María de Buenos Aires

María de Buenos Aires is a theatrical and musical show — the first in the genre of tango opera by Astor Piazzolla — with a libretto by Horacio Ferrer, a Uruguayan-Argentinian poet, who also wrote poems for several of Piazzola’s tangos.

The complex plot, developed over the course of 17 musical numbers, has surrealistic overtones, alternating between sections that are sung, recited or exclusively instrumental, in which we accompany María’s life, death, resurrection and motherhood. The protagonist wanders amidst typical characters and everyday scenes in the Argentinian capital, where she encounters a poet and narrator who is also a goblin-like duende, with several puppets under his control, and a circus of psychoanalysts.

María and her shadow are the representation of Buenos Aires, being associated with the tango, the city’s streets and its night life. But the character is open to multiple interpretations and frequently appears to be associated with the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ, as much as she is with the female condition.

The work was premièred at the Sala Planeta in Buenos Aires, on 8 May 1968. The composer himself classified the work as an “Operita”, which we may consider to mean that it is a “Chamber Opera”, and it is presented with an orchestra of eleven instrumentalists, two solo singers (a soprano and a baritone), a reciting voice and a small choir (with 4 to 6 members), who also recite.