Piazzolla left behind a large body of music for film and stage, and this piece is one of five written for the Italian film Enrico IV, released in 1984. (Unfortunately, the film was not a hit, and the music did not gain much attention at the time of its film's release.)

At one point, two singers emerged who set French lyrics to this instrumental piece, originally composed for film, each performing it with their own unique lyrics around the same time.

One was Milva, an Italian canzone singer. Milva possessed a beautiful voice, often lauded alongside Mina and Ornella Vanoni as one of the 'Three Great Prima Donnas.' Piazzolla himself highly praised her as the 'finest interpreter' among the singers who performed his works. Piazzolla and Milva achieved great success in their debut collaboration at the historic Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord in Paris, and they also performed in Japan in 1988.

The other was Amelita Baltar, Piazzolla's second wife. After Piazzolla created the operita María de Buenos Aires with the poet Horacio Ferrer in 1967, he composed numerous songs, including 'Balada para un loco,' 'Chiquilín de Bachín,' 'Balada para mi muerte,' 'La última grela,' and 'Bicicleta blanca.' It was Amelita who premiered these songs.

Although this piece ultimately failed as film music, Oblivion (〈忘却〉), with its French lyrics, was re-released as a song and became a massive hit. It has since been arranged for various ensembles as one of Piazzolla's masterpieces and remains a long-loved classic to this day.

Musical Characteristics

Now, let us delve into the musical aspects of this piece. With a melody that descends as if sinking into melancholy, combined with Piazzolla's characteristic harmonies, it becomes a piece imbued with an ineffably beautiful sound, and the entire composition is enveloped in a relaxed milonga rhythm.

Milonga is a rhythm that emerged from the mutual influence and fusion of the Habanera rhythm, which arrived from Europe, and the intense rhythms of Black people brought as slaves from Latin America and Africa. It can be considered the origin of tango. While milonga is generally associated with fast tempos, in Piazzolla's case, pieces such as Oblivion, Milonga del Ángel, Romance del Diablo, and Milonga for Three are all characterized by their relaxed tempos.

Breaking the conventional wisdom of tango that 'milonga = up-tempo piece,' Piazzolla's innovation of slow-tempo milongas was likely his unique new expression of tango.