In Falla’s most effective national idiom are two popular Spanish dances. The Ritual Fire Dance (Danza ritual del fuego) is the seventh section from the ballet, El Amor brujo (1915). Trills with the searing intensity of hot flame lead into a languorous Spanish melody for the oboe, behind which moves an irresistible rhythm. This is followed by a second subject more intense in mood, loudly proclaimed by unison horns and after that repeated quietly by muted trumpets. Throughout, this dance has an almost savage ferocity, the music continually punctuated by piercing chords; the dance is finally brought to a frenetic conclusion. The composer himself made a highly effective transcription of this dance for solo piano, and Gregor Piatigorsky for cello and piano.
The Spanish Dance No. 1 comes from the second act of the opera, La Vida breve, with which Falla first achieved recognition. An impulsive rhythmic opening serves as the background for a bold and sensual gypsy melody for horns and strings. The piece ends with rich chords for full orchestra. Fritz Kreisler made a fine transcription of this dance for violin and piano.
Gabriel Fauré
Gabriel-Urbain Fauré was born in Pamiers, France, on May 12, 1845. His music study took place in Paris with Niedermeyer and Saint-Saëns. After that he served as organist in Rennes and Paris, and held the important post of organist at the Madeleine Church in Paris from 1896 on. In 1896 he also became professor of composition at the Paris Conservatory where, from 1905 until 1920, he was director. In 1909 he was elected member of the Académie des Beaux Arts, and in 1910 made Commander of the Legion of Honor. In the last years of his life he suffered from deafness. He died in Paris on November 4, 1924.
Fauré was one of France’s major composers, creator of a considerable library of piano and chamber music as well as works for symphony orchestra which included Pelleas and Melisande, a suite (1898) and the Ballade for piano and orchestra (1881). His music is filled with classic beauty, serenity, and a most delicate sensibility and thus makes an appeal only to a highly cultivated music lover. But a few of his works have such melodic charm and appealing moods that they cannot fail to cast a spell even on the untrained listener.
Après un rêve is a song, the first in a set of three published as op. 7 (1885), lyrics by Romain Bussine. Exquisite in its sensitive lyricism, this melody has become popular in many transcriptions, some for orchestra, one for violin and piano by Mischa Elman, and another for cello and piano by Pablo Casals.
Dolly (1893-1896) is a suite of six pieces for children which the composer originally wrote as a piano duet for Dolly Bardac, daughter of a woman who later became Debussy’s wife. Henri Rabaud orchestrated this suite in 1906, and it was first performed in connection with a ballet staged at the Théâtre des Arts in Paris. In this music the composer looks back on childhood and the world of the child with poetic insight and occasionally a gentle sense of humor; in this respect this suite is not unlike Children’s Corner of Debussy. It opens with “Berceuse,” a gentle melody for the woodwind, which Jacques Thibaud arranged for violin and piano. This is followed by “Mi-a-ou,” a little quartet for muted trumpets. A flute solo dominates “Le Jardin de Dolly,” while “Kitty Valse” is a light and vivacious waltz tune. In “Tendresse” the melody is first heard in strings. A tranquil middle section presents the solo oboe above a harp accompaniment. The closing movement, “Le Pas espagnol” is gay and brilliant music that pays homage to Chabrier, composer of España.
The Pavane, for orchestra, op. 50 (1887) is music of stately, classic beauty over which hovers the Hellenic spirit so often found in Fauré’s most significant works. Against an insistent rhythm, the flute offers the haunting refrain of the Pavane. This dance melody is soon shared by the other woodwind, after which it unfolds completely in violins and the woodwind, other strings providing a rhythmic pizzicato accompaniment. A transition in the strings then leads us back to the graceful mood and the gentle lyricism of the Pavane melody.
The same subdued and classic repose we find in the Pavane distinguishes another of Fauré’s popular compositions, the Sicilienne, for cello and piano, op. 78 (1898). Transcriptions for orchestra of this composition are even more famous than the original version.