De Falla, M
ORDERBY-NAME: Falla, Manuel de
ALIAS: none
DATE OF BIRTH: 23 Nov 1876
PLACE OF BIRTH: Cádiz, Spain
DATE OF DEATH: 14 Nov 1946
PLACE OF DEATH: Alta Garcia, Argentina
DISCIPLINE: Music
FIELD: Composer
ASSESSMENT: The central figure of twentieth-century Spanish classical music.
LANGUAGE/S: Spanish
EDUCATION: Harmony and counterpoint with Alejandro Odero, piano with José Tragó, Madrid Conservatory
ACHIEVEMENTS: Falla’s compositions spanned all the idioms of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries – from nationalism to neo-classicism. He is on of Spain’s most popular and significant composers.
MAJOR-WORK/S: La vida breve (1905), El amor brujo (1915), Siete canciones populares españolas (1915), El sombrero de tres picos (The Three-Cornered Hat) (1919)
PARENTS: Father: José María Falla Mother: María Jésus Matheu
SPOUSE: none
SIBLINGS: sister
CHILDREN: none
LIFE AND TIMES/DETAILS:
Manuel de Falla began the study of music with piano lessons from his mother. He was a creative child whose first dream was to become an author. He was raised Catholic and as an adolescent began a devout daily ritual of spiritual exercises that he continued throughout his life.
Falla’s musical career and musical abilities developed rapidly and he resolved to become a composer. In late adolescence he was already performing his own compositions in public. He enrolled in the Madrid Conservatory, where he won several honors.
By 1900, Falla was living in Madrid and supporting his family by giving music lessons and performing often in both Madrid and Cádiz. From1900 to 1904 he completed six works in the popular zarzueleros style – only one was performed. Madrid provided Falla with exposure to new ideas. He associated with Felip Pedrell, a Catalan composer, who taught a Wagnerian style of composition. Pedrell’s students included many of Spain’s next generation of composers and contemporaries of Falla, including Enrique Granados, Isaac Albéniz, and Ricardo Vives.
In 1905, Falla won a contest for Spanish Opera with his work La vida breve. Although part of his prize included a public performance, no Spanish theatre was accommodating. Falla became frustrated with the limited musical institutions in Spain and decided to leave the country. In 1907, he accepted a job as an accompanist on a tour to France. He stayed in Paris for the next seven years.
In Paris, Falla was introduced to many composers of the French school led by Debussy. He was influenced by and met Debussy* and Ravel*. Falla was seen as an unusual character in this era of extravagance, being described as a “diminutive ascetic dressed in black.”
Falla was successful in Paris where many of his compositions premiered. Intent on having his opera La vida breve performed, Falla finally succeeded, with the first performance of the one act opera in Nice in 1913. The opera was also shown in Paris where it received the critic’s praise and assured Falla’s continued success. Falla hoped to bring his family to Paris but the outbreak of World War I forced him to return to Spain.
This second period in Madrid was more successful than the first. He developed a collaboration with a theater “impresario” named Gregorio Martinez Sierra. Falla wrote the music for a successful stage-work, El amor brujo, as well as providing a variety of other incidental music.
During this time, some Spanish critics found Falla’s work to be too influenced by the modern French school. This criticism was to be repeated often. However, Falla spent a significant part of his life creating works based on traditional Spanish forms. The critical references to “foreign influence” are more reflective of Spanish isolationism than as valid criticism of Falla’s work.
During World War I, many European artists found refuge in Spain.
Falla was an important part of the dialogue between Spanish artists and these new arrivals. He wrote several articles on new music and promoted Stravinsky* in an essay that was published just before Stravinsky visited Madrid in 1916. When Stravinsky arrived in Madrid he was with Diaghilev and his company, the Ballets Russes. Diaghilev’s new choreographer, Leonide Massine, became aware of Falla’s work – a stage production that Falla had produced with Gregorio Sierra, El corregidor y la molinera, caught their attention. Diaghilev and Massine encouraged Falla to develop the work into a larger piece suitable for the Ballets Russes.
The new work, entitled El sombrero de tres picos, was produced by Diaghilev* with sets designed by Picasso* and choreography by Massine*. The Spanish exoticism of the piece was hugely popular in London in 1919.
A presentation in Spain two years later was received with mixed reviews. Many Spanish critics resented the foreign influence of Picasso and Massine in a work that was clearly meant to evoke Spain. Later, Falla was to refuse an offer by Diaghilev to write music for the ballet Pulcinella. The offer was taken by Stravinsky and the ballet became famous. If Falla had taken the offer, he probably would have been propelled to greater recognition. Instead, he sought tranquility away from the urban cultural centers and began to compose more works in the quiet of his own home.
In 1920, Falla moved with his sister to Granada.
Here, he composed most of his original works in what was to become representative of Spanish neoclassicism. In Granada, he began his collaboration with poet Lorca*. The civil war that began in 1935 and ended with the dominance of the Franco regime ultimately led to Falla leaving his country. His friend Lorca had been executed, despite Falla’s attempts to intervene. The new regime tried in vain to make amends with Falla. He was offered the position of head of The Spanish Institute, which he declined, and to write a national hymn (he accepted). But Falla’s intense Catholicism and his general distrust of the Franco regime prevented him from embracing the new government.
In 1939, Falla accepted a conducting position at the Spanish Cultural Institute in Buenos Aires. Falla and his sister traveled to Argentina, where he spent the last years of his life and where he continued to be involved in musical affairs. He attempted to finish his epic work Atlántida but left it incomplete when he died in November1946.
Falla remains a popular Spanish composer because of his use of folklore material in many of his works. His more complex neoclassical works have earned him the position as master of the Spanish interpretation of this twentieth century musical style. He is often credited as being the most important Spanish composer of the twentieth century.
EXTRA CONNECTIONS: None
ONELINER: Manuel de Falla, major 20th century Spanish composer
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Sadie, S. and Tyrell, J. (2001). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed. London: Macmillan.
James, Burnett, Manuel de Falla and the Spanish musical renaissance.