Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre
Álvaro Gómez Gómez
The influences of Andalusian folk music and the Impressionist style of Debussy
on Manuel de Falla’s work Noches en Los Jardines de España
A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements of the
Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Music)
Supervisor: Prof. Toomas Siitan
Tallinn 2015
The influences of Andalusian folk music and the Impressionist style of Debussy on Manuel de
Falla’s work Noches en Los Jardines de España
Abstract
The research focuses on the influence of the music of the folklore of southern Spain and that
of the music of Debussy in the works of Manuel de Falla, who lived for seven years in Paris (1907–
1914). The study focuses specifically on the last piece Manuel de Falla began to compose in Paris,
Noches en los Jardines de España (Nights in the Gardens of Spain).
The purpose of the study is to assess the importance of the French influence in Falla’s music,
alongside the tools he already possessed from the music of Spanish folklore. In order to achieve a
suitable reading of his music, the main purpose of the thesis is to understand whether the influence
of Debussy on Falla was sufficient to change radically his manner of composition or whether this
influence served merely to complement a style of composition based on the music of the folklore of
southern Spain.
A major part of the dissertation is devoted to an analysis of Manuel de Falla’s Noches en los
Jardines de España. Here the author tries to identify the best way to perform the piece, searching
for the most suitable tools the orchestra can use to recreate as faithfully as possible the ideas of the
colours, rhythms, textures and so on that Falla had in his mind while composing the piece.
2
Table of contents
1. Introduction ..........................................................................................................................4
1.1. Aim of the research ...............................................................................................5
1.2. Background to the research....................................................................................5
1.3. Research methods..................................................................................................7
2. Manuel de Falla and Paris.....................................................................................................9
2.1. Manuel de Falla moves to Paris...........................................................................11
2.2. Two personalities of major importance:
Joaquín Turina and Claude Debussy...........................................................................13
2.2.1. Joaquín Turina and Manuel de Falla ....................................................14
2.2.2. Claude Debussy and Manuel de Falla ..................................................16
3. The influences of flamenco singing and Debussy’s music in Manuel de Falla’s
Noches en los Jardines de España .........................................................................................20
3.1. The influence of flamenco singing in
Noches en los Jardines de España .........................................................................................27
3.1.1. Harmony ...............................................................................................31
3.1.2. Melody and sonority ............................................................................33
3.1.3. Rhythm .................................................................................................48
3.2. The influence of Debussy’s music in
Noches en los Jardines de España ............................................................................51
3.2.1. Harmony ...............................................................................................52
3.2.2. Melody .................................................................................................58
3.2.3. Texture ..................................................................................................64
4. Conclusion .........................................................................................................................74
Bibliography ..........................................................................................................................78
Töö lühikokkuvõte .................................................................................................................81
3
1. Introduction
It is difficult to know the extent to which an experience outside one’s homeland can change
an individual’s personality; what is very evident in the case of Manuel de Falla, however, is that his
music saw a change of direction during the seven years he was in Paris (from 1907 to 1914) as a
result of his contact with the musical culture of his neighbouring country. During his sojourn in
Paris Falla improved his compositional skills and gained international acknowledgement as a
composer as he worked on some of his most important works, including Cuatro Canciones
Españolas, Trois Mélodies, Siete Canciones Populares Españolas and Noches en los Jardines de
España.
For an orchestral conductor it is very important to understand the context in which a
particular work is written, including the wider environment in which the composer is working, so as
to be able better to grasp his musical intentions and to find the right tools with which to transmit as
closely and effectively as possible the message that the composer wishes to convey in his music.
Unfortunately, this is not always possible. Conductors often have to prepare concerts very fast,
concentrating on the music from inside at the risk of overlooking such important aspects as an
awareness of the context in which the work was written, both that of the composer himself and of
the wider environment in which he was writing. Often, when working with an unfamiliar piece from
inside, musicians may struggle to grasp the meaning of a work or the significance of a particular
passage. In such a situation an awareness of the broader context in which the work was composed
can often shed light on such issues, clarifying them and perhaps significantly altering performance
decisions and thus the effect of the music in concert.
Noches en los Jardines de España (Nights in the Garden of Spain) is the last work Manuel
de Falla started to compose in his Paris period, and we might assume that a major factor in the piece
will be the influence of Debussy’s music. Such an assumption, however, besides being very
superficial, fails to provide a key to understanding and interpreting the music correctly. This
research attempts to ascertain more precisely what Falla had in mind while he was composing this
masterpiece and thus to understand more clearly the musical ideas he wished to transmit in it. On a
practical level, this will enable conductors to find the right tools with which to help the orchestra to
approach as closely as possible in performance the musical sensations that Falla intended to convey
in the piece.
