How Manuel de Falla came to compose his ballet El Amor Brujo<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\nIn 1914, Imperio forged an unlikely link with a composer whose classical training appeared to place him well beyond the boundaries of the popular flamenco tradition: Manuel de Falla. Would he, she wondered, be interested in creating a new work for her to sing and dance in?<\/span><\/p>\nDe Falla was, it turned out, more than merely interested. Like many, he was already in thrall to Imperio\u2019s spell-binding artistry, and intent on using the rich folk music heritage of his country to inspire a new, distinctive national classical style. \u2018It has occasionally been asserted that we have no traditions,\u2019 de Falla wrote of Spain. \u2018But in our dance and our rhythm we possess the strongest traditions that none can obliterate.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n Who was\u00a0 Manuel de Falla?<\/strong><\/p>\nBorn in Cadiz in 1876, Manuel de Falla forged his early career in Madrid. It was, however, the culture of his Andalusian birthplace which above all would infuse the works that made his name. A seven-year stay in Paris from 1907 saw him mix with the likes of Ravel, Debussy and Stravinsky plus impresario Serge Diaghilev, who would later commission El sombrero de tres picos for the Ballets Russes. For the majority of the 1920s and \u201930s he lived in Granada but, following Franco\u2019s victory in the Spanish Civil War, he took the decision to move to Argentina. He died there, aged 69, in 1946.<\/p>\n
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![\"Manuel](\"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/24\/2023\/08\/GettyImages629458801cmyk-9ca2355.jpg?quality=45&resize=556,556\" "\\"Manuel")
<\/div><\/div> <\/div> <\/section>That is the spirit in which the original version of de Falla\u2019s one-act ballet El Amor Brujo<\/i> (\u2018Love, the Magician\u2019) was created. Based on songs Pastora Imperio and her mother had sung to de Falla, and folk tales they had told him, the first version of El Amor Brujo<\/i> was cast as a \u2018gitaner\u00eda\u2019 (\u2018gypsy entertainment\u2019), with songs, dances and spoken dialogue.<\/span><\/p>\nThe libretto, largely by the writer Mar\u00eda Mart\u00ednez Sierra, centred on the efforts of a woman, Candelas, to cast off the baleful influence of her deceased husband\u2019s ghost and marry a new lover. De Falla\u2019s music, scored for a small chamber ensemble, was all newly written, though closely modelled on the \u2018cante jondo\u2019 (\u2018deep song\u2019) style he had heard from the Imperio women.<\/span><\/p>\nThe premiere of this initial version of El Amor Brujo<\/i> was in Madrid on 15 April 1915, and de Falla\u2019s hopes for it were high. \u2018I have tried to \u201clive\u201d it as a gypsy, to feel it deeply,\u2019 he said a few hours before curtain-up. \u2018And I have used in it no other elements than those which I believed to express the soul of that race.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\nBut although both Imperio and members of her family were in the cast, El Amor Brujo<\/i> Mark I was not successful. \u2018The gypsies on the stage felt the music to be truly their own, and were enthralled,\u2019 a friend of\u00a0 <\/span>de Falla\u2019s later reported. But \u2018no one liked it, not the general public, not the intellectuals, and not the critics\u2019, who, ironically, accused the music of lacking \u2018Spanish character\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\nDe Falla was, however, convinced that there was merit in the piece, and soon began re-working it in search of broader audience approval. This involved ditching the spoken dialogue, scaling up the orchestration and cutting the number of songs. A revised version of El Amor Brujo<\/i> was given a year later, but it took eight more years before the score we usually hear today was finally completed. <\/span><\/p>\nBy then, El Amor Brujo <\/i>had morphed into a half-hour ballet (a \u2018ballet pantom\u00edmico\u2019, de Falla called it), the Roma dance elements of the original translated to a more mainstream style of choreography. The flamenco vocal writing of the 1915 original had been distilled to three set-piece songs for mezzo-soprano \u2013 though some modern recordings still use an authentic flamenco cantaora<\/i> for these \u2013 and the orchestra expanded to standard classical dimensions.<\/span><\/p>\nWhy did de Falla make these wholesale changes? Some argue they dilute the visceral impact of the original \u2018gitaner\u00eda\u2019, sanitising the raw emotions it contains, with the supernatural threat of an abusive former partner ever-present. Several fine recordings of the \u2018gitaner\u00eda\u2019 have been made, and they to some extent confirm it as the rawer, more disturbing experience.<\/span><\/p>\nBut de Falla knew the 1915 version was ultimately destined to have niche appeal only, and felt that the rich, deep-rooted sounds of Andalusian music he had captured in his score deserved a bigger platform. This it finally received on 22\u00a0May 1925 at the Th\u00e9\u00e2tre du Trianon-Lyrique in Paris, when the definitive El Amor Brujo<\/i> was premiered, with de Falla himself conducting.<\/span><\/p>\n
De Falla was, it turned out, more than merely interested. Like many, he was already in thrall to Imperio\u2019s spell-binding artistry, and intent on using the rich folk music heritage of his country to inspire a new, distinctive national classical style. \u2018It has occasionally been asserted that we have no traditions,\u2019 de Falla wrote of Spain. \u2018But in our dance and our rhythm we possess the strongest traditions that none can obliterate.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n Who was\u00a0 Manuel de Falla?<\/strong><\/p>\n Born in Cadiz in 1876, Manuel de Falla forged his early career in Madrid. It was, however, the culture of his Andalusian birthplace which above all would infuse the works that made his name. A seven-year stay in Paris from 1907 saw him mix with the likes of Ravel, Debussy and Stravinsky plus impresario Serge Diaghilev, who would later commission El sombrero de tres picos for the Ballets Russes. For the majority of the 1920s and \u201930s he lived in Granada but, following Franco\u2019s victory in the Spanish Civil War, he took the decision to move to Argentina. He died there, aged 69, in 1946.<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> That is the spirit in which the original version of de Falla\u2019s one-act ballet El Amor Brujo<\/i> (\u2018Love, the Magician\u2019) was created. Based on songs Pastora Imperio and her mother had sung to de Falla, and folk tales they had told him, the first version of El Amor Brujo<\/i> was cast as a \u2018gitaner\u00eda\u2019 (\u2018gypsy entertainment\u2019), with songs, dances and spoken dialogue.<\/span><\/p>\n The libretto, largely by the writer Mar\u00eda Mart\u00ednez Sierra, centred on the efforts of a woman, Candelas, to cast off the baleful influence of her deceased husband\u2019s ghost and marry a new lover. De Falla\u2019s music, scored for a small chamber ensemble, was all newly written, though closely modelled on the \u2018cante jondo\u2019 (\u2018deep song\u2019) style he had heard from the Imperio women.<\/span><\/p>\n The premiere of this initial version of El Amor Brujo<\/i> was in Madrid on 15 April 1915, and de Falla\u2019s hopes for it were high. \u2018I have tried to \u201clive\u201d it as a gypsy, to feel it deeply,\u2019 he said a few hours before curtain-up. \u2018And I have used in it no other elements than those which I believed to express the soul of that race.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n But although both Imperio and members of her family were in the cast, El Amor Brujo<\/i> Mark I was not successful. \u2018The gypsies on the stage felt the music to be truly their own, and were enthralled,\u2019 a friend of\u00a0 <\/span>de Falla\u2019s later reported. But \u2018no one liked it, not the general public, not the intellectuals, and not the critics\u2019, who, ironically, accused the music of lacking \u2018Spanish character\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n De Falla was, however, convinced that there was merit in the piece, and soon began re-working it in search of broader audience approval. This involved ditching the spoken dialogue, scaling up the orchestration and cutting the number of songs. A revised version of El Amor Brujo<\/i> was given a year later, but it took eight more years before the score we usually hear today was finally completed. <\/span><\/p>\n By then, El Amor Brujo <\/i>had morphed into a half-hour ballet (a \u2018ballet pantom\u00edmico\u2019, de Falla called it), the Roma dance elements of the original translated to a more mainstream style of choreography. The flamenco vocal writing of the 1915 original had been distilled to three set-piece songs for mezzo-soprano \u2013 though some modern recordings still use an authentic flamenco cantaora<\/i> for these \u2013 and the orchestra expanded to standard classical dimensions.<\/span><\/p>\n Why did de Falla make these wholesale changes? Some argue they dilute the visceral impact of the original \u2018gitaner\u00eda\u2019, sanitising the raw emotions it contains, with the supernatural threat of an abusive former partner ever-present. Several fine recordings of the \u2018gitaner\u00eda\u2019 have been made, and they to some extent confirm it as the rawer, more disturbing experience.<\/span><\/p>\n But de Falla knew the 1915 version was ultimately destined to have niche appeal only, and felt that the rich, deep-rooted sounds of Andalusian music he had captured in his score deserved a bigger platform. This it finally received on 22\u00a0May 1925 at the Th\u00e9\u00e2tre du Trianon-Lyrique in Paris, when the definitive El Amor Brujo<\/i> was premiered, with de Falla himself conducting.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div> <\/div> <\/section>