Cajastur madrid manuel de falla biography

Manuel de Falla y Matheu (November 23, &#;– November 14, ) was a Spanish composer of classical music.

Biography

Falla was born in Cádiz. His early teacher in music was his mother; at the age of nine he was introduced to his first piano professor. Little is known of that period of his life, but his relationship with his teacher was likely conflicted.

From the late s he studied music in Madrid, piano with José Tragó and composition with Felipe Pedrell.

Cajastur madrid manuel de falla biography and works Neoclassical music. That same year he started to use de with his first surname, making Manuel de Falla the name he became known as from that time on. Falla's home in Granada was a villa overlooking the city which has been preserved as a biographical museum. When only the surname is used, however, the de is omitted.

In , by unanimous vote, he was awarded the first prize at the piano competition at his school of music, and around that year he started to use de with his first surname, making Manuel de Falla the name he became known as from that time on. When only the surname is used, however, the de is omitted.

It was from Pedrell, during the Madrid period, that Falla became interested in native Andalusian music, particularly Andalusianflamenco (specifically cante jondo), the influence of which can be strongly felt in many of his works.

Among his early pieces are a number of zarzuelas, but his first important work was the one-act operaLa vida breve (Life is Short, or The Brief Life, written in , though revised before its premiere in ).

Falla spent the years to in Paris, where he met a number of composers who had an influence on his style, including the impressionistsMaurice Ravel, Claude Debussy and Paul Dukas.

He wrote little more music, however, until his return to Madrid at the beginning of World War I. While at no stage was he a prolific composer, it was then that he entered into his mature creative period.

In Madrid he composed several of his best known pieces, including:

From to Manuel de Falla lived in Granada, where he organized the Concurso de Cante Jondo in In Granada he wrote the puppet opera El retablo de maese Pedro (Master Peter's Puppet Show, ) and a concerto for harpsichord and chamber ensemble ().

The puppet opera marked the first time the harpsichord had entered the modern orchestra; and the concerto was the first for harpsichord written in the 20th Century.

Cajastur madrid manuel de falla biography Our mission at tonebase is to democratize access to the highest-quality music education, allowing you to learn from and be inspired by the best. Authority control databases. The nocturne for piano and orchestra Nights in the Gardens of Spain Yuki Kajiura.

Both of these works were written with Wanda Landowska in mind. In these works, the Spanish folk influence is somewhat less apparent than a kind of Stravinskianneoclassicism.

Also in Granada, Falla began work on the large-scale orchestral cantata Atlàntida (Atlantis), based on the Catalan text L'Atlàntida by Jacint Verdaguer.

Falla considered Atlàntida to be the most important of all his works; posterity has not agreed with this verdict, and performances of the piece have been extremely rare. Verdaguer's text gives a mythological account of how the submersion of Atlantis created the Atlantic ocean, thus separating Spain and Latin America, and how later the Spanish discovery of America reunited what had always belonged together.

Falla continued work on the cantata after moving to Argentina in , following Francisco Franco's victory in the Spanish Civil War. The orchestration of the piece remained incomplete at his death and was completed posthumously by Ernesto Halffter.

Falla tried but failed to prevent the murder of his close friend, the poet Federico García Lorca in

However, he did spend some time teaching.

Among his notable pupils was composer Rosa García Ascot. He died in Alta Gracia, in the Argentine province of Córdoba. In his remains were brought back to Spain and entombed in the cathedral at Cádiz.

Manuel de falla In this Spanish name , the first or paternal surname is Falla and the second or maternal family name is Matheu. Following Francisco Franco's victory in the civil war Falla left Spain for Argentina in , where he lived out the rest of is life in exile. Bewitched Love film El Amor brujo film. External links [ edit ].

One of the lasting honors to his memory is the Manuel de Falla Chair of Music in the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters at Complutense University of Madrid. His image appeared on Spanish currency notes for some years. Manuel de Falla never married and had no children.

Works

See List of compositions by Manuel de Falla and List of works for the stage by Falla.

Media

References

• Manuel de Falla and the Spanish Musical Renaissance by Burnett James (Gollancz, London, )
• Manuel de Falla&#;: a bibliography and research guide by Andrew Budwig with Preface by Gilbert Chase (Garland Publishers, )
• Manuel de Falla by Nancy Lee Harper (Greenwood Publishing Group, )
• Manuel De Falla and Modernism in Spain by Carol A Hess (University of Chicago Press, )
• Falla by Manuel Orozco Diaz (Barcelona: Salvat )

See also

External links

Persondata
NAME	Falla, Manuel de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Falla y Matheu, Manuel de
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Spanish composer
DATE OF BIRTH	23 November
PLACE OF BIRTH	Cádiz, Spain
DATE OF DEATH	14 November
PLACE OF DEATH	Alta Gracia, Argentina