The other day while visiting the city of Cordoba, I passed by El Teatro del Libertador, one of Cordoba's architectural treasures, and was happy to discover that "El Amor Brujo", Manuel de Falla's ballet was schedule to play this weekend.
Having visited The Manuel de Falla Museum/home countless times here in Alta Gracia, one doesn't quite get the full impact of Manuel de Falla's musical genius until you are fortunate enough to listen to his music live.
"El Amor Brujo" is a piece of music originally composed by Manuel de Falla for a chamber group, then re-scored as a symphonic suite, and eventually as a ballet.
"El Amor Brujo" was initially commissioned in 1914-15 as a gitaneria (gypsy piece) by Pastora Imperio, a renowned flamenco gypsy dancer, and was scored for cantaora voice, actors and chamber orchestra.
The following year, Falla revised the work for symphonic orchestra, with three short songs for mezzo-soprano. The version was given on March 28th,1916 with the Madrid Symphony Orchestra under Enrique Fernandez Arbos but unfortunately did not do well. In 1925, de Falla transformed it into a one-act "ballet pantomimico".
"El Amor Brujo" is the story of a young Andalusian gypsy girl named Candela. Candela falls in love with a man named Carmelo, after her unfaithful husband, whom she has been forced to marry, had died. The dead husband's ghost returns to haunt Candela and Carmelo. To rid them of the ghost, all the gypsies make a large circle around their campfire at midnight. In this circle Candela performs the Ritual Fire Dance. This causes the ghost to appear, with whom she then dances. As they whirl around faster and faster, the magic of the fire dance causes the ghost to be drawn into the fire, making it vanish forever.
El Amor Brujo plays this Thurs/Fri/Sat August 25th,26th, and 27th at El Teatro Libertador. 9:30 pm
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