Danza Española No. 1 & 2

Manuel de Falla’s “Homenaje pour le Tombeau de Claude Debussy” is regarded as one of the masterpieces of our repertoire. Written in 1920, it is the composer’s only work originally conceived for the guitar. It originated from an invitation by Henri Pruniéres, editor of the magazine La Revue Musicale, who was organizing a special issue in tribute to Claude Debussy, who had passed away two years earlier. As a result, Falla wrote the essay “Claude Debussy et l’Espagne” as well as the “Homenaje.” Other composers also participated in this commemorative issue, like Bartók, Dukas, Malipiero, Ravel, Roussel, Satie, Schmitt and Stravinsky.

In the former essay, Falla begins by noting that Debussy wrote music inspired by Spain without ever having visited the country. Nevertheless, Debussy managed to capture the essence of Spain’s fundamental cultural elements. At the end of “Homenaje,” Falla quotes Debussy’s “La Soirée dans Grenade,” which is the second piece of the three-movement piano work “Estampes” (1903). Falla praises the evocative power of “La Soirée,” stating that Andalucía is portrayed there, “truth without authenticity.”

Curiously, Falla’s opera “La Vida Breve” presents several parallels to these facts. Composed shortly after “Estampes,” between 1904 and 1905, with a libretto by Carlos Fernández Shaw, it explores the local language and atmosphere of Andalucía. Although Falla had never visited Granada at that time, he chose to set the story there. Much like Debussy, he succeeded in capturing the essence, the truth, without having physically been there. “La Vida Breve” was premiered in France, in Nice, in 1913, with a French libretto adapted by Paul Milliet. Its official premiere took place on January 7, 1914, at the Théâtre National de l’Opéra-Comique in Paris. Actually, Falla incorporated a guitar into the orchestration, where it first appears accompanying a singer in a recitative-like manner in Act II. A few months later, with the outbreak of the First World War, Falla returned to Spain. “La Vida Breve” was finally presented in his homeland on November 14, at the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid. In 1920, Manuel de Falla moved to Granada, and the first composition he wrote there was the “Homenaje.”

Falla himself was keen on adapting his compositions for different formations. In 1921, he arranged “Homenaje pour le Tombeau de Claude Debussy” for piano. Years later, this piece was incorporated in the orchestral suite “Homenajes” (1938-1939) as its second movement, “À Claude Debussy (Elegía de la guitarra)”. Beyond this major original composition, Falla’s presence in the guitar repertoire is also marked by transcriptions of his orchestral works. These include “Danza del Corregidor” and “Danza del Molinero” from the ballet “El Sombrero de Tres Picos,” transcribed for two guitars by Graciano Tarragó and for solo guitar by Siegfried Behrend; “Romance del Pescador” and “Canción del Fuego Fatuo” from “El amor Brujo,” transcribed for solo guitar by Miguel Llobet and also by Emilio Pujol; “Cubana,” “Danza del Molinero,” “Pantomima,” and “Danza Ritual del Fuego,” transcribed for two guitars by Llobet; “Siete Canciones Populares Españolas,” for voice and guitar, transcribed by Llobet (later revisited in a transcription by David Leisner). In this context, perhaps Falla’s most iconic work is the first “Danza Española” from “La Vida Breve,” which became a cornerstone of the guitar duo canon through Emilio Pujol’s celebrated transcription.

“La Vida Breve” is an opera in two acts and four scenes, where the “Danza Española n. 1” appears in the first scene of Act II. Its pungent and melodic character has inspired numerous transcriptions, including versions for piano (1923) by Gustave Samazeuilh, violin and piano (1926) by Fritz Kreisler, and harp (1943) by Marcel Grandjany, among others. Pujol’s version for two guitars was published by Max Eschig in 1957, although it had been recorded years earlier, in 1932, by Pujol and Matilde Cuervas. From that point on, the “Danza” was firmly established through performances by renowned duos such as Ida Presti and Alexandre Lagoya, Sérgio and Eduardo Abreu, Julian Bream and John Williams, Evangelos Assimakopoulos and Liza Zoe, and Paco de Lucía and Ramón de Algeciras.

As a solo piece, “Danza Española n. 1” has been transcribed and performed, though less frequently than the version for two guitars. “Danza Española n. 2” appears in the second scene of Act II. Unlike the first “Danza”, it features singers performing vocalise passages. Although it does not enjoy the same level of recognition as “Danza Española n. 1” and has yet to be fully associated with the guitar universe, this piece contains elements that are well suited for the six strings. 

The present transcriptions are based on both Samazeuilh’s piano version and the original orchestral score. In celebration of the 150th anniversary of Manuel de Falla, this edition serves a twofold purpose: not only to shed more light on “Danza Española n. 2,” but also to further establish the first “Danza” as part of the solo guitar repertoire.