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About the composer
Manuel de Falla
Born: 1876, Cadiz, Spain
Died: 1946, Alta Gracia, Argentina
Period: Late Romantic
Manuel de Falla published very little, subjecting his works to careful revision before offering them to the public. The pains he took are evident in every bar. He was an inspired craftsman who combined an immersion in Andalusian and Catalonian folk music with a painstaking study of the classical style of Haydn. Falla’s music is tuneful and approachable for both of these reasons, but he was also part of the European avant-garde – the Ballets Russes staged his The Three-Cornered Hat with sets by Picasso and an orchestra conducted by Ernst Ansermet, a production that secured Falla an international reputation that shows no signs of fading.
Selected works by Falla:
La vida breve (Life is Brief, opera, 1904-05)
Nights in the Gardens of Spain (1911-1915)
El amor brujo (Love the Magician, ballet, 1915)
El sombrero des tres picos (The Three-Cornered Hat, ballet, 1919)
Harpsichord Concerto (1926)