Sacred Passions The Life and Music of Manuel de Falla

by Hess, Carol A.

• ISBN13: 9780195145618
• ISBN10: 0195145615
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-12-09
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The work of composer Manuel de Falla (1876-1946) ranges from late-romantic salon pieces to evocations of flamenco to stark neoclassicism. Yet his music has met with conflicting reactions, depending on the audience. In his native Spain, Falla is considered the most innovative composer of thefirst half of the twentieth century. Likewise, in the United States, Falla enjoyed a strong following in the concert hall. But many of his works, especially some of the "colorful" or "exotic" dances from The Three-Cornered Hat and El Amor Brujo, were taken up during the Latin music craze of the1930s and 40s and appeared in everything from jazz and pop arrangements to MGM musicals. Similarly enigmatic are the details of Falla's life. He never sustained a lasting, intimate relationship with a woman, yet he created compelling female roles for the lyric stage. Although he became incensed whenpublishers altered his music, he more than once tinkered with Chopin and Debussy. Despite insisting that he was apolitical, Falla ultimately took sides in the Spanish Civil War, initially allying himself rather half-heartedly with Franco's Nationalists but later rejecting the honors they proffered.All his life, his rigorous brand of Roman Catholicism brought him both solace and agony in his quest for spiritual and artistic perfection. In Sacred Passions: The Life and Music of Manuel de Falla, Carol A. Hess explores these contradictions and offers a fresh understanding of this fascinating composer. Building on over a decade of research, Hess examines Falla's work in terms of musical style and explores the cultural milieus inwhich he worked. During a seven-year sojourn to Paris just pior to World War I, Falla associated with composers Dukas, Stravinsky, Ravel, and the rest of the group known as les Apaches. Later, back in Spain, he played a pivotal role in the remarkable cultural renaissance known as the "Silver Age,"during which Lorca, Bunuel, Dali, Unamuno-and of course Falla himself-made some of their boldest artistic statements. Hess also explores a number of myths cultivated in earlier biographies, including Falla's supposed misogynistic tendencies and accusations of homosexuality, which have led some biographers to consider him a saint-like ascetic. She offers a balanced view of his behavior during the Spanish Civil War,a wrenching event for a Spaniard of his generation, and one that Falla biographers have left largely untouched. With superb analysis of his music and enlightening detail about its critical reception, Hess also examines Falla's status in some circles as little more than a high-class pop composer,given the mass appeal of much of his music. She incorporates recent research on Falla, draws upon untapped sources in the Falla archives, and reevaluates his work in terms of current issues in musicology. Ultimately, Hess places Falla's variegated ouevre, which straddles popular and serious idioms, securely among the best of his better-known European contemporaries. What emerges is a gracefully written, balanced portrait of a man whose lofty spiritual values inspired singular musical utterances butwere often at odds with the decidedly imperfect world he inhabited.

Author Biography

Carol A. Hess is Associate Professor of Music at Bowling Green State University, Ohio. She won an ASCAP/Deems Taylor award for her book, Manuel de Falla and Modernism in Spain, 1898-1936.

Table of Contents

Confronting Falla	3	(6)
The Waning of Romanticism: A Composer Begins	9	(34)
A ``Very Studious, Very Conscientious Young Man''
``Self-Love'' and the Ways of Art
Farewell to Juvenalia: La Vida Breve
In Paris on the Eve of the Great War	43	(28)
``Without Paris, . . . Obscurity''
A Career Is Launched
In Neutral Spain	71	(32)
Falla and the ``Idealized Female Archetype'': El Amor Brujo
Eclecticism and the ``Progress of Society''
International Acclaim: Modernist Folklore and a Farewell to the Primitive	103	(34)
Falla and the Ballets Russes
New Undertakings
The Halcyon Years Begin: At Home in Granada
The European Neoclassicist: Finding His Voice	137	(48)
Defining Moments: El retablo de Maese Pedro and the Harpsichord Concerto
The Allure of the Lost Continent
Figurehead for Youth: Falla as Teacher
``Far above the Workings of Politics''	185	(28)
Falla and the Republic
``Spes Vitae'' (Hope of Life)
Falla and the Spanish Civil War	213	(30)
``The Breath of God over Our Bayonets''
Evasion, Acquiescence, Enigma: Falla's Declaration
Seeking the Lost Continent	243	(42)
Argentina and Self-Imposed Exile
The Aftermath: Atlantida
Falla's Legacy	285	(18)
Falla and Spain
The Other Falla
Appendix 1 Works and First Performances	303	(6)
Appendix 2 Overview of Spanish History, 1874--1981	309	(2)
Bibliography	311	(22)
Index	333