4
1.1. Aim of the research
The aim of this research is to assess the importance of Paris to Falla’s music and to
demonstrate how he combined the French influence with the tools he already possessed from the
music of flamenco singing. The study focuses specifically on Falla’s work Noches en los Jardines
de España: as an orchestral conductor, such a study is a valuable aid to obtaining insights into the
music that will enable the piece to be performed as faithfully as possible to the composer’s original
intentions. In order to achieve this aim, the thesis will be divided into two sections.
The first of these provides a general picture of the relevant background to Falla’s decision to
move to Paris in 1907, taking as its focus on one hand the artistic environment in the French capital
at the time and, on the other, the personal and artistic situation of Manuel de Falla. A sojourn in a
city that is not one’s own and the relationships with the people one finds there people there do much
to define the personality of any individual, and this is one of the many factors that may influence
the music of a composer in a particular period of his life. I will therefore examine the most
important influences to which Falla was exposed in Paris, personified by the principal proponents of
the two musical styles present in the city at the time. On one hand the influence of Joaquín Turina,
one of the most representative followers of the Schola Cantorum led by the French composer
Vincent d’Indy, a Spanish composer living in Paris at the same time as Falla; on the other hand,
Claude Debussy, the most important representative of the music of French Impressionism.
The second section then demonstrates how the confluence between two different strands –
on one hand the influence of the music of Claude Debussy, and on the other the flamenco singing
tradition from the music of Spanish folklore that was already part of the composer’s heritage before
he arrived in Paris – combined to create Falla’s style at that moment in his career. To this end
Noches en los Jardines de España, the last piece Falla began to compose in France, will be analysed
in some detail as the most complete example of this combination of styles in his music.
1.2. Background to the research
Manuel de Falla is without doubt one of the most important Spanish composers of the 20th
century. During the seven years he lived in Paris he sampled the culture of the early 20th century in
what was at the time one of the most important cultural centres in Europe. The results of those years
are visible in the work Noches en los Jardines de España, which is, according to some
musicologists as for example Mariano Pérez Gutiérrez or Yvan Nommick, his most impressionistic
5
piece. The work, described by Falla as „Symphonic Impressions“, was begun in Paris in 1909 and
completed in 1915, after his return to it in Spain. Focusing particularly on this piece will enable us
to assess clearly the real influence of French music – and of Debussy, in particular – on Falla’s
music by the end of his Paris years.
The use of the term „Impressions“ in Falla’s own description of the work is itself striking. Is
Falla’s use of the term meant to suggest some affinity with the music of the Impressionist
composers? Though the answer to this question must remain uncertain, it is interesting to note that
Claude Debussy himself, the icon of the musical movement known as Impressionism, disliked the
use of the term „Impressionist“ to describe his own music. What is quite clear, however, is that
when listening to Noches en los Jardines de España the sonorities of both Debussy’s music and
flamenco singing are both recognisable. As performers, there are therefore two ways of reading the
music that will achieve two different results in performance in this particular piece. We can focus
our interpretation on trying to bring out the sonorities of the Andalusian folk music, with a more
aggressive way of playing in imitation of the gypsy way of making music and the sounds of the
guitar, the flamenco singers or the percussive way of dancing; alternatively, on the other hand, we
can take a softer approach, trying to bring out the different orchestral colours and giving less
importance to the accentuation and the aggressive rhythms, thereby approaching more closely the
impressionistic style of the music of Claude Debussy.
It is interesting to compare two performances featuring the pianist and conductor Daniel
Barenboim in his two different roles. (My intention at this point is merely to give these as examples;
they will not be analysed further in the body of the text.) In the first example Barenboim is
conducting the Paris Orchestra and the piano soloist is Marta Algerich.1 Here the conductor has in
his hands a French orchestra, and he adopts a softer approach to the piece. In the second example,
with Daniel Barenboim as the piano soloist with Plácido Domingo conducting the Chicago
Symphony Orchestra,2 we can perceive how Barenboim and Domingo adopt a more aggressive
performance style, exaggerating the accents and the changes in dynamics more strongly and giving
greater importance to the rhythmical sense of the piece. A comparison of the playing of the wind
instruments and the piano soloist, in particular, in the two versions reveals clearly how the second
version adopts a more aggressive style.
1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYCiyNbDmRM
2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MS332sS7cA
6
1.3. Research methods
The principal methods of investigation are based on the documents and literature I have had
the opportunity to work with; these are available in the Manