (eighty cities in three months – sometimes playing two or three shows a day) and also China (twenty eight cities in another month), Chile (1990), Mexico, Columbia (1980), Peru, Cuba (1984, 1988, 1992), Japan (1965, 135 shows in five months; 1979, 1989), the U. S. (stopping in Chicago in 1979), the Middle East, France (1984), Portugal, Spain (1985; 1988 playing in Madrid, at Teatro Albéniz with the singer Joan Manuel Serrat, and Barcelona), Belgium, The Netherlands (with Astor Piazzolla in Amsterdam, 29 June 1989), Finland and almost all South and Central American countries: Uruguay (1987, Solís Theatre in Montevideo). For his work the maestro received high cultural distinctions, including from the Argentine, French and Cuban governments.

The most famous tango composition of Osvaldo Pugliese are: Recuerdo (1924), Ausencia (Tango mío) (1931), El frenopático, Primera categoría, El encopao (1942), Recién (1943), Adiós Bardi (1944), Una vez (1946), Igual que una sombra (1946), La yumba, Negracha (1948), Malandraca (1949), Milonga para Fidel (1961), Para Eduardo Arolas. The first recording of "Recuerdo" was by the Julio De Caro orchestra, on December 9, 1926, in instrumental form. In 1927 the female singer Rosita Montemar recorded it sung for the first time, with the accompaniment of musicians from the Víctor label. The Bianco Bachicha orchestra recorded it instrumentally in Paris in 1928. And in 1930, the Orquesta Típica Victor, with the voice of Roberto Díaz. All labels feature A. Pugliese. And even more, it still appears like this on the RCA Víctor 39776 album, from Ricardo Tanturi's version of 1942. The famous tango "Recuerdo – a los amigos" was composed by Puglise in the honor of his friends: Torcuato Di Giorgio, Amadeo Pioriello, Alfredo Bianchi, Jose Tonareeli & Rogelio Boisselier. Pugliese had composed the immortal Recuerdo in 1924 – “a tango for the year 3000”, according to Julio De Caro, who premiered it in 1927– and performed with Paquita Bernardo, Alfredo Gobbi (h) and Elvino Vardaro: he was not a stranger, but a popular musician who put together that initial orchestra as a cooperative.

He died after a short illness on 25 July 1995 at 89 years old. His remains are in Chacarita Cemetery in an imposing mausoleum, the work of Juan Carlos Ferraro (1997), which was made thanks to the generous contribution of his fans. His funeral received great attention with an impressive caravan that marched in reverse along Corrientes Avenue.

In 1986, during the tenure of Mayor Julio César Saguier, the Municipality of the City of Buenos Aires declared him "Ciudadano Ilustre". In 1988 he was awarded with the title of Commander of Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the Ministry of Culture of France. In 1992, on 11 November he was awarded with the Alejo Carpentier medal, the most important cultural distinction by the Council of State of Cuba.