El amor brujo ( [elaˈmoɾˈbɾu.xo] , "Love, the sorcerer") is a ballet by Manuel de Falla to a libretto by María de la O Lejárraga García, although for years it was attributed to her husband Gregorio Martínez Sierra. It exists in three versions as well as a piano suite drawn from four of its movements. Andalusian in character, its music includes the celebrated Danza ritual del fuego (Ritual Fire Dance), the Canción del fuego fatuo (Song of the Will-o'-the-Wisp) and the Danza del terror. Its songs are in Andalusian Spanish.
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.
Falla then revised the ballet by removing its spoken dialogue, replacing the cantaora part with three songs for mezzo-soprano and enlarging the accompaniment for sextet and small orchestra. The plot was slightly changed as well. [1] This more concise version, still in two scenes, was played on 12 March 1916 by members of the 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.
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.
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.
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.
In 1967 Francisco Rovira Beleta directed a film version. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but lost to Jiří Menzel's Closely Observed Trains . However, it won the "National Syndicate of Spectacle, Spain" award.
In 1986, Spanish director Carlos Saura directed El amor brujo based on the ballet, starring and choreographed by Antonio Gades. It was the third in his trilogy of dance films, following Bodas de sangre ( Blood Wedding ) and Carmen . The film filled out the story with spoken dialogue, but nevertheless used the entire score of the ballet, along with additional songs and dances performed by characters in the film. The Orquesta Nacional de España was conducted by 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.
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 .
Manuel de Falla y Matheu was a Spanish composer and pianist. Along with Isaac Albéniz, Francisco Tárrega, and Enrique Granados, he was one of Spain's most important musicians of the first half of the 20th century. He has a claim to being Spain's greatest composer of the 20th century, although the number of pieces he composed was relatively modest.
Alberto Evaristo Ginastera was an Argentine composer of classical music. He is considered to be one of the most important 20th-century classical composers of the Americas.
Encarnación López Júlvez, known as La Argentinita, was a Spanish-Argentine flamenco dancer (bailaora), choreographer and singer. La Argentinita was considered the highest expression of this art form during that time.
Will-o'-the-wisp is the light phenomenon traditionally ascribed to ghosts.
The Three-Cornered Hat is a ballet choreographed by Léonide Massine to music by Manuel de Falla. It was commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev and premiered in 1919. It is not only a ballet with Spanish setting but one that also employs the techniques of Spanish dance instead of classical ballet.
El amor brujo or Carlos Saura Dance Trilogy, Part 3: El Amor Brujo is a 1986 Spanish musical film written and directed by Carlos Saura. It was directed and choreographed in the flamenco style by Maria Pagès. It is the third part of the Saura's flamenco trilogy he made in the 1980s, after Bodas de sangre in 1981 and Carmen in 1983. The film was screened out of competition at the 1986 Cannes Film Festival.
Bewitched Love is a 1967 Spanish drama film directed by Francisco Rovira Beleta and based on the eponymous ballet by Manuel de Falla. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It was also entered into the 5th Moscow International Film Festival.
María Benítez is an American dancer, choreographer and director in Spanish dance and flamenco. Born of a mother of Chippewa, Algonquian, Oneida and Iroquois parentage and a Puerto Rican father, Benítez is best known for the work of the company she and her husband Cecilio founded and direct, Teatro Flamenco.
Honeymoon, also shown as The Lovers of Teruel in the United States, is a 1959 film by the British director-writer Michael Powell based in part on the ballet El Amor Brujo by Manuel de Falla. The film stars Anthony Steel, Ludmilla Tchérina and Spanish ballet dancer Antonio, and features Léonide Massine.
Nancy Fabiola Herrera is a Canarian mezzo-soprano opera singer. Born in Venezuela to Canarian parents, Herrera is the recipient of the "Best Zarzuela Singer of 2007" award presented by the Fundación Premios Liricos Teatro Campoamor, for her performance in Ruperto Chapí's La Bruja.
Ritual Fire Dance is a movement of the ballet El amor brujo, written by the Spanish composer Manuel de Falla in 1915. It was made popular by the composer's own piano arrangement. The dance has a duration of about three to four and a half minutes.
Paco de Lucía interpreta a Manuel de Falla is the twelfth studio album by the Spanish composer and guitarist Paco de Lucía. All the pieces were written by Manuel de Falla.
Ancestral Romance is the eighth full-length album by the Spanish power metal band Dark Moor, released on 24 November 2010.
Siete canciones populares españolas is a 1914 set of traditional Spanish songs arranged for soprano and piano by the composer Manuel de Falla. Besides being Falla's most-arranged composition and one of his most popular, it is one of the most frequently performed sets of Spanish-language art songs.
Caballos de vapor, sinfonía de baile is a ballet score composed by the Mexican composer Carlos Chávez in 1926–32. An abridged concert version is published as Suite sinfónica del ballet Caballos de vapor.
Dance of fire may refer to:
The Three-Cornered Hat is a 42-minute classical studio album in which the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under André Previn perform the whole of Manuel de Falla's ballet The Three-Cornered Hat and, as a filler, the Ritual Fire Dance from his ballet Love the Magician. The longer work's two brief vocal passages are sung by the American mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade. The album was released in 1983.
The National Ballet of Uruguay is a Uruguayan ballet company that was founded in 1935 in Montevideo. It is the public body in charge of developing the professional classical ballet in Uruguay, it is under the administration of the Official Service of Broadcasting, Television and Entertainment (SODRE).
Merche Esmeralda is a Spanish flamenco dancer (bailaora) and choreographer. In 2007, she was the recipient of the Fundación Cruzcampo "Compás del Cante" Award; this award is always referred to by the Spanish media as the "Flamenco Nobel prize".
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