This concerto is one of the best known works of the classical repertoire. Its second movement especially has been performed and updated by myriads of performers from classical to jazz, pops and rock and was also used in movies and many productions.
Rodrigo was inspired by the gardens of the Palacio Real de Aranjuez, the spring residence castle and gardens or the monarchs of Spain, built in the late 16th century by king Philip II and rebuilt in the 18th centure by king Ferdinand VI.
The composer described the first movement as “animated by a rhythmic spirit and vigor with either of the two themes ...interrupting its relentless pace”.
The second movement is a soft spoken, slow and beautiful dialog between the woodwinds, especially the English horn and the guitar solo. That movement is one of the best known pieces of music of the classical repertoire, having found its way into popular culture, in countless movies, television shows, commercials, and famous songs.
The third movement is reminiscent of a Spanish court dance “in which the combination of double and triple time maintain a taut tempo right to the closing bar”. Rodrigo describes the concerto as “capturing the fragrance of magnolias, the singing of brids and the gushing of fountains” in the gardens of Aranjuez.
The piece was composed in 1939 in Paris and given its premiere in Barcelona in 1940.
This dance is part of the opera “Carmen” (premiered in 1875).
The theme of the opera is well-
Carmen sing and dance this excerpt with her friends Frasquita and Mercedes. The setting
is an inn in Sevilla, Spain circa 1830. The flamenco dance starts in a moderate tempo
but then accelerating more and come becomes a wild, fiery and totally bewitching
feu-
Danse Gitane [ “Les timbres des sistres tintaient” ] (Gipsy Danse) From Carmen
Sounds of Spain
March 6, 2010 -
When Spanish composer Manuel de Falla composed El Amor Brujo between 1914 and 1915, he was already a well respected composer. After successful studies in piano and composition first in his native Cádiz then in Madrid he went to study in Paris (1907 to 1914). There his Spanish upbringing and his fondness for flamenco music, especially the "cante jondo" from Andalusia were influenced by French music, especially Ravel, Dukas and Debussy. He met many of the leading composers then and study with some of them.
Falla found in French music a connection to his native country's music. It is true
that French composers have shown since the pre-
Although prior to his Paris' stay Falla had already composed a number of pieces (mostly zarzuelas), his only notable work in that peiord was La Vida Breve, an opera in one act.
Upon going back to Spain, he settled in Madrid. There is composed most of hiws best
known works, including El Amor Brujo (Love the Magician -
El Amor Brujo is most famous for its Ritual Dance of Fire, arranged in countless different fashions and styles and remains to this day one of the most performed pieces of the repertoire.
The work was commissioned as a gypsy piece by the renowned flamenco dancer Pastora Imperio. The original score called for a chamber orchestra, a flamenco cantor voice (cantaora) and actors. Its first performance on April 15 1915 in Madrid was not successful.
Falla revised the work for a larger symphonic orchestra adding three short songs
for mezzo-
El Amor Brujo tells the story of Candela, a young and beautiful gypsy gril who once loved a man known to be violent, jealous and unruly, although seductive and caressing.
She was very unhappy with him, however loving him with passion. After his death, she could not forget him. That memory is more of a hpynotic dream nature, a morbid, gruesome and maddening spell. She is terrified in her belief that the dead may not be entirely gone but may return and haunt her, still lving herin his fierce, shadowy, faithless and caressing way.
FInally, with spring returning, she falls in love with a handsome youth, the gallant Carmelo who courts her.She almost unconscioulsly returns her love but the obsessin of her past weighs against her present inclination. WHen Carmelo approaches her, the Spectre returns and terrifis Candelas, separating her from her lover, and forbidding them to exchange the kiss of perfect love.
Carmelo gone, Candelas feels as if bewitched, her past loves fluttering heavily around her like malevolent bats. This evil spell has to be broken and Carmelo believes to have found a remedy. He once knew the gipsy man whose spectre now haunts Candelas. He knows that the dead lover was the typical faithless and jealous Andalusian type, and he discovers that the Spectre seems to have retained those attributes (his taste for beautiful women). Carmelo will find a way to divert the Spectre from his posthumous jealousy so that both Carmelo and Candelas can exchange the perfect kiss against which sorcery cannot prevail.
He persuades Lucia, a young woman and friend of Candelas to simulate acceptance of the Spectre advances. Lucia agrees. Besides, the idea of a flirtation with a ghost seems intriguing to her and the dead man was so mirthfuyl in life! Lucia takes up the sentinel's post. Carmelo returns to declare his love to Candelas and the Spectre intervenes. But he finds the charming, youthful gypsy girl and cannot resist the temptation to court the pretty girl. He courts her, coaxing her imploring her but the coquettish young gipsy almost brings him to despair. In the meantime, Carmelo succeeds in convincing Candelas of his love, and life trimpuhs over death and over the past. The lovers at last exchange the kiss that defeats the evil influence of the Spectre who perishes, vanquished by true love.
PROGRAM NOTES
Patrick Botti
Georges Bizet
Poster from Carmen Premiere (1875)
Manuel deFalla
Probably the best known and the most widely performed music work in the world, Ravel’s Bolero is an extraordinary piece, often misunderstood, maybe even by the composer himself.
It is a one movement work originally composed as a ballet and sometimes performed in a ballet setting as with Béjart’s memorable choreography. Originally a command from Ida Rubinstein, the piece came from a one finger melody played on Ravel’s piano in Saint Jean de Luz. Playing that melody to one of his friends he noted: “Don’t you think this theme has an insistent quality? I am going to try and repeat it a number of times without any development, gradually increasing the orchestra as best as I can.” The work became an instant success, enhanced with the “Toscanini affair”, when Toscanini performing the US premiere in NY used a tempo faster than Ravel demanded, provoking Ravel’s discontentment . The media amplified the incident and made the Bolero an instant success in the US.
The Bolero theme consists in one single melodic line, itself broken into two distinct phrases, written in C Major.
The theme is passed from one instrument to the other, with progressive addition of
instruments and also progressive crescendo. However, it is not just a huge crescendo
with a complete final breaking-
It is a dance of seduction and complete abandonment of oneself to the pulse and the magic of the dance.
© 2010 Waltham Symphony Orchestra
