Manuel De Falla

Manuel De Falla (1876-1946), most important Spanish composer of the 20th century.

De Falla was born in Cádiz on November 23, 1876. As a child he studied music with his mother and with local teachers; as a young man he studied composition with the noted musicologist and teacher Felipe Pedrell. From 1905 to 1907 de Falla taught piano in Madrid, and from 1907 to 1914 he studied and worked in Paris. He lived and composed principally in Spain from 1914 to 1939, when he took up residence in Argentina. He died on November 14, 1946, in Buenos Aires.

Under the influence of Pedrell, an advocate of the doctrine that a nation’s folk songs should be the basis for its art music, de Falla developed a nationalistic style that became characteristic of his compositions. Generally, however, he did not use actual Spanish folk songs but created themes of his own in the spirit of Spanish folk music. Another element of his work, the impressionistic, was derived from the French composers Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel, whom de Falla came to know in Paris. De Falla was a leader in the revolt against German and Italian influence in Spanish opera and against the sterility of contemporary Spanish orchestral and chamber music. Among his compositions are Noches en los jardines de España (Nights in the Gardens of Spain, 1909-1915), for orchestra and piano; the opera La vida breve (Life Is Short, 1913); the ballets El amor brujo (Love, the Magician, 1915) and El sombrero de tres picos (The Three-Cornered Hat, 1919); the musical episode for puppets El retablo de Maese Pedro (Master Pedro’s Puppet Show, 1924); and the Concerto for Harpsichord (1923-1926).