That most sensual of ballroom dances, the tango, originated during the 1880s along the R�o de la Plata, the confluence of the Uruguay and Paran� rivers. It got started among the enslaved peoples and the lower classes, became popular and eventually spread to other countries.
The tango is closely identified with Argentina, and Argentine musician �.G. Villoldo was instrumental in developing the music of the dance. He supposedly wrote this particular tango to celebrate the proprietor of a nightclub, a gentleman whose nickname was ?El Choclo? (in English: ?The Corn Cob?!).
?El Choclo? premiered in Buenos Aires in 1903 and became one of Argentina?s most popular tangos. Dance orchestras recorded instrumental versions of "El Choclo." It achieved widespread popularity in the United States in 1952 when Lester Allen and Robert Hill provided it with English-language lyrics and a new name: ?Kiss of Fire.? A number of singers made recordings of ?Kiss of Fire? that year, the most popular of which was that of Georgia Gibbs; her ?Kiss of Fire? disc reached the top spot on the Billboard chart.
The melody for ?El Choclo? is exciting, stirring, stimulating, electrifying; in other words, perfect for a brass group. In this arrangement Horn in F has the melody throughout much of the piece, but Trumpets, Trombone and Tuba also take turns with the lead. The piece opens in the key of D minor, switches to D major (for the part of the melody that was not in the Georgia Gibbs version) and finally goes back to D minor for the recap of the main melody and a dramatic conclusion. The suggested tempo is 120 but may certainly be played faster. All notes are within the normal playing range of the five instruments. However the Tango rhythm lies mostly in the bass line, so Tuba and sometimes Trombone have frequent octave and octave-plus jumps.
Completed in 2020, performance time for ?El Choclo? runs about 2 minutes, 50 seconds. The arranger, Les Smith, will be happy to provide substitute parts (for example, treble clef baritone for trombone) at no charge; contact him directly at lessmith61@bellsouth.net. For more arrangements by Les, enter "Sweetwater Brass Press" (without the quotation marks) in the SheetMusicPlus search box.

Maurer's 12 Kleine St�cke (12 Little Pieces) for five brass were published posthumously in 1881 and were written for two cornets in B?, two horns in E?, and one bass trombone. They are important works for brass in that they are some of the earliest pieces of brass chamber music existing; with Anton Simon?s Quartuor en forme de sonatine, Alexander Glazinov?s In modo religioso and Wilhelm Rams�e?s five Quartets they remain some of the handful of original brass works from the nineteenth century. This edition is taken from the first version published by A. B�ttner of St. Petersburg, Russia. In order to make it more accessible for a modern brass quintet the second horn part is transposed for trombone, and the lowest part may be performed on either tuba or bass trombone. I have tried to resolve the many contradictions in articulations found in the original score while keeping this edition as close to the original as possible. Many brass players may be unfamiliar with the complete version of this piece; I encourage them to perform the entire work as Maurer originally intended.