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Manuel de Falla y Matheu (November 23, 1876 – November 14, 1946) was a Spanish
Spain

Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably....
 composer
Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, usually in the medium of musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of music....
 of classical music.

el de Falla was born in Cádiz
Cádiz

C?diz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the province of C?diz, one of eight which make up the Autonomous communities of Spain of Andalusia....
. His early teacher in music was his mother; at the age of 9 he was introduced to his first piano professor. Little is known of that period of his life, but his relationship with his teacher was likely conflicted. From the late 1890s he studied music in Madrid
Madrid

Madrid is the Capital and largest city of Spain. It is the Largest cities of the European Union by population within city limits in the European Union after Greater London and Berlin, and its Madrid metropolitan area is the Largest urban areas of the European Union in the European Union after Paris aire urbaine, Greater London Urban Area, a...
, piano with José Tragó and composition with Felipe Pedrell
Felipe Pedrell

Felipe Pedrell , was a Spain composer. worked as a musicologist and early music specialist and edited Victoria?s opera omnia. This and other of his writings fostered a keen interest in the early music of Spain....
.






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Manuel de Falla y Matheu (November 23, 1876 – November 14, 1946) was a Spanish
Spain

Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably....
 composer
Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, usually in the medium of musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of music....
 of classical music.

Biography

Manuel de Falla was born in Cádiz
Cádiz

C?diz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the province of C?diz, one of eight which make up the Autonomous communities of Spain of Andalusia....
. His early teacher in music was his mother; at the age of 9 he was introduced to his first piano professor. Little is known of that period of his life, but his relationship with his teacher was likely conflicted. From the late 1890s he studied music in Madrid
Madrid

Madrid is the Capital and largest city of Spain. It is the Largest cities of the European Union by population within city limits in the European Union after Greater London and Berlin, and its Madrid metropolitan area is the Largest urban areas of the European Union in the European Union after Paris aire urbaine, Greater London Urban Area, a...
, piano with José Tragó and composition with Felipe Pedrell
Felipe Pedrell

Felipe Pedrell , was a Spain composer. worked as a musicologist and early music specialist and edited Victoria?s opera omnia. This and other of his writings fostered a keen interest in the early music of Spain....
. In 1899 by unanimous vote he was awarded the first prize at the piano competition at his school of music, and around that year he started to use de with his first surname, making de Falla the name he became known as from that time on.

It was from Felipe Pedrell, during Madrid period, that de Falla became interested in native Spanish music, particularly Andalusia
Andalusia

Andalusia is a country in the Spanish State. It is the most populous and the second largest, in terms of land area, of the seventeen autonomous communities of the Spain....
n flamenco
Flamenco

Flamenco is a Spain term that refers both to a musical genre, known for its intricate rapid passages, and a dance genre characterized by its audible footwork....
 (specifically cante jondo
Cante jondo

Cante jondo is a vocal style in flamenco. An unspoiled form of Andalucia folk music, the name means deep song It is generally considered that the common traditional classification of flamenco music is divided into three groups of which the deepest, most serious forms are known as cante Cante flamenco#Types of Cante....
), the influence of which can be strongly felt in many of his works. Among his early pieces are a number of zarzuela
Zarzuela

Zarzuela , is a Spanish lyric-dramatic genre that alternates between spoken and sung scenes, the latter incorporating operatic and popular song, as well as dance....
s, but his first important work was the one-act opera
Opera

Opera is an Performing arts in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work which combines a text and a musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition....
 La vida breve
La vida breve

La vida breve is an opera in two acts by Manuel de Falla to an original Spanish libretto by Carlos Fern?ndez-Shaw. The first performance was given at the Casino Municipale in Nice in 1913....
 (Life is Short, or The Brief Life, written in 1905, though revised before its premiere in 1913).

