The work of composer Manuel de Falla (1876-1946) has met with a variety of reactions, depending on the audience. In his native Spain, he is considered a leader in the avant-garde and the greatest composer in the Spanish cultural renaissance that extended from the latter part of the 19th century until the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936. In the United States, his music was imported as part of the “Latin” music craze of the 1930s and 1940s and arranged by pop artists and used in MGM musicals. This book offers a fresh understanding of the life and work of Falla. Building on over a decad ... More

The work of composer Manuel de Falla (1876-1946) has met with a variety of reactions, depending on the audience. In his native Spain, he is considered a leader in the avant-garde and the greatest composer in the Spanish cultural renaissance that extended from the latter part of the 19th century until the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936. In the United States, his music was imported as part of the “Latin” music craze of the 1930s and 1940s and arranged by pop artists and used in MGM musicals. This book offers a fresh understanding of the life and work of Falla. Building on over a decade of research on Spanish music, it examines Falla's work in terms of musical style and explores the cultural milieu in which he worked. Biographical, historiographical, and cultural threads are explored against the compelling backdrop of early 20th-century Spain, where Falla was a pivotal figure in a group that included not only his Spanish contemporary Enrique Granados, but also composers such as Igor Stravinsky and Maurice Ravel. The book explores a number of myths in earlier biographies, including Falla's life as an ascetic saint, his supposed misogynistic tendencies, and the accusations of homosexuality. Ultimately, this work places Falla's appealing music, which straddles popular and serious idioms, securely among the best of his better-known European contemporaries. What emerges is a portrait of a man whose lofty spiritual values inspired singular musical utterances but were often at odds with the decidedly imperfect world he inhabited.