Spanish Dance No. 1 (De Falla)

The Spanish Dance No. 1 ( primera danza española ) from the two-act lyric drama La vida breve from 1913 is one of the most frequently performed works by the Spanish composer Manuel de Falla . It is a dance for orchestra with folk motifs in 3/8 time, which sounds at the end of the first act and leads on to the second. In 1926 Fritz Kreisler published an arrangement of the dance for violin and piano. Since then, the piece has been played by many virtuoso musicians as a performance piece and an encore at concerts. Today there are numerous arrangements and transcriptions of Spanish dance for various instruments and line-ups.

Musical structure

The dance is set in the key of A minor and sounds in a fast 3/8 time . De Falla states that the tempo is 60. The dotted quarter note should therefore be played at 60 beats per minute. The middle part of the piece goes into a stomping rhythm pesante, ma con fuoco ( bold but with fire ) on which the loudness fortissimo ( very loud ) will sound and the dancers allowed that for the Flamenco to make typical batch-emphasized steps , and then changes back to the light-footed, flowing movement of the motifs of the beginning until the end. The dance lasts about three and a half minutes and is usually performed in large theater productions as a lively number with the entire dance ensemble . Castanets are often used in the instrumentation and to underline the folkloric character .

Interpretations (selection)

Thanks to its catchy melody, the dance is still a popular performance today, especially when it was arranged by Fritz Kreisler (violin, piano), which gives virtuoso musicians the opportunity to present their art to the audience in an individual interpretation. In 1997 the Teatro Real in Madrid brought out a traditional performance of La Vida breve and Spanish dance No. 1 in an elaborate production . Famous violinists such as Jascha Heifetz played the dance with piano accompaniment in Fritz Kreisler's version. The pianist Magda Tagliaferro published her own highly virtuoso version for piano solo . But other, younger instrumentalists also devoted themselves to the piece. There are countless arrangements for various instruments, including the Armenian guitarist Gohar Vardanyan and the Russian harpist Valeria Kurbatova. The Spanish solo dancer Nuria Pomares presented her own choreography overcoming the usual in 2009 with her performance in the Ópera de Oviedo .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Manuel de Falla: Score La vida breve , Ed .: Max Eschig, Paris 1913, pp. 185 ff.
2. ^ Teatro Real, Madrid, from 37:15
3. ↑ Jascha Heifetz
4. ↑ Magda Tagliaferro
5. ↑ Gohar Vardanyan
6. ^ Valeria Kurbatova .
7. ↑ Nuria Pomares from 3:10