De Falla spent the years 1907 to 1914 in Paris
Paris

Paris is the Capital of France and the country's largest city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the ?le-de-France Regions of France ....
, where he met a number of composers who had an influence on his style, including the impressionists
Impressionist music

The impressionist movement in music was a movement in European classical music, mainly in France, that began in the late nineteenth century and continued into the middle of the twentieth century....
 Maurice Ravel
Maurice Ravel

Joseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer and pianist of Impressionist music known especially for the subtlety, richness, and poignancy of his melodies, orchestral and instrumental Texture and effects....
, Claude Debussy
Claude Debussy

Achille-Claude Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he is considered one of the most prominent figures working within the field of Impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions....
 and Paul Dukas
Paul Dukas

Paul Abraham Dukas was a French composer and teacher of European classical music....
. He wrote little more music, however, until his return to Madrid at the beginning of World War I
World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
. While at no stage was he a prolific composer, it was then that he entered into his mature creative period.
Manuel De Falla
In Madrid he composed several of his best known pieces, including:
  • The nocturne
    Nocturne

    A nocturne is usually a musical composition that is inspired by, or evocative of, the night. Historically, nocturne is a very old term applied to night Divine Office and, since the Middle Ages, to divisions in the Canonical hours of Matins....
     for piano and orchestra Noches en los jardines de España (Nights in the Gardens of Spain
    Nights in the Gardens of Spain

    Nights in the Gardens of Spain is a piece of music by the Andalusian people composer Manuel de Falla .Falla began this work as a set of nocturnes for solo piano in 1909 but on the suggestion of the pianist Ricardo Vi?es turned the nocturnes into a piece for piano with orchestra....
    , 1916)
  • The ballet
    Ballet (music)

    Ballet as a musical form is a musical composition intended for Ballet. The same music can be used for several different ballet Choreography....
     El amor brujo
    El amor brujo

    El amor brujo is a piece of music composed by Manuel de Falla. It was initially commissioned in 1914-15 as a gitaner?a by Pastora Imperio, a renowned gypsy dancer, and was scored for Voice instrumental music, actors, and chamber orchestra....
     (Love the Magician, 1915) which includes the much excerpted and arranged Ritual Fire Dance
  • The ballet El corregidor y la molinera (The Magistrate and the Miller's Wife) which, after revision, became El sombrero de tres picos
    El Sombrero de Tres Picos

    El Sombrero de Tres Picos is a ballet composed by Manuel de Falla, commissioned in its development by Sergei Diaghilev and performed in its completed form in 1919....
     (The Three-Cornered Hat, 1917) and was produced by Serge Diaghilev with set design by Pablo Picasso
    Pablo Picasso

    Pablo Diego Jos? Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno Mar?a de los Remedios Cipriano de la Sant?sima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso was a Spanish people Painting, drawing, and Sculpture....
    .


From 1921 to 1939 Manuel de Falla lived in Granada
Granada

Granada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada , in the autonomous communities of Spain of Andalusia, Spain....
, where he organized the Concurso de Cante Jondo
Concurso de Cante Jondo

El Concurso del Cante Jondo was a famous celebration of the art of flamenco, its music, song, and dance, held in Granada, Spain on Corpus Christi , the 13th and 14th of June, 1922....
 in 1922. In Granada he wrote the puppet opera El retablo de maese Pedro
Master Peter's Puppet Show

Master Peter's Puppet Show is a puppet-opera in one act with a prologue and epilogue, composed by Manuel de Falla to a Spanish language libretto based on an episode from Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes....
 (Master Peter's Puppet Show, 1923) and a concerto
Concerto

The term Concerto usually refers to a three-part musical work in which one solo instrument is accompanied by an orchestra. The concerto, as understood in this modern way, arose in the Baroque period side by side with the concerto grosso, which contrasted a small group of instruments with the rest of the orchestra....
 for harpsichord
Harpsichord

A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when each Key is pressed....
 and chamber
Chamber music

Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber....
 ensemble (1926). The puppet opera marked the first time the harpsichord had entered the modern orchestra; and the concerto was the first for harpsichord written in the 20th Century. Both of these works were written with Wanda Landowska
Wanda Landowska

Wanda Landowska , was a Poland harpsichordist whose performances, teaching, recordings and writings played a large role in reviving the popularity of the harpsichord in the early 20th century....
 in mind. In these works, the Spanish folk influence is somewhat less apparent than a kind of Stravinskian
Igor Stravinsky

Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky was a Russian-born composer, considered by many to be the most influential composer of 20th century music. He was a quintessentially Cosmopolitanism Russian who was named by Time as one of the 100 most influential people of the century....
 neo-classicism.

