Page 40 - SRMF 2024 Season Program Book

Continued from previous page orchestral concerts. This practice further reduced to one
scene in particular: “Candelas (the main character) throws a
many of the popular stage works in and around Madrid. handful of incense on the fire, and as the smoke rises, she
Through this association, de Falla finally got his one act dances the Fire Dance, to ward off evil spirits. This dance
opera, La vida breve, produced and performed, which led is musically based on an old gypsy tune, which the oboe
directly to many more stage works - both incidental music plays…”
for plays such as Othello, and original zarzuelas. Through After the premiere, the plot changed to a woman who
all of this, de Falla maintained a fascination with the indig- was haunted by the ghost of her deceased husband, and
enous tradition of flamenco, and this fascination led him the fire dance ritual was intended to drive the spirit away.
to meet Pastora Imperio, a legendary dancer and musician The ghost appears, and the woman dances with the appa-
who helped bring flamenco into the broader cultural world. rition, eventually driving it into the fire where it dissipates
This trio of relationships created El amor brujo, with music into the ether. The music shows its strong Spanish and
by de Falla, text and libretto by Maria Martinez Sierra, fea- flamenco influences - fast trills and a passionate oboe mel-
turing Pastora Imperio as the lead dancer with her family ody set the stage for this brief but fiery work. Though the
troupe, La Mejorana. music has a distinctly Spanish feel, not once does de Falla
Maria Martinez Sierra described the plot of the work deploy the stereotypical sounds of Spanish folk music - no
thusly: “A love-stricken gypsy woman whose feelings are not guitar, no castanets, no hand claps common in flamenco.
returned by the object of her attentions resorts to magic The composer’s deep knowledge of the folk idioms of Spain
arts, sorcery, witchcraft and suchlike, to soften the unre- come through regardless, and the height of a Spanish mas-
sponsive man’s heart… and she succeeds. After a night of ter’s command over both classical and folk musics shines in
spells, conjurations, mysterious charms and more or less a marvelous ritual dance!
ritual dances, Aurora wakes at dawn along with Love, who
had been sleeping soundly, and bells ring out the morning’s
victory.”
The premiere of this work was met with mixed reviews in
1915, so de Falla revised the work to cut out some of the
more recitative material and expand the instrumentation.
Subsequent performances were met with great enthu-
siasm, and the piece quickly became a work featured on

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