El amor brujo

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other uses, see El amor brujo (disambiguation).
Elsa García Gálvez dancing El amor brujo at the Teatro Argentino de La Plata, 1960

El amor brujo (

Will-o'-the-Wisp) and the Danza del terror. Its songs use the Andalusian Spanish
dialectal modality.

Versions and performance history

Gitanería (1915)

El amor brujo was commissioned in 1914 as a gitanería, or danced gypsy entertainment, dedicated to the flamenco dancer and cantaora Pastora Imperio. It was finished the next year but its premiere, on 15 April at the Teatro Lara in Madrid, proved unsuccessful. This version, in two scenes, is for dancers and actors and is scored for cantaora voice and chamber ensemble.

First revised version (1916)

Falla then revised the ballet by removing its spoken dialogue, replacing the cantaora part with three songs for

Madrid Symphony Orchestra under Enrique Fernández Arbós
. But it was modified several times, starting the following year when Fernández Arbós proposed a production at the Teatro Real.

Ballet pantomímico (1924)

By 1924 Falla had evolved El amor brujo into the one-act ballet pantomímico best known today, mainly by enlarging its orchestration. This was published by Chester the next year and given in Paris. It premiered in America on 17 March 1927 at Philadelphia's Metropolitan Opera House with Alexander Smallens conducting the Philadelphia Civic Opera Company and mezzo-soprano soloist Kathryn Noll.

Suite of excerpts for piano (1922)

Before completing the published ballet, Falla made a suite for piano comprising four of the movements: Pantomima, Danza del terror, Romance del pescador and Danza ritual del fuego. This is G69 in the published works.

Synopsis

El amor brujo is the story of an Andalusian gypsy woman called Candela. Although her affection is for a man named Carmelo, as a girl she was promised to be married to another man (then a boy). After many years Candela's husband has died (at the hands of the husband of a woman named Lucia), but he continues to haunt his wife.

The entire village knows about the haunting, but still brands Candela as crazy because she dances every night with her husband’s ghost ("Danza del terror"). Candela, now a widow, is free to establish a relationship with Carmelo, but continues to be haunted by her husband's ghost.

After a conversation with other women of the village, Candela finally comes to realise that her husband was unfaithful to her, despite all her efforts to make their marriage work; her husband's lover is revealed to have been Lucia.

Candela and Carmelo get advice that a ritual dance is necessary to cast the ghost off ("

Danza ritual del fuego
"), but it does not work. The ghost is still obsessed with Candela's soul.

Candela manages to trick Lucía to come that night, with the excuse of hooking her up with Carmelo. As she turns up, the nightly ritual of Candela's dance with her husband's ghost begins, but at the last moment Candela moves away from her husband and Lucía is taken away by her now dead lover ("Danza del juego de amor").

Dawn breaks, Candela and Carmelo are now truly free to enjoy their love.

Movements

  1. Introducción y escena ('Introduction and scene')
  2. En la cueva ('In the cave')
  3. Canción del amor dolido ('Song of suffering love')
  4. El aparecido (El espectro) ('The apparition')
  5. Danza del terror ('Dance of terror')
  6. El círculo mágico (Romance del pescador) ('The magic circle')
  7. A media noche: los sortilegios
  8. Danza ritual del fuego
  9. Escena ('Scene')
  10. Canción del fuego fatuo ('Song of the will-o'-the-wisp')
  11. Pantomima ('Pantomime')
  12. Danza del juego de amor ('Dance of the game of love')
  13. Final – las campanas del amanecer ('Finale – the bells of sunrise')

Recordings

Gitanería (1915)

Ballet pantomímico (1924)

Films

In 1967

Closely Observed Trains
. However, it won the "National Syndicate of Spectacle, Spain" award.

In 1986, Spanish director

Jesús López-Cobos, and the cante jondo singer heard on the soundtrack was Rocío Jurado. A soundtrack album, now out of print, was issued by EMI
.

Music

The section "Cancion del Fuego Fatuo" was recorded in 1960 by jazz musician Miles Davis as "Will O' the Wisp" in an arrangement by Gil Evans for their album Sketches of Spain.

References

Notes

  1. ^ "AllMusic website".

Sources

External links
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