Banda Municipal

In the context of the upcoming celebrations of the 1910 Centennial of the May Revolution in Argentina, the mayor of Buenos Aires, Manuel Güiraldes, founded the Banda Municipal De La Ciudad De Buenos Aires (a.k.a. Banda Sinfónica de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires) in February 1910 to give the City a permanent symphonic group that would promote its musical identity. The Italian maestro Antonio Malvagni, an experienced band director, was appointed its first director, and he created a 100-piece orchestra that featured a "modern instrumentation" of percussion, harps, double basses and, of course, woodwinds and brass. The orchestra had its debut at a Centennial concert at the Teatro Colón on May 14, 1910, followed by two public concerts on Plaza del Mayo the following day. The program on both occasions included works of Camille Saint-Saëns, Edvard Grieg; Richard Wagner; Giovanni Bolzoni; Humberto Giordano, and Giacomo Meyerbeer. In 1911, the orchestra recorded ca. 70 tangos, waltzes, etc. for Columbia that were released first in Argentina and in 1914 also in the USA.