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to The Musical Quarterly
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x ?r 'f T- ITsT 1 T T A XTTT A T T - - -
V UL. AAIA, IN'0. I JAI1 uti rI, 1943
THE MUSICAL
QUA RT E RLY
FALLA'S MUSICAL NATIONALISM
By OTTO MAYER-SERRA
ODERN SPANISH MUSIC, which to date has rea
tion in the works of Manuel de Falla, is do
struggle between two conflicting trends-Eur
nationalization. This struggle between the assim
influences and the transformation of popular re
not particular to Spanish music. It presents it
without a musical tradition of their own, or wh
tion, vital and original in former centuries, has
for a considerable period. The latter is the cas
Spain's epoch of by-gone splendor-which at
in the works of the great polyphonists, organist
the I6th century-had gradually fallen into obl
with the new patriotic spirit that sprang into ex
first half of the i gth century, that the aspiratio
cians were once again directed towards the c
national art. To the same period belong the im
sions concerning the possibilities of a national o
however, to produce the desired practical result
In the closing years of the Igth century the t
in the Spanish musical world-the research of
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2 The Musical Quarterly
and the nationalist experimentation of its composers-we
in the unusually fruitful work of Felipe Pedrell. This gr
clopedist can be compared only with his outstanding
porary among German musicologists, Hugo Riemann.
theoretician, popularizer, folklorist, editor of numerous
of ancient music, Pedrell, for all that, did not forego
exalted ambitions in the field of composition. Several gre
more properly music dramas in the WVagnerian sens
works of research and popularization; the edition of
volumes of the magnificent collection, Hispaniae Sch
Sacra, which include the organ writings of Cabez6n; a
the four-volume Cancionero Mlusical Popular Espaln
complete edition of the works of Tomas Luis de Vic
are the most significant items of the artistic legacy left
on his death in 1922.
This colossal achievement was inspired by a vision tha
Pedrell from his earliest youth-the creation of a gre
musical art of truly national character.
In his musicological investigations he delved far back
earliest periods of Spanish musical tradition, and placed
ings at the disposal of the composers of his generatio
study of the Spanish classicists convinced him of the ne
turning to the national folklore that had always serv
protoplasm from which his country's art music had bee
For Pedrell, as for the Czech Janaicek, the Hungarian B
the Englishman Vaughan Williams, the exploration of
folklore of the homeland was no end in itself. He con
one of the main sources of inspiration for the Spanish "
the future" in his efforts to bring about the rebirth of his
music. But since the tradition of Spanish music had b
rupted, it was impossible to leap directly from folklore
sufficient national art music. For the moment, the only
course was the appropriation of European technical proc
an adequate medium of musical creation.
In the field of composition Pedrell's efforts proved l
His music dramas, the trilogy Los Pirineos ( I890-9 ),
tina (1902), and El Conde Arnau (1904), are modelled
Wagnerian operas, above all Tannhduser-both with r
the musical scores and the choice of national episodes an
for the arguments. Pedrell avoids lapsing into the p
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Falla's Musical Nationalism 3
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4 The Musical Quarterly
glorify the atmospheric character of this same region in an already
highly individual style-"for what you are going to hear actually
took place in an Andalusian city", wrote Pedro A. de Alarcon
from whose novel the argument of this second ballet is taken. And
finally, the Fantasia betica, written in 1919 and dedicated to
Artur Rubinstein, derives much from the agitated rhythms of the
sevillana, the broad, ornate melody of cante jondo, and the way-
ward strumming of the guitar.
The love of Andalusian music, so insistently revealed by this
composer of Cadiz, is no accident. With its lush nature and its
memories of a vanished civilization, Andalusia has attracted the
sentimental traveller since the middle of the last century. In a
sense it has come to be regarded as the most "Spanish" region of
the entire peninsula.
"Half ascetic with the melancholy of its ruins, and the tradi-
tion of a people sunk into oblivion, half voluptuous with its tempt-
ing reality," wrote a Spanish poet2, "these Andalusian cities ...
have their secluded nooks that carry us back to the world of our
forbears." Musicians could not but come under the spell of this
land whose folklore is of a wealth and variety that no other region
of the Iberian peninsula can offer. Its inheritance from Arabian
civilization, the artistic contribution of the gipsies, the musical
influences brought from the New World to the port of Cadiz, the
possible remnants of certain forms of Byzantine chant-to go no
farther-all had their part in the formation of the musical reper-
tory that is sung, played, and danced in the south of Spain.
From Bizet to Albeniz, Falla had before him a tradition of
Andalusianism in romantic music. The raw folk material in these
works, however, is constantly at odds with the elements of con-
ventional form and harmony. Folklorism did not present itself as
a problem of style or expression; it served rather as a picturesque
element, as a sort of "exotic" coloring. At first the popular in-
fluence made its appearance in the melodic element. The folk-
loristic themes invaded the traditional substance, while their
rhythms were submitted to a constant regulation foreign to their
own vitality. Had it persisted along this path, musical nationalism
would never have succeeded in opening new horizons for an out-
lived style. It was Debussy, on the one hand, and Musorgsky on
2 Luis Cernuda, Divagacidn sobre la Andalucia romadtica (in Cruz y Raya,
No. 37, April, 1936, Madrid).
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Falla's Musical Nationalism 5
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6 The Musical Quarterly
are found here incorporated into Spanish music. But though the
folkloric substance has not yet taken full possession of the scores,
the forces of the new style can already be felt at work. For the
first time in centuries, Spanish music has definitely emancipated
itself from the provincial isolation which had marked its modem
history, and has geared its development to that of the great Euro-
pean movements. The other Spanish composers of Falla's genera-
tion-Conrado del Campo, Oscar Espla, Joaquin Turina, etc.-
continue in their retrospective attitude, without passing beyond
the influences of foreign models; folk melody serves them merely
as a pretext for an ornate symphonic commentary. Falla is the only
composer of his country who breaks with the destiny that seems
to weigh upon Spanish music. But after his success with this type
of Hispanicism, so rich in its astonishing discoveries, he had suf-
ficient strength of character to submit his writing to a new
discipline.3
In his El Retablo de Maese Pedro ("Master Peter's Puppet-
Show", 1919- 3), inspired by the famous episode in "Don
Quixote", Falla shows a profound change of ideological perspec-
tive. He has abandoned Andalusianism as too limited a point of
departure for his new stylistic aspirations. And with his widening
Hispanic base he proceeds with a reduction and purification of
his musical media. The orchestra consists merely of some twenty
musicians, and in addition the voices of the characters are em-
ployed. Romantic sonority is transformed into a new orchestral
texture of greater subtlety. Wind and percussion instruments are
treated as soloists; homophonic passages of the greatest trans-
parency alternate with others of fine imitative work. The intro-
duction of the harpsichord, lute-harp, and xylophone contributes
to the unusually limpid and sharply defined sonorous-setting.
The emotive exuberance that characterized his previous works
3 The thorough revision of his style that Falla has carried out with almost every
work, has its roots in his personal and religious philosophy. "I could easily have
written twenty Amor brujos', once remarked the master, whose compositions towards
the close of a lengthy and fruitful life can be counted on the fingers of one's hands.
This quantitative meagerness of his production cannot be explained by a lack of
inventive powers: those who have heard Falla improvise can bear witness to the
contrary. The profoundly devout Falla regards his musical activity as the fulfilment
of a divine mission: his is not the task of harvesting the laurels of worldly success,
but that of opening new and ever richer artistic vistas for mankind. This outlook of
impersonal dedication even led him to toy with the idea of publishing his "Harpsichord
Concerto" anonymously.
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Falla's Musical Nationalism 7
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8 The Musical Quarterly
past. By such an imitation of the highly stylized musical material
of classic and pre-classic art, Stravinsky, at times, obtains effects
of extraordinary charm, resulting precisely from the appropriation
and "alienation" of stylistic elements long familiar to the listener.
Though in certain respects Falla's neo-classicism coincides with
the tendency just mentioned, it arises from a historical situation
that is peculiarly Spanish-the absence of a national musical tradi-
tion since the days of the great classicists. With admirable insight,
Pedrell traced the future perspectives of Spanish music in the fol-
lowing phrases: 7
A genuinely Spanish opera will not be merely a lyric drama written on
a subject drawn from our history or legends. Nor will it suffice to write
it in Spanish and scatter some popular themes here and there, whose ap-
pearance of authenticity may poorly conceal the foreign origin of the rest.
The character of truly national music is not found only in the folk-song,
and in the impulse of primitive epochs, but in the genius and masterworks
of the great centuries of art. For a lyrical school to be unmistakably that
of one nation, its entire heritage must be mobilized: the constant tradition,
the general and permanent characters, the harmony of its various artistic
manifestations, the use of certain native formulas that a fatal unconscious
power made accessible to the genius of the race.
In El Retablo de Maes
development with th
preting given dramatic
the free elaboration
music, the introductio
about in a purely inst
sages that the vocal g
plete blending of the
Without doubt Falla
next work for a sma
Concerto (I923-26) fo
and violoncello, there
for padding, or as a
7 F. Pedrell, Por nuestra Mz
8 See Mersmann, op. cit., p.
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Falla's Musical Nationalism 9
9 These are the terms employed by Pedrell to distinguish between art music and
folk music.
0 For several years, the composer has been working on a great oratorio, La
Atldntida, as yet unperformed. Meanwhile he has offered nothing to the public but
the last selections of his cycle of Hommages, which began with one dedicated to
Debussy, and was completed with three more, dedicated to the memory of Dukas,
Ravel, and Pedrell.
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io The Musical Quarterly
quick repetitions of a single note, the multitude of appog
etc. These stylistic features in themselves are a mere exte
flection of what Falla learned through his long analysi
abundant collection of esercizzi of the Italian master, who
Madrid for twenty-six years.1' What the Spanish compose
in the writing of the great Hispanicized Italian was the
stylization, in his epoch, of Spanish folkloric material, the
assimilation of popular elements that penetrated and co
transformed the original character of Scarlatti's idiom. T
tallization of the popular element finds its best expr
Scarlatti's rhythmic work; from this Falla derives his
cept of internal rhythm.'2
While external rhythm is determined by melodic g
(motives), it is internal rhythm that sets forth the relat
symmetry between periods and cadences. In classical m
periods were generally confined to units of four meas
their multiples with the result that these relations turned
metrical. From the sonatas of Scarlatti and certain types o
music, Falla learned how to destroy the "squareness" of th
cal structure. "Just as it is impossible to excel the con
mastery of Bach", Falla has said13, "it will be impossible
one to surpass the internal rhythm of Scarlatti." In what
the reader will observe how Falla applies Scarlatti's m
obtain unequal periods which, nevertheless, produce th
sion of symmetry.
Here is the principal theme of the Concerto:
Ei. f Alttegro
to e 61b
Violin
Cello
Pio#l } |?Cy : t7 * l7
Atleo _ _ _ .
Harpsi-
,w \\ t f r
chond
tv#}2Cr?= =Z*Zi
11 Until his death in 1757.
12 In the present article, Falla's concept of inter
ances, and his principles of formal structure are
laRelated by his pupil Rodolfo Halffter, to w
much valuable information used in the latter anal
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Falla's Musical Nationalism II
jj t L I - i l r i t jr r_ r._
4 ?Lr- -EL F u AL[
Conceived within th
correspond very nat
divided into two pe
metrically in anoth
Ex. 2, "normal" ver
values that the ear t
occurs and a first ph
3+2 = 5 measures, are
densation is still grea
tion, the composer r
initiates the re-expos
with his second meas
is even more concent
last two measures:
l phra"e
Fallar i
Al - .
"nor ma lr r r r .
'a"- -lr.ase
Falla IFF r r L- ir 11
"normal"
_I vjt TFr
'w1ufr
_ rJ
I rIJF r I rr fl qf
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I2
The Musical Quarterly
r Cncrrftmm
Ex.4
Oboe
> X v- ^J r 4f- -N
ce) flrnzsiu
1 3 i
A 0 -0 a 0 -- - 0- . +, X
7. >
Clarinetr W i 1 U I - U I W
Harpsi ! A- ! :~-~ 4
/e marcati,ssimo
chort i 1 I
* 7 j 1..r ^ 1 J i .
o 3 3 '
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Falla's Musical Nationalism 3
f I i II i Ir r m
Thus there results a duality of juxtaposed rhythmic co
which, according to Torner5, gives rise to "one of
peculiar characteristics of popular Spanish music, with
manifestations, according to the rhythmic values that co
play."
We shall not continue this analysis, measure for measure,
throughout the entire movement. We have already demonstrated
the high degree of density which the texture of the voices ac-
quires through the gradual release of all the latent force of internal
rhythm. In the entire work there is not a single rambling measure,
in which the composer lets himself be carried away by the charm
of some melody, the progressive drive of the harmony, or the
refined use of coloring. For the first time in modern Spanish music,
the factor of conscientious craftsmanship, native to the musical
creation of earlier centuries, again intervenes decisively alongside
the factors of "inspiration" and "imagination". Precisely in this
way, Falla has raised Spanish music to a universal plane that has
not been reached by other composers of his generation or by his
followers in Spain.16
The following passage, for example:
15 E. M. Torner, ibid.
16 Among the latter some young composers, like Josep Valls and Rodolfo Halffter,
with their progressive spirit, get much closer to the orientation of the master than a
composer of the prestige of Turina, who adheres to traditional procedures and
techniques.
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I4 The Musical Quarterly
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Falla's Musical Nationalism I5
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I6 The Musical Quarterly
monic construction. This theory has the double virtue
mitting a considerable adornment and amplification of the
and, at the same time, its strict delimitation20.
The same spirit of innovation is manifested in Falla's
structure. The first movement of the Concerto is based o
form. In it there are to be found two contrasted them
development and recapitulation. But the conventional s
of the various sections of the classical form is completely
After the exposition of the first theme, there immediatel
the development, in which he uses, as is natural, many fr
and variations of the second theme. The latter does not co
play until the end of the development, to lead directly
recapitulation of the two themes. The scheme of the form
first movement is as follows:
EXPOSITION (I) Theme i (beginning, rehearsal Nos. i and 2 of th
DEVELOPMENT (a) Theme 2 in diminished form (No. 3)
(b) Augmentation of Theme x (Nos. 4-5)
(c) Recapitulation of Theme I (Nos. 6-7)
(d) Analogous to (a)-(in another key and different
form) (Nos. 7-8)
(e) Theme 2 diminish
(f) More solid part of
the end, of tripl
(g) Theme 2 in diminis
(Nos. 12-13)
EXPOSITION (II) Theme 221 (Nos. 13-15)
RECAPITULATION (a) Theme i, in very agitat
and transformed into powerful
(b) Theme 2, starting from No. i8 in
and in No. 19, in its original appear
(in the harpsichord) with the movem
quavers of Theme i.
CODA Autonomy of the chords accompan
and final appearance of fundamental m
in No. 21.
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Falla's Musical Nationalism I7
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