Also in Granada, de Falla began work on the large-scale orchestral cantata Atlàntida
Atlántida

Atlantida is a poetic name of the mythical continent of Atlantis. It can also refer to:*Atlantida , a genus of brachiopods*Atl?ntida, Canelones, a city in the department of Canelones Department, Uruguay...
 (Atlantis) based on the Catalan
Catalan language

Catalan is a Romance languages, the national language and official language of Andorra, and a official language in the Autonomous Communities of Spain of the Balearic Islands, Catalonia and Valencian Community and in the city of Alghero in the Italy List of islands in the Mediterranean of Sardinia....
 text L'Atlàntida
L'Atlàntida

L'Atl?ntida is an 1877 poem in Catalan language by Jacint Verdaguer. It comprises an introduction, ten books, and a conclusion, dealing with the wanderings of Heracles in the Iberian Peninsula, the sinking of the continent of Atlantis, the creation of the Mediterranean Sea, and the discovery of the Americas....
 by Jacint Verdaguer
Jacint Verdaguer

Jacint Verdaguer i Santal? is one of the greatest poets of Catalan language literature, a prominent literary figure of the Renaixen?a. The bishop Torras i Bages called him the Prince of the Catalan poets....
, which he considered to be the most important of all his works. Verdaguer's text gives a mythological account of how the submersion of Atlantis created the Atlantic ocean, thus separating Spain and Latin America, and how later the Spanish discovery of America reunited what had always belonged together. De Falla continued work on the cantata after moving to Argentina
Argentina

Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is a country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city....
 in 1939. The orchestration of the piece remained incomplete at his death and was completed posthumously by Ernesto Halffter
Ernesto Halffter

Ernesto Halffter was a Spain composer and Conducting. He was the brother of Rodolfo Halffter.Halffter was part of the Grupo de los Ocho , which formed a sub-set of the Generation of '27....
.

De Falla tried but failed to prevent the murder of his close friend the poet Federico García Lorca
Federico García Lorca

Federico Garc?a Lorca was a Spain poet, dramatist and theatre director. An emblematic member of the Generation of '27, he was abducted and murdered by persons likely affiliated with the Nationalist cause at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War....
 in 1936. Following Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco

Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Te?dulo Franco y Bahamonde, Salgado y Pardo de Andrade , commonly known as Francisco Franco or Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was the dictator and Head of State of Spain from October 1936, and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in 1975....
's victory in the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War

The Spanish Civil War was a major conflict in Spain that started after an attempted coup d'?tat by a group of Spanish Army generals, supported by the conservative Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right , Carlist groups and the fascistic Falange, against the government of the Second Spanish Republic, then under the leadership of pr...
, de Falla left Spain for Argentina
Argentina

Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is a country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city....
. He died in Alta Gracia
Alta Gracia

Alta Gracia is a city located in the north-centre of the . Its name means "High Grace". It is built upon the Sierras Chicas, in a region that the Comeching?n Indians used to call Paravachasca....
, in the Argentine province of Córdoba. In 1947 his remains were brought back to Spain and entombed in the cathedral at Cádiz. One of the lasting honors to his memory is the Manuel de Falla Chair of Music in the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters at Complutense University of Madrid
Complutense University of Madrid

The Complutense University of Madrid is among the most important and List of oldest universities in continuous operation in the world and is the top public university in Spain....
. He never married and had no children.

List of works


Stage works ;Opera, etc.
  • Los amores de la Inés ("Inés' loves") - zarzuela
    Zarzuela

    Zarzuela , is a Spanish lyric-dramatic genre that alternates between spoken and sung scenes, the latter incorporating operatic and popular song, as well as dance....
     with 5 musical parts (1901-1902)
  • La vida breve
    La vida breve

    La vida breve is an opera in two acts by Manuel de Falla to an original Spanish libretto by Carlos Fern?ndez-Shaw. The first performance was given at the Casino Municipale in Nice in 1913....
     (Life is Short, also translated as The Brief Life) - opera (lyric drama) (1904-1913)
    Interlude and Dance
  • Fuego fatuo - opera after themes by Chopin; unfinished (1918-1919)
  • El retablo de Maese Pedro
    Master Peter's Puppet Show

    Master Peter's Puppet Show is a puppet-opera in one act with a prologue and epilogue, composed by Manuel de Falla to a Spanish language libretto based on an episode from Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes....
     (Master Peter's Puppet Show) - puppet opera (1919-1923)
  • El gran teatro del mundo ("The great theatre of the world") - incidental music for a performance of Calderón de la Barca's play (1927)
  • Atlàntida
    Atlántida

    Atlantida is a poetic name of the mythical continent of Atlantis. It can also refer to:*Atlantida , a genus of brachiopods*Atl?ntida, Canelones, a city in the department of Canelones Department, Uruguay...
     (Atlantis) - scenic cantata for soloist, choir and orchestra (1927-1946); revised and completed by Ernesto Halffter
    Ernesto Halffter

    Ernesto Halffter was a Spain composer and Conducting. He was the brother of Rodolfo Halffter.Halffter was part of the Grupo de los Ocho , which formed a sub-set of the Generation of '27....
     (first perf. 1961)


;Ballet and dance

  • El amor brujo
    El amor brujo

    El amor brujo is a piece of music composed by Manuel de Falla. It was initially commissioned in 1914-15 as a gitaner?a by Pastora Imperio, a renowned gypsy dancer, and was scored for Voice instrumental music, actors, and chamber orchestra....
     (: Danse du meunier ("The Miller's Dance")
  • El sombrero de tres picos
    El Sombrero de Tres Picos

    El Sombrero de Tres Picos is a ballet composed by Manuel de Falla, commissioned in its development by Sergei Diaghilev and performed in its completed form in 1919....
     (Three-horneded hat or Le tricorne)


Orchestral works
  • Nights in the Gardens of Spain
    Nights in the Gardens of Spain

    Nights in the Gardens of Spain is a piece of music by the Andalusian people composer Manuel de Falla .Falla began this work as a set of nocturnes for solo piano in 1909 but on the suggestion of the pianist Ricardo Vi?es turned the nocturnes into a piece for piano with orchestra....
     - piano and orchestra (c. 1909-1916)
  • Homenajes ("Homages") - orchestra (1938-1939)
    Sections: I. "Fanfare sobre el nombre de E. F. Arbós" - II. "À Claude Debussy (Elegía de la guitarra)" - Rappel de la Fanfare - III. "À Paul Dukas (Spes Vitae)" - IV. "Pedrelliana".


Choral works
  • Balada de Mallorca ("Ballad of Majorca") - for choir (1933)


Works for chamber ensembles and solo instruments
  • Melodía para violonchelo y piano - for piano and cello (1897)
  • Pieza en Do mayor and Romanza - for cello and piano (1898)
  • Fanfare pour une fête ("Fanfare for a feast") - for two trumpets, timpani and side-drum (1921)
  • Concerto for harpsichord, flute, oboe, clarinet, violin and cello - dedicated to Wanda Landowska
    Wanda Landowska

    Wanda Landowska , was a Poland harpsichordist whose performances, teaching, recordings and writings played a large role in reviving the popularity of the harpsichord in the early 20th century....
     (c. 1923-1926)
  • Fanfare sobre el nombre de Arbós ("Fanfare on the name of Arbós") - for trumpets, horns and drums (1934); orchestrated as a section of Homenajes.


Vocal works
  • Preludios ("Preludes") - voice and piano, text ("Madre todas las noches") by Antonio de Trueba (c. 1900)
  • Rima ("Rime") - voice and piano, text ("Olas gigantes") by Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer (c. 1900)
  • Dios mío, qué solos se quedan los muertos - voice and piano, text by Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer (c. 1900)
  • Tus ojillos negros ("Your small black eyes") - voice and piano, text by Cristóbal de Castro (1902-1903)
  • Cantares de Nochebuena "Songs of Christmas Eve" - nine popular songs for voice, guitar and (at least in the case of the first two songs) zambomba and rebec or chicharra (1903-1904)
  • Trois mélodies - voice and piano, words by Théophile Gautier (1909-1910)
  • Siete canciones populares españolas ("Seven Spanish Folksongs") - for voice and piano, dedicated to Madame Ida Godebska (1914)
  • Oración de las madres que tienen sus hijos en sus brazos ("Prayer of the mothers embracing their children" - voice and piano, words by Gregorio Martínez Sierra (1914)
  • El pan de Ronda que sabe a verdad ("The bread of Ronda has a taste of truth") - voice and piano, by G. Martínez Sierra (1915)
  • Psyché - for woman voice, flute, harp, violin and cello (1924)
  • Soneto a Córdoba ("Sonnet to Cordoba") - for soprano voice and harp (or piano), text by Luis de Góngora
    Luis de Góngora

    Luis de G?ngora y Argote was a Spanish Baroque literature lyric poet. G?ngora and his lifelong rival, Francisco de Quevedo, were the most prominent Spanish poets of their age....
     (1927)


Instrumental works ; Piano
  • Nocturne (1896)
  • Mazurka en Do menor (1899)
  • Serenata andaluza ("Andalusian serenade") (1900)
  • Canción ("Song") (1900)
  • Vals capricho (1900)
  • Cortejo de gnomos("Procession of gnomes") (1901)
  • Allegro de concierto (1903-1904)
  • Cuatro piezas españolas, Pièces espagnoles ("Four Spanish Pieces") - for piano, dedicated to Isaac Albéniz
    Isaac Albéniz

    Isaac Manuel Francisco Alb?niz i Pascual was a Spain Catalonia pianist and composer best known for his piano works based on folk music.=Life=...
     (c. 1906-1909)
  • Fantasía bética - for piano, dedicated to Artur Rubinstein (1919)
  • Canto de los remeros del Volga (del cancionero musical ruso) ("Song of the Volga boatmen") (1922)
  • Pour le tombeau de Paul Dukas (1935) - piano (1935); orchestrated as the third part of Homenajes


;Guitar
  • Pour le tombeau de Claude Debussy
    Claude Debussy

    Achille-Claude Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he is considered one of the most prominent figures working within the field of Impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions....
     - for guitar; arranged for piano (1920); orchestrated as the second section of Homenajes


Versions and arrangements of other authors' works

  • Cançó de nadal (1922)
  • Debussy - Prélude à l´après-midi d´un faune (1924)
  • Preludio (1924)
  • Rossini - Overture to The Barber of Seville
    The Barber of Seville

    The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution is an opera buffa in two acts by Gioachino Rossini with a libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The overture, first written for Aureliano in Palmira, is a famous example of Rossini's characteristic Italian style....
     (1924-1925)
  • Ave María (1932)
  • L´amfiparnaso (Palma de Mallorca, 1934)
  • Invocatio ad individuam trinitatem (Granada, 1935)
  • Himno marcial (Granada, 1937)
  • Emendemus in melius (Granada, 1939)
  • Madrigal: prado verde y florido (Granada, 1939)
  • Romance de Granada: qué es de ti, desconsolado (Granada, 1939)
  • Tan buen ganadico (Granada, 1939)
  • ¡Ora, sus! (Granada, 1939)
  • O magnum mysterium (in circuncisione Domini) (Villa del Lago, 1940-1942)
  • Tenebrae factae sunt (responsorium) (Villa del Lago, 1940-1942)
  • Miserere mei Deus (salmo 50) (Villa del Lago, 1940-1942)
  • In festo Sancti Jacobi (o Lux et decus Hispaniae) (Villa del Lago, 1940-1942)
  • Benedictus (de la misa "Vidi speciosam") (Villa del Lago, 1940-1942)
  • Gloria (de la misa "Vidi speciosam") (Villa del Lago, 1940-1942)
  • Cançó de l´estrella (Villa del Lago, 1941-1942)
  • Romance de Don Joan y Don Ramón (Villa del Lago, 1941-1942)


Media


External links

  • in Spanish and English
  • from his Siete Canciones Populares Españolas (played by Duo Roldan)