Description
Manuel de Falla’s opera La Vida Breve (Life is Short) was written in 1904-05. It was his first important work and won the young composer first prize in the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando musical competition. The prize was 2500 pesetas and a promise of a production at the Teatro Royal in Madrid. However, the latter was not fulfilled and it was finally premièred in France (in French) in 1913.
Whilst the opera is now seldom performed its substantial orchestral interludes remain popular – especially the music from the opening of Act 2, now known as the Spanish Dance No. 1 . Spanish to its core, it is a lively, joyous jota: a dance in three time, performed by a couple and marked by complex rhythms executed with the heels and castanets.
Since 1926 when Fritz Kreisler famously arranged Falla’s music for violin and piano (entitled Danse Espagnole) countless transcriptions have been produced for a plethora of instrumental combinations – now including the wind quintet!
