Oblivion is an instrumental work by Ástor Piazzolla. Composed in 1982, it was originally arranged for bandonéon, piano and bass, but its growing success over the years inspired many reprises for piano solo, clarinet, orchestra, and even a spoken version, all of which you can find in our catalog! The piece was commissioned and featured in the 1984 film Enrico IV (“Henry IV”) by Marco Bellocchio. Adapted from the eponymous theatrical piece by Luigi Pirandello, the plot tells the story of a man who, after losing conscience, thinks he is the famous king. The piece became popular from the film and lives to this day through concert performances. Piazzola elicits an atmospheric and haunting ambience in his composition, evoking the image of oblivion.

Browse recordings of Oblivion

Stream Ástor Piazzola’s Oblivion on medici.tv!

medici.tv is the best online platform for streaming Piazzolla’s Oblivion live, on replay or VOD, offering you a virtual ticket to the most exciting concerts with the world’s best artists and orchestras captured in HD video. On medici.tv, you can find some of the best interpretations of Piazzolla’s Oblivion, performed by renowned artists, such as Gautier Capuçon, and top ensembles led  by conductors, like Gustavo Dudamel.

A seat at the best venues to discover Piazzolla’s Oblivion streaming on medici.tv

A selection of our programs is available for free for all registered users and the rest can be unlocked with a subscription. Live videos, replays or VOD stream right to your living room from the most renowned concert halls in the world, and you can watch our operas on your biggest screens with AirPlay, Chromecast, and our new Roku app. The piece Oblivion is a lyrical milonga, a rhythmic Uruguayen-Argentine dance form that predates the tango. The atmosphere evoked by Oblivion is tinged with nostalgia and sadness, as though the music seeks to fall away and disappear into forgetfulness. Forget your troubles, listen to Piazzolla’s Oblivion on medici.tv, wherever you want, whenever you want!

The greatest artists of our time perform Ástor Piazzolla’s Oblivion on medici.tv, your #1 classical streaming platform 

The beginnings of Piazzolla’s piece Oblivion are found in the Italian Nobel Prize winner Luigi Pirandello’s dramatic explorations into the convoluted functionings of memory. Sinking its roots in the psychological studies that had overtaken the European intelligentsia at the beginning of last century, the plot of Pirandello’s theater piece Enrico IV is complex and refined: a man, after falling off his horse, thinks he is the King Henry IV, and his friends are helpless to change anything. In his delusion, he kills a rival in love, and only at that point does he open his eyes. To avoid the consequences of his own actions, he pretends to be mad from then on! When Marco Bellochio adapted the play for film, he brought on Ástor Piazzolla to write music suited to the story’s sorrowful desire to escape and disappear. Piazzolla certainly composed Oblivion with as many layers of nuance and complexity as the human mind. With a melancholic melody drawing out long, sustained notes over the arpeggiated accompaniment, the piece seems to evoke a memory struggling to get out of oblivion. Come and listen to Piazzolla’s Oblivion: on medici.tv, where you can find some of the best works by this tango idol and true legend!