Earl Wild Plays Spanish and French Gems Music by Albéniz, Debussy, Falla, Granados, Mompou, Moszkowski and Ravel Manuel de Falla (1876-1946) n Danza del molinero (“Miller’s Dance”) from El sombrero de tres picos (“Three Cornered Hat”) n Danza ritual del fuego (“Ritual Fire Dance”) from El amor brujo Commenting on Spanish music, and his own contributions to it in particular, Manuel de Falla once stated, “Our music must be based on the natural music of our people, on the dances and songs that do not always show close kinship… It has occasionally been asserted that we have no traditions. We have, it is true, no writ- ten traditions; but in our dance and our rhythm we possess the strongest traditions that none can obliterate. We have the ancient modes which, by virtue of their extraordinary inherent freedom, we can use as inspiration dictates.” Manuel de Falla was born in Cadiz, Manuel de Falla Spain, November 23, 1876. After prelim- inary studies with his mother and several local teachers, Falla entered the Madrid Conservatory. There he was profoundly influenced by two teachers, the composer Felipe Pedrell and the pianist José Tragó. He graduated from the Conservatory with highest honors and in 1905 won first prize for La Vida Breve, in a competition among Spanish composers sponsored by the Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid. He visited Paris in 1907 and was so intoxicated by its musical life that he spent the next seven years in that grand city. There – 2 – he met Debussy, Dukas, Ravel, Fauré, Satie, Schmitt and Roussel. Upon his return to Spain in 1914 he embarked on an extensive tour, eventually settling in Granada. He composed El Amor Brujo in 1915, and one year later, the Nights in the Gardens of Spain. As a result of a commission by Serge Diaghilev, Falla composed “The Three Cornered Hat,” which became one of the most successful ballets pro- duced by the Ballet Russe. During the Spanish Civil War, Falla, who was intensely religious, allied himself with the Franco forces. He saw in the nationalist movement a balance to the anti-religious activities that had been taking place throughout Spain. However, support eventually gave way to disenchantment, and Falla, in ail- ing health, chose to expatriate himself. Falla died in Alta Garcia, in the province of Córdoba, Argentina, on November 14, 1946. The Danza del molinero (“Miller’s Dance”) is one of Falla’s most enchanting and popular pieces. It is the sixth section of the ballet El sombrero de tres picos (“The Three Cornered Hat”). The story for this ballet is a simple one. A young miller’s wife attracts the lusty attentions of the local Governor, who, in order to assure the suc- cess of his advances, jails the miller. The miller’s wife entices the Governor with a seductive dance to a nearby bridge where due to his excitement he tumbles into the water. Surviving the fall he goes to the miller’s house to dry himself and taking off his clothes he makes himself at home in the miller’s bed. To revenge himself, the freed miller steals the Governor’s clothes. The Miller’s Dance is a fiery farrucca (a Spanish flamenco dance of gypsy origin). Falla’s ballet was first performed at the Alhambra Theatre in London on July 22, 1919 with choreography by Leonide Massine. The curtain, scenery, and costumes of the Russian Ballet’s production were all designed by none other than Picasso. Manuel de Falla composed El Amor Brujo in 1915 for a gypsy singer and dancer named Pastora Imperio, whose mother had told the librettist, Martínez Sierra, the story on which he built his scenario. It is the story of Candelas, a gypsy girl of pas- sionate propensities, who was once in love with an evil but irresistible man who died a violent death. Her new lover, named Carmelo, is much more worthy of her love. But Candelas is superstitious, and every time Carmelo draws near she feels the ghostly presence of her departed lover and shrinks away in fear and trembling. Carmelo, who knew the dead man, reasons that the specter must be attacked at its weakest point. The dead man had been jealous, but he had also been unfaithful. – 3 – Ingeniously, then, Carmelo induces a pretty acquaintance of Candelas’, whose name is Lucia, to make advances to the apparition when it next appears. The ruse works. In the few minutes that the ghost’s attentions are thus directed, Carmelo takes Candelas in his arms — the spell is broken — life triumphs over death. The Ritual Fire Dance is actually titled Ritual Dance of Fire for the Exorcism of Evil Spirits. It is one Falla’s most astonishing and popular musical creations, evoking a smoking cauldron and demonic incantations. Isaac Albéniz (1860-1909) n2 Malagueña from España, Opus 165 n3 Castilla (Seguidillas) from Suite española, Opus 47 n5 Triana from Iberia, Book 2 Isaac Albéniz began his career as a touring virtuoso pianist. Appearing on the Isaac Albéniz concert platform at the age of four, his early life was highly colorful and adven- turous. After being refused admittance to the Paris Conservatory on the grounds that he was much too young, he ran away from home at the age of nine. He gave con- certs all over Spain, earning enough money to travel to the New World. After working his way from Cuba to San Francisco playing the piano, he eventually returned to Europe when he was thirteen. Studies in England and Germany pre- ceded his return to Spain where he received a Royal grant to continue his travels. A few years later he gave up his life as a touring piano virtuoso, though not before he had concertized once again throughout the Americas. He then went to Paris to – 4 – study with Dukas, Debussy and d’Indy. He also met Franz Liszt, and toured briefly with Anton Rubinstein. When Albéniz abandoned his role of wandering virtuoso, he dedicated the rest of his life to composition. In 1899, his first and most important orchestral work appeared, Catalonia, a rhapsody celebrating the place of his birth. Two years later he composed his masterpiece, Iberia. His remaining years were spent in France, where he died eleven days before his forty-ninth birthday (1909). The Malagueña is a type of fandango from Málaga, in southern Spain. It’s a live- ly dance in triple time to the accompaniment of castanets or tambourine. It was published in a collection of six pieces entitled, España, Opus 165. Castilla, is Albéniz’s evocation of dance music from the province of Castile. He subtitles the piece seguidillas — a dance in which the dancers “freeze” at the end of each stro- phe (or copla) while the musicians introduce the next phrase. Although this Castilla was published as part of Albéniz’s first Suite española, Opus 47, he also published it as the concluding Seguidillas of his collection, Cantos de España, Opus 232. One of the most enchanting sketches from Albéniz’s masterpiece, Iberia, is Triana. Triana is the ancient quarter of Seville which lies just across the river. Despite its imperial name — Triana was named for the Roman Emperor Trajan whose birthplace is near- by — it has been for many years the gathering place of Gypsies, bullfighters, ped- lars, strolling players, and other picturesque characters who live by their wits. The people of Triana are very gregarious and seem to spend their lives laughing, gossip- ing, bargaining, and quarreling in the streets. It is this colorful, irresponsible life that Albéniz pictured in his music. – 5 – Claude Debussy (1862-1918) n4 Reflets dans l’eau (“Reflections in the Water”) from Images, Set I n9 Les collines d’Anacapri (“Hills of Anacapri”) from Préludes, Book I n11 Clair de lune (“Moonlight”) from Suite bergamasque n13 Poissons d’or (“Goldfish”) from Images, Set II To Debussy music was always a mys- tery, something intimate and personal to be offered and accepted with delicacy. “The soul of another is a dim forest where one should walk with cautious steps,” he once remarked, sounding the keynote of his own intense love of freedom. It was not a flaunting freedom nor physical iso- lation he craved, but a sort of soul priva- cy which gave him his “ivory tower” in the midst of busy streets. He would have Claude Debussy been the last man in the world to have forced his music on unwilling ears or spread his dream pictures before eyes that could see only posters! Historians usually classify Debussy as an Impressionist. Debussy himself argued that the term could be rightly applied only to the art of painting, where it originated. Quibbling over a word, however, cannot alter the fact of the striking resemblance in subject, purpose, and method of Debussy’s music and the work of the Impressionist painters and Symbolist poets whose philosophies he shared. When Debussy published his first set of Images in 1905, he wrote to the pub- lisher: “I think I may say without undue pride, that I believe these three pieces will live and will take their place in piano literature… either to the left of Schubert… or the right of Chopin…” According to biographer Oscar Thompson, Reflets dans – 6 – l’eau (“Reflections in the Water”) is one of the most perfect examples of Impressionism in music. He writes: “The first floating chords establish a mood that is highly suggestive. Luminous chords and skimming arpeggios are used in succes- sions that yield a drowsy, flickering effect, as of inverted images in a pool. The basic theme is a slow, trailing one, mirrored, in the course of its transformation, in what may be described as harmonic reflections.” Debussy referred to this music as embodying “the newest discoveries in harmonic chemistry.” Les Collines d’Anacapri (“Hills of Anacapri”) appears in Book I of Debussy’s Préludes, published in 1910.