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Falla's Musical Nationalism

Author(s): Otto Mayer-Serra


Source: The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 29, No. 1 (Jan., 1943), pp. 1-17
Published by: Oxford University Press
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/739349
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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

Copyright, 1942, by G. SCHIRMER, INC.

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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

popularism of the romantic zarzuela' for which, indeed, he had a


certain contempt. He does, however, frequently introduce quota-
tions of old folk melodies and excerpts from classical polyphony.
Rather than a "music of local color" his goal was a "music of
character". "Artists of the South," he wrote while at work on
Los Pirineos, "let us aspire to that ideal, purely human form which
is not the exclusive property of any one nationality-but let us do
so, seated in the midst of our southern gardens." The basic ele-
ments of this new art were to be extracted from folklore and
elaborated according to "formulas evolved to provide an adequate
harmonic setting".
Pedrell's theories concerning the resurgence of Spanish music
would certainly not have had so profound an effect, had they not
found creative personalities capable of realizing them artistically.
Granados and Albeniz, following the lead of Pedrell, took the
first steps to elaborate popular themes along the lines that he had
mapped out. A;ith the isolated exception, however, of Albeniz's
Iberia-which shows a more closely knit treatment of its materials
and a more profound sense of craftsmanship-these composers
contented themselves with picturesque exposition in the salonesque
manner.

It remained for Manuel de Falla to realize the ambitio


of Pedrell in all its implications.

In the first phase of his production, Manuel de Falla appears


In the first phase of his production, Manuel de Fall
essentially preoccupied with the materials of popular mu
a marked preference for those of Andalusia.
The unhappy love affair of a gipsy girl of Granada
the theme of his first theatrical creation, La Vida breve
Short", 1904-05). In this work he shows a strong fee
regional music in a style highly reminiscent of French ly
The three nocturnes for orchestra and piano, "Night
Gardens of Spain" (1916), evoke-with all the refined in
tation of French impressionism-the magic gardens and m
ing waters that are the delight of romantic Andalusia. The
theatrical works, the gipsy ballet, El Amor brujo (
Wizard", 1915), and "The Three-Cornered Hat" (19
1 Typical Spanish operetta.

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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

the other, who suggested an unsuspected use for the folkloric


element.
The teachings of French impressionism and Russian folklorism
indicated to Falla a more intense means of expression in the Spanish
musical idiom; they led him to discover the intrinsic dynamism
of folk melody in its entire scale of values. The timid attempts of
Albeniz to utilize certain rhythmic motives as a link between the
different sections of a composition, are surpassed in Falla's work
by his unleashing of the elemental forces of rhythm. In certain
passages, as in the "Fire Dance" of El Amor brujo or the Farruca
of the "Miller's Dance" and the "Final Dance" of the "Three-
Cornered Hat", the fiery rhythm acquires complete autonomy.
The different rhythmic movements are developed, crossed, and
juxtaposed in an extremely dynamic interplay. The stylization of
certain effects produced on the guitar leads to new harmonic com-
binations. The unfailing grace of his melodic invention and the
brilliant and richly shaded orchestration assured the world-wide
popularity of these works.
But if Falla had been content to stop here, he would not occupy
his present position in contemporary art. His importance in Span-
ish music would be that of a successor of Albeniz, though of
infinitely superior creative force and constructive discipline. In
his works, Spanish musical romanticism would have reached its
culmination and probably its close. Today, at a distance of a
quarter of a century, we can accurately relate Falla's work of
this first period to the musical evolution of our epoch. From a
purely stylistic point of view, a score like that of the "Three-
Cornered Hat" or the admirable "Seven Popular Spanish Songs"
( 9 4) is doubtless nearer to Albeniz's Iberia than to certain works
of great revolutionary importance, such as Le Sacre du Printemps
or Schoenberg's Pierrot lunaire, both written at an earlier date.
Indeed, Falla's work of this period is "Igth century" rather
than "20th century". The popular elements are stylized but neither
blended nor transformed; they serve as material rather than as the
basis for a principle of style. The Falla of those years is carried
away by the seductive effects of a large orchestra: rapid, sparkling
passages, the intimacy of divided strings, the striking contrast
between various instrumental groups, and the vigorous assertion
of tonality in full chords. The entire musical equipment of
romanticism, including the final advances of French impressionism,

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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

is now condensed into a series of schematic passages which music-


ally illustrate the dramatic development. Modulation is reduced to
the fundamental tonal relations, and recalls the purity of classic
Spanish polyphony. In his harpsichord writing he introduces cer-
tain characteristics of the Scarlatti style that are later to be found,
deepened and enriched, in the Concerto.
The melodic line of the voices alternates with very singable
fragments, modelled upon the rhythms and cadences of the old
Spanish song-books. In long declamatory passages in which the
progress of the dramatic action is explained, Falla captures the
inflections characteristic of Cervantes' speech with the greatest
fidelity. The entire work is impregnated with allusions to folk
melodies from the most diverse regions of Spain. For example, the
trumpet theme of the second scene (beginning at rehearsal No. 30
in the score) is a melody taken from a i6th-century ballad4 to be
found in the "Seven Music Books" of Francisco de Salinas. In
Scene III (at No. 41) he uses a Castilian type of melody, although
the quotation is by no means textual. And finally, the oboe theme,
in the last part of the work (four measures before No. 89; repeated
at No. 97) is reminiscent of a guitar falseta characteristic of the
gipsy siguiriya.5
Previous to El Retablo de Maese Pedro, the nationalistic pro-
gram of Pedrell, in its entire sweep, had not yet been realized.
El Retablo is the very work that Pedrell would have liked to write.
By re-incorporating the highest values created by the Spanish
genius in the course of centuries, Falla achieves what may be called
the "Hispanic neo-classicism" of his last works.
Neo-classicism in modern music is closely related to the
tendency towards archaism that may be observed in the com-
posers of preceding generations.6 Both trends derive from the
urge to rediscover a vital principle of formal construction in the
old masterworks, to be used against the disintegrating forces of
romantic music. In both instances the composers resort to har-
monic and figurative procedures, pre-classical forms, and par-
ticularly melodic turns, peculiar to certain great composers of the
4 Published in Pedrell, Cancionero Musical Popular Espanol, Vol. I, Section V,
No. 26.
8 See E. M. Torner, La Ritmica en la Musica tradicional, (in Mzisica, January, 1938,
Barcelona, p. 32).
6 Cf. Hans Mersmann, Die moderne Musik seit der Romantik, Potsdam, 1929;
pp. 202-205.

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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.

Comparing the preceding works with the score of El Retablo


de Maese Pedro, it becomes evident that this work constitutes the
strict fulfilment of the esthetic program of Pedrell.
* *

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

transformed into vehicles of individual melodic lines. The ele-


ments of Spanish folk and art music that penetrate every measure
of this work are no less numerous than those used in his previous
productions. But what imparts a universal character to the Con-
certo is the fact that Falla no longer limits himself to stylizing the
Hispanic raw material, but arrives at an elaboration of it; it be-
comes the point of departure for the renovation of his style.
While El Retablo re-establishes the lost tradition of Spanish music,
the Concerto transforms the "idiomatic cells" of "artificial" and
"natural" music9 into the elements of the new Spanish style.
This task called for an extremely well-organized intelligence,
a strong speculative instinct, and a rigorous self-discipline. From
his earliest beginnings, Falla had revealed the methodical character
of his creative work. But only in this, his last important compo-
sitionl0, does he succeed in elaborating an actual principle of
construction. In a personality of Falla's artistic sensitivity, of
course, the organization of his sonorous material arises from a
creative necessity and not from premeditated speculation.
In this article we do not intend to present a complete discus-
sion of the Concerto of Falla. We are rather concerned with a
technical explanation of what constitutes the novelty of this work.
Three aspects in particular-the rhythm, harmony, and form-
require attention. Neither in the enrichment of the rhythmic
structure of his melodies, in the application of certain harmonic
resonances, nor in his highly ingenious formal construction, does
Falla invent new devices unknown to classical musical practice.
What he does manage to do, however, is to give a new function
to certain phenomena that have already served as a constitutive
base of folk melody, and particularly of the musical language of
Domenico Scarlatti. Indeed, the affinity between the latter's style
and the writing in Falla's Concerto goes much farther than one
might suspect at first sight-the revival of certain of Scarlatti's
melodic and harpsichordistic formulas, such as the "angular" cut
of the themes, the pedal effects and use of two keyboards, the

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

l, ,r?w b.en narwr-it

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

When the theme is


pressed into no mor
in the strict sense o
phrase, being cut of
phrase:

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I2
The Musical Quarterly

r Cncrrftmm

The last three measures of the preceding example serve as a


bridge for the development. The triplets of the accompaniment
take possession of the right hand of the harpsichord part14; the
strings bring back a fragment of the theme in a new, vigorously
marked syncopation: the exposition of the first theme ends by
letting the rhythmic movement play itself out (auskomponiren).
As a further adornment of the rhythmic variety thus obtained,

14 These triplets have a decisive importance in this entire movement as an expres-


sion of the typical juxtaposition of unequal rhythms. At the height of the develop-
ment (rehearsal No. I of the score), the triplet feeling motivates a violent break
with the original rhythm by momentarily becoming, by augmentation, the basic
rhythm of the whole passage. Thus they acquire absolute dominion, and absorb the
other elements:

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

the chords in the strings-harmonic resonances, of which we shall


speak later-support the weak part of the measure; at the same
time, the theme appears accompanied by sixteenth-notes and
eighth-note triplets.
Finally, we may note a curious fact: Owing to the above eli-
minations, Falla obtains a first theme made up of five masculine
groups, the first four of three quarter-notes and the fifth of two.
Oddly enough, the composer writes them down in a binary meas-
ure, invariably accentuated by the accompaniment of the left
hand in the harpsichord, despite the ternary value of these first
four rhythmic-melodic groups (compare with Ex. i):
Ex. 5 -----,,--,r

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

has a certain affinity with works like Schoenberg's Pierrot lunaire,


or L'Histoire du Soldat of Stravinsky. But the trill in the violin,
and later, in the harpsichord, differentiates it radically from these
two works, and particularly from the former. This trill has a
double function here that reveals two inalienable qualities of
modern Spanish music and Falla's style: its coloristic base and its
strong sense of tonality7.
None of the works hitherto produced in the Spanish musical
idiom has been able to forego the use of color as a distinctive ele-
ment of national style. Included in writing as skeletal as that of the
Concerto, the coloring plays an important part, though it finds
itself reduced to its minimal expression by the very sharp and con-
cise instrumentation. The silvery sonority of the harpsichord, the
alternation of the pizzicato in the strings with abrupt chord
strokes, the exploitation of the high registers of the wind-instru-
ments and violoncello, the trills over dissonant chords and quick
appoggiaturas in all the instruments, and finally the combination
of harpsichord effects with the overtones of the strings, which are
already found in some passages of El Retablo-all these and other
sonorous effects impart to the Concerto its incomparable novelty.
Particularly in the first and last movements, its Latin transparency
acquires a rather crisp expression, apparently dispassionate and
almost frigid. Since the appearance of the Concerto, this has mis-
led its hearers and critics in their judgment of the Spanish character
of this work18.
This strong coloristic sense is united with an unwavering ad-
herence to the laws of tonality. Only in the slow movement, the
17 In this case, it gives coloristic body to the whole passage, and at the same time
serves the function of dominant.
18 Thus in his "2oth Century Composers" (New York, 1937), David Ewen remarks
that the Concerto is "perhaps the purest music that Falla created and one of his few
works, not written to express Spain."

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Falla's Musical Nationalism I5

most archaic of the three-with its long passages of scales and


arpeggios, in the manner of the organ toccata, its canonic imita-
tions, and its clear chords of ancient Spanish polyphony--, do
passages full of major thirds appear. But this splendid revival of
diatonic triads in the midst of the most violent alterations, which
characterize the whole work, obeys the evocative intention of the
composer in this movement; it is of an extraordinary refinement
that recalls certain analogous procedures of Paul Hindemith in
his Das Marienleben or Mathis der Maler. In general, the individ-
ual treatment of the voices (see our last example) and the combi-
nation of chords produce very vigorous shocks of dissonance that
in many passages seem to do away with the concept of tonality.
But these apparent suspensions of tonality (seemingly "poly-
tonal" passages) are always justified tonally. For his harmonic
combinations, Falla generally departs from a well-defined tonal
center, which is accompanied by its upper or lower resonances.
The lower ones are obtained by considering the fundamental tone
of the chord as the seventh, fifth, or third of a new fundamental.
By giving sonorous reality to the harmonics of the sevenths, fifths,
or thirds of the fundamental tone of a chord, intervals which in
their turn constitute harmonics more or less distant from this
fundamental, the upper resonances are obtained. In schematic
form, this procedure may be demonstrated as follows:
Ex.7 i

That is to say: By combining the first harmonics of the seventh


(the first strong dissonance) with those of the fundamental note
(upper resonance), he gives a new color to the tonality, without
forfeiting its basic character. In like manner, the fundamental C
may be considered as the seventh of the D-flat below, and the cor-
responding chords may be formed (lower resonance). The funda-
mental note is here considered as the center of two divergent forces
in close relation to one another-in accordance with the classical
theory expounded in masterly fashion by Arnold Schoenbergl9.
While Schoenberg abandoned this concept of harmony to follow
other paths, Falla has used it as a point of departure for his har-
19 In the chapter Die Durtonart und die leitereigenen Akkorde of his Har-
monielebre (Vienna, I922).

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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.

This original application of sonata form is of surprising effect.


The development acquires an extraordinary tension, due to the
20 As an illustration of what has been set forth above, see Ex. I: the prevailing
tonality (D major) is accompanied by its lower resonances (E-flat major and minor).
The complete harmonic analysis of the Concerto would show the rich and novel gain
that the composer has been able to derive from his theory without ever falling into
doctrinaire formulism. Let us point out here the significant fact that Falla does not
ordinarily use certain ambiguous chords like the Neapolitan sixth, the alterations of
a six-five chord on the supertonic, or diminished sevenths.
21 This theme is an almost textual version of the well-known Christmas Carol,
De los Alamos vengo, for voice and vihuela, of Juan Vazquez (I6th century), pub-
lished in F. Pedrell, Cancionero Musical Popular Espanol (Barcelona) and E. M.
Torner, Cancionero musical (Madrid, 1928).

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Falla's Musical Nationalism I7

fact that the origins of a portion of the material used-all the


particles of the second theme-are denied to the hearer. This ten-
sion is prolonged during more than half of the movement, until
the second theme appears. This fissure in the exposition results in
the displacement of the center of gravity towards the final section,
which thus constitutes an extremely vigorous culmination of the
entire movement.
Falla, who has written the most brilliantly Spanish scores in
the musical repertory, has composed as his masterpiece a work al-
together lacking in the more obvious regional characteristics to
which he owes his fame. Of greater than mere biographic interest,
this sums up the evolution of Spanish musical nationalism to the
category of universal art.
"A chaque destruction d'une belle trouvaille", remarked Pablo
Picasso some years ago,22 "l'artiste ne la supprime pas, i vrai dire;
mais il la transforme, la condense, la rend plus substantielle. La
reussite est le resultat de trouvailles refusees. Autrement on devient
son propre amateur. Je ne me vends rien!" This need to "destroy"
an artistic value when it has reached its most mature expression, is
one of the basic laws in the evolution of musical art; it may be
observed in all periods and all styles.
The composers of Falla's period have had the task of "destroy-
ing" the romantic-impressionist inheritance. Each composer has
attacked this in his own manner, in accordance with his tempera-
ment, talent, and antecedents. The rhythmic "motorism" of a Stra-
vinsky or a Bart6k, the melodic and formal constructivism of a
Hindemith, the new systematization of sonorous materials of a
Schoenberg, were not to be found along the path traversed by
Falla. But the styles of all of them have much in common. To
future generations their affinities will probably appear greater than
their points of difference, and musicology will doubtless arrive at
a definition of what will be called the musical idiom of the zoth
century.
22 In the Cahiers d'Art, 1935, Vol. o1, No. io.

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