Manuel de Falla

Manuel de Falla y Matheu, born in Cádiz on 23 November 1876 and died in Alta Gracia, Argentina, on 14 November 1946, was a Spanish composer and pianist. He ranks among the most significant Spanish musicians of the early twentieth century, alongside Isaac Albéniz, Francisco Tárrega, and Enrique Granados, and is often considered Spain’s greatest composer of that century, despite producing a relatively small body of work.

He was born Manuel María de los Dolores Falla y Matheu in Cádiz, the son of a Valencian father, José María Falla, and a Catalan mother, María Jesús Matheu. In 1889 he studied piano with Alejandro Odero and harmony and counterpoint with Enrique Broca. At fifteen, he turned to literature and journalism, founding the magazines *El Burlón* and *El Cascabel*.

By 1900 he lived with his family in Madrid, attending the Real Conservatorio de Música y Declamación. He studied piano under José Tragó, a colleague of Albéniz, and composition with Felip Pedrell. In 1897 he composed *Melodía* for cello and piano, dedicated to Salvador Viniegra, who hosted chamber music evenings Falla attended. In 1899 he won first prize in his school’s piano competition by unanimous vote and premiered several early works. That same year he began using “de” in his surname, becoming known as Manuel de Falla (though the “de” is dropped when using only the surname). In 1900, due to his family’s financial struggles, he started teaching piano. From Pedrell, Falla developed an interest in Andalusian music, especially flamenco’s *cante jondo*, which strongly influenced his work. Early pieces include zarzuelas such as *La Juana y la Petra* and *La casa de tócame Roque*. In 1902 he premiered *Los amores de la Inés* and met composer Joaquín Turina. The following year he composed *Allegro de concierto* for a Royal Conservatory competition, losing to Granados, but the Society of Authors published his *Tus ojillos negros* and *Nocturno*. He then collaborated with Amadeo Vives on zarzuelas, of which only fragments survive. His first major work was the one-act opera *La vida breve* (1905, revised before its 1913 premiere), which won first prize in a Real Academia de Bellas Artes competition, though the promised Madrid production never materialized. In 1905 he also won a piano competition and premiered *Allegro de concierto*.

Falla moved to Paris in 1907 for seven years, meeting composers who influenced his style, including Ravel, Debussy, Dukas, Stravinsky, Schmitt, Albéniz, and impresario Diaghilev. In 1908 King Alfonso XIII granted him a royal stipend to finish *Cuatro piezas españolas*. He met Stravinsky in 1910 and traveled to London, Brussels, and Milan in 1911–12 seeking venues for *La vida breve*, which finally premiered on 1 April 1913 in Nice, with a French libretto by Paul Milliet, followed by a well-received production at the Opéra-Comique. He completed *Siete canciones populares españolas* in mid-1914. World War I then forced his return to Madrid, where his mature period began.

Back in Madrid, he composed several celebrated works: the nocturne for piano and orchestra *Noches en los jardines de España* (1916); the ballet *El amor brujo* (1915), containing the famous *Danza ritual del fuego*; and the ballet *El corregidor y la molinera*, later revised as *El sombrero de tres picos* (1917), produced by Diaghilev with designs by Picasso, based on Pedro Antonio de Alarcón’s novel *The Three-Cornered Hat*.

From 1921 to 1939 Falla lived in Granada, where he organized the Concurso de Cante Jondo in 1922. There he wrote the puppet opera *El retablo de maese Pedro* (1923) and a concerto for harpsichord and chamber ensemble (1926). The puppet opera marked his first use of the harpsichord in an orchestra.