The suite derived from de Falla’s “choreographic fantasy,” _Love, the
Sorcerer_, does not suffer so much by its separation from the theatrical
situations, action, and stage settings as other suites arranged from
ballets. There are many pages that are enjoyable as pure music without
thought of a plot and the evolutions of a ballet, without the question
of whether this number or that is illustrative of an episode in the
ballet. If de Falla expresses the wildness of Spanish gypsy music in a
fascinating manner, he is equally fortunate in the expression of gentle
emotions. There is little that is sensuous or voluptuous in the suite.
The music for the scene of the appearance of a ghost which cools the
amorous ardor of Candelas when her new lover would approach her—here one
is reminded of the chief theme of Anatole France’s amusing and satirical
_Histoire comique_—is, perhaps, imbued with passionate fervor for
performance on the stage.
* * *
This _Gitaneria_ (Gypsy Life) in one act and two scenes, a choreographic
fantasy with voice and small orchestra, book by Gregorio Martinez Sierra
(known in this country by the plays _A Romantic Young Lady_, _Cradle
Song_, _The Kingdom of God_), was produced at the Teatro de Lara,
Madrid, April 15, 1915, with the Señora Pastora Imperio assisting. A
concert version was performed at Madrid in 1916, E. Fernandez Arbos
conductor, at a concert of the Sociedad Nacional de Música. According to
G. Jean-Aubry, “De Falla drew from the music certain symphonic excerpts,
in which he suppressed the spoken or sung parts and enlarged the
instrumentation.... But this did not alter the essential character of
the work, which is to be found in its particular color, or the
semi-Arabian style of its idioms.”
This suite was performed for the first time in London on November 23,
1921.
Sierra based the libretto of de Falla’s ballet pantomime on an
Andalusian gypsy story. _Brujo_ means a wizard, a male witch. Mr. Trent,
in his _Manuel de Falla and Spanish Music_, writes: “_L’Amour sorcier_
has misled both audiences and English translators. _Love the Wizard_
gives an entirely wrong impression; _Wedded by Witchcraft_, proposed as
an alternative, is a description, more or less, of what happens; and
even that would be better as _Wedded in Spite of Witchcraft_.”
There was a small orchestra when the work was first produced. As finally
revised, the score calls for piccolo, two flutes, oboe, two clarinets,
bassoon, two horns, two trumpets, kettledrums, bells (A, D, C), piano,
and strings. A mezzo-soprano sings “behind”; but in concerts the voice
is replaced by a horn, or in one place an English horn.
When Mr. Arbos conducted this work in St. Louis, the Programme Book,
edited by Harry R. Burke, contained this synopsis of the story published
as a preface to the piano score:
“Candelas, a young, very beautiful and passionate woman has loved a
wicked, jealous and dissolute, but fascinating and cajoling Gypsy.
Although having led a very unhappy life with him, she has loved him
intensely and mourned his loss, unable ever to forget him. Her memory of
him is something like a hypnotic dream, a morbid, gruesome, and
maddening spell. She is terrified by the thought that the dead may not
be entirely gone, that he may return, that he continues to love her in
that fierce, shadowy, faithless, and caressing way. She lets herself
become a prey to the past as if under the influence of a specter; yet
she is young, strong, vivacious. Spring returns, and with it love, in
the shape of Carmelo.
“Carmelo, a handsome youth, enamored and gallant, makes love to her.
Candelas, not unwilling to be won, almost unconsciously returns his
love; but the obsession of her past weighs against her present
inclination. When Carmelo approaches her and endeavors to make her share
his passion, the Specter returns and terrifies Candelas, whom he
separates from her lover. They cannot exchange the kiss of perfect love.
“Carmelo being gone, Candelas languishes and droops; she feels as if
bewitched, and her past love seems to flutter heavily about her like
malevolent and foreboding bats. But this evil spell has to be broken,
and Carmelo believes he has found a remedy. He has once been the comrade
of the Gypsy whose specter haunts Candelas. He knows that the dead lover
was the typical faithless and jealous Andalusian gallant. Since he
appears to retain, even after his death, his taste for beautiful women,
he must be taken on his weak side and thus diverted from his posthumous
jealousy in order that Carmelo may exchange with Candelas the perfect
kiss against which the sorcery of love cannot prevail.
“Carmelo persuades Lucia, a young and enchantingly pretty Gypsy girl,
the friend of Candelas, to simulate acceptance of the Specter’s
addresses. Lucia, out of love for Candelas and from feminine curiosity,
agrees. The idea of a flirtation with a ghost seems to her attractive
and novel. And then the dead man was so mirthful in life. Lucia takes up
the sentinel’s post. Carmelo returns to make love to Candelas, and the
Specter intervenes ... but he finds the charming little Gypsy, and
neither can nor will resist the temptation, not being experienced in
withstanding the allurements of a pretty face. He makes love to Lucia,
coaxing and imploring her, and the coquettish young Gypsy almost brings
him to despair. In the meantime Carmelo succeeds in convincing Candelas
of his love, and life triumphs over death and the past. The lovers at
last exchange the kiss that defeats the evil influence of the Specter,
who perishes, definitely conquered by love.”