5031 – Millers Dance

Manual da Falla

Arranged by Dan Jenkins

Difficulty: Medium

Price: £15.00

Programme notes:
Da Falla iss one of Spain’s most popular and significant composers. A nationalist at heart he was deeply influenced by the traditional music of his homeland, combining it with other European styles to create a unique musical voice. Falla composed ballets, songs and piano and orchestral works.

His ballet The Three Cornered Hat was written for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes - Picasso was the set designer. Diaghilev had been impressed with a stage work of Falla's that he had seen performed in April 1917, 'The Corregidor and the Miller's Wife'. This was a two act pantomime with text by Gregorio and Maria Martinez Sierra based on the novel by Pdero Antonio de Alarcon. The comic story concerns the old magistrate (the Corregidor of the title) of the city of Guodix in Andalusia who takes a liking to the beautiful wife of an ugly but good-natured miller. The wife seems to respond but she is only pretending and contrives to embarrass the magistrate and make him the village fool.

Diaghilev initially wanted to adapt another Falla work, 'Nights in the Garden of Spain,' into a ballet but Falla was not keen on this and, with his fondness for the story, suggested that they rework the tale of the magistrate and the miller's wife instead. The head of the Ballet Russes agreed: the scenario was rewritten, Leonide Massine was engaged to do the choreography and Pablo Picasso provided the costumes and scenery (he also painted a portrait of the composer). Falla took his existing music and expanded it for larger orchestra. He also added an extra piece for a solo dance by the male lead, an up tempo finale and an introduction during which the audience were invited to stare at Picasso's theatre curtain. This production, which was delayed by the First World War, had its debutin London, on 22 July 1919, under the title of 'The Three-Cornered Hat' after the shape of the head gear worn by the Corregidor. It was an immediate success, the last big triumph enjoyed by the Ballet Russes.

Performance notes:
The opening should be played with great authority and majesty. The solo in the 2nd trumpet needs to be played with rubato, gradually speeding up o a rhythmic finish. In the main part of the dance, play the rhythmic motives with firm, exaggerated style and, in contrast, the cantabile lines very smoothly. Try to aim for a gradual, even accelerando to the end.