Theme and Variation on Volver

Volver was originally composed by the man whose name is more closely associated than any other with the tango genre, singer/composer Carlos Gardel (1887/1890 – 1935). His birthplace and birthdate are both uncertain and are fiercely debated between France and Uruguay, but he grew up in the Abasto section of Buenos Aires and subsequently became an Argentine citizen. He introduced tangos into his repertoire in 1917, and during his career he composed some of the best-loved of them such as Soledad, Por Una Cabeza, El Dia Que Me Quieras, and, of course, Volver. As a singer he interpreted and recorded literally hundreds of tangos, and he enjoyed enormous world-wide popularity. Gardel died tragically in an airplane accident in Medellín, Colombia, in 1935, a death that plunged all of Latin America into deep mourning. The present author has attempted to modernize Volver by giving it a kind of Afro-Cuban rhythmic structure in its 6/8 time scheme, and he has provided a significant technical and musical challenge to the soloist.