ABSTRACT
Chapter 4, ‘Osvaldo Pugliese — His Life, Musical Style and Orchestra and His Contribution to Instrumental Tango Music’, presents the famous tango musician in full, following an introduction of the main stylistic norms of tango music as well as insight into the work of Julio De Caro — a direct musical predecessor — in previous chapters. The information is organized into three main sections: (1) a brief biography, (2) an analysis of a selection of recordings, arrangements and compositions (El andariego, La mariposa, Negracha and A los artistas plásticos) and (3) a summary of the musical materials and techniques analyzed within those pieces. Among the most salient features defining Pugliese’s style are: his innovative use of motives to shape compositions; irregular formal structures and phrases; his original use of the rhythmical base in relation to the musical syntax, including his trademark marcato in yumba (with which Pugliese supported his treatment and fragmentation of melodic material); the signature open ending ‘in the Pugliese style’; the use of polyrhythm or metric alternation; the persistent variation of accentual patterns and recurring rubatos; Western art music composition techniques (such as permutation, inversion, modulation, extension, rhythmical augmentation and diminution); and the interplay between background and foreground layers.
