Manuel de Falla Museum Manuel de Falla, Alta Gracia, Córdoba, Argentina South America
Manuel
de Falla, the leading Spanish composer of the 20th century, and one of the
most illustrious figures in the long of discontinuous musical history of his
country, was born on 23 November 1876 at Cadiz, the ancient seaport at the
southern-most tip of Andalucía. He was 35 years younger than Felipe
Pedrell, the scholar, teacher, guide, architect and moving spirit of the revival
of Spanish music which took place towards the end of 19th century, and a generation
younger than Albéniz and Granados, the composers who did the most to
make authentically Spanish music popular outside Spain. Falla stands to these
three in roughly the same position as Stravinsky to Rimsky-Korsakov and the
composers who followed in the wake of the Russian nationalist’s movement
(Russia and Spain have exceptionally long nationalist tails). Each underwent
a marked evolution in style –Stravinsky’s of course, being more
drastic.
Music in Spain at the end of the 19th century had something in common with
Britain as well as with Russia. The great achievements of the Middle Ages
and the Renaissance have declined into a state of torpor. Imported styles
were triumphant with German (stronger in Britain than in Spain) and Italian
at their head. The principal signs of native vigor lay in operetta: the zarzuela
composers on the one hand, Sullivan on the other. But there was one mayor
difference. Britain had been through the Industrial Revolution. The rural
life which had preserved a wealth of folk song was changing rapidly as the
industrial towns grew and multiplied. The English folk song collectors were
only just in time. Spain’s exceptionally rich and diverse folklore was
not yet in need of preservation. But the political and industrial backwardness
which had helped to maintain the folklore unspoiled acted as a severe brake
on music at a more sophisticated level. Opportunities for the publication,
performance and dissemination of the works of living Spanish composers were,
and to some extent still are, discouragingly limited.
When Falla was 20, the family moved to Madrid. The father’s business
had suffered reverses, and life was not as easy as before. Falla continued
to take piano lessons, begun some time earlier, with a distinguished teacher,
José Tragó. In due course he won an important piano prize. Of
greater significance were his studies with Felipe Pedrell, to whom he later
declared he owed “the clear answering purposefulness” of his works.
Meanwhile, success as a composer had to be sought through the zarzuela. Though
this was Falla’s world, he wrote two in collaboration with his friend,
Amadeo Vives ant three on his own. The only one to be performed was “Los
amores de la Inés”. No doubt the experience helped him when he
came to write “La Vida Breve”, his entry for another national
competition, this time for a one-act opera. Falla won this, too, but the promised
public performance did not materialize. Musical life in Madrid was constricting
and frustrating. Falla who had briefly corresponded with Claude Debussy, had
set his heart in Paris. He arrived there (after acting as pianist to a touring
mime company) in 1907, and was soon accepted by Debussy and Ravel, by his
French domiciled compatriots Albeniz and Viñes (the distinguished pianist),
most helpfully of all the composer of “L’Apprenti sorcier”,
Paul Dukas. What immediately impressed them was the score of La Vida Breve
–the opera was finally staged at Nice in 1913 and at the Paris “Opera-Comique”,
later in the same year. In Paris, Falla completed the “Four Spanish
Pieces” for piano, wrote “Tree Songs” on poems by Théophile
Gauthier, and “Seven Spanish Popular Songs”. Returning to Spain
at the outbreak of the First World War, Falla finishes “El Amor Brujo”,
a Ballet, “Fantasía Baética” for piano and “Homenaje”
to Claude Debbussy.
Imagenes de Manuel de Falla
Musico y Compositor de España
The French and Russian influences are particularly stinking in “Nights in the Gardens of Spain, which began as a set of nocturnes for solo piano. Falla was persuaded by de Catalan pianist Ricardo Viñes to recast it in orchestral form with a prominent piano part. First performed in Madrid in 1916, it is a portrait of his beloved Granada, the shimmer of Andalusian night being an almost tangible backdrop to each of the three movements. In 1918, presented “The Three-Corned Hat” asked by The Russian Ballets Director, Sergei Diaghilev, with scenery and wardrobe designed by Pablo Picasso. In 1920 Falla and his sister, María del Carmen settled in Granada, where he was surrounded by a group of intellectual friends, including Lorca. “Master Peter’s Puppet Show” was commissioned by the Princess Edmond de Polignac and was first performed in her salon in Paris on 25 June 1923. In 1924 presented “Psichè” on poems by Jean Aubry and in 1926 the “Concerto” for Harpsichord and five instruments. In 1928, commissioned by Ricordi- Italia, begun to work in “Atlántida”, on poems of the Catalan priest Mosén Cinto Verdaguer. Having lived through the Spanish Civil War, in 1939 the prospect of yet another war led him to accept an invitation to Argentina, where he spends his seven last years of life an died on 14 November 1946. “Los Espinillos” was his last residence. It was opened as Museum in 1970.-
Romance
a la muerte de Manuel de Falla |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dicen
que en tierras de Córdoba Ha muerto Manuel de Falla En un lugar de las Sierras Que llaman de la Alta Gracia Rincón de viejas leyendas Que rondan por sus montañas Donde hay una Virgencita Que fuera Virgen de España Y corre un raudal azul ¡Como un hilo del Guadiana! Dicen que ha muerto de un mal De silencio y de nostalgia Que no ha de morir de amor quien nunca tuvo otra amada Más que la música fiel Que le embelesaba el alma, Y en su sola soledad ¡Casta devoción de hermana! ¡Se fue sin decir adiós! Calladito en la mañana, Acaso cerró sus ojos Un arpegio de su Atlántida Y el "Poema de Verdaguer" Se le ennobleció en mortaja O fue la Danza del Fuego Quien le encendiera las alas Para que su Vida Breve Hacia otra mejor volara Desde este valle mortal Donde fue la suya larga Vida de artista y de santo Musical pena guardada En el vaso de elección De su armonía inviolada. Tal vez en su exilio, triste Abrumado de añoranzas, Volviera su última noche Por los Jardines de España Y allí el galano Sombrero De Tres Picos olvidara Cautivo del Fuego Fatuo De Psichè o de Pedrelliana Bajo la luz de la luna De Andalucía la maja Que iba bailando en el cielo Su ritual Danza Lejana! Quizás si no fue soñando |
Con su Mallorca gitana Cuando se hizo eternidad Su inspiración hechizada allá donde su Amor de Brujo De tal modo le embrujara Que Euterpe, furtivamente Le fue deshojando el alma Sobre el teclado sombrío De esa dulce Balada Que tutelaba devoto ¡Bajo el lino de su almohada! ¡Quién sabe que pensamiento Doró su última mañana En ese rayo de sol Que porfiara en su ventana, Cuando María del Carmen A su lado se allegara Dulce o solicita al par Por española y cristiana, Blanca de blanco blancor Por enfermera y hermana! ¿Sería acaso Jesús El que a buscarlo llegara En esas Siete Palabras De la luz de su última alba? ¿O San Francisco de Cádiz El velador de su infancia? ¿O la Virgen española Que llaman de Alta Gracia? Dicen que en tierras de Córdoba Carmen de Ezeiza
- 1969 - |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| RESUENA
FALLA…
Manuel de Falla… Manuel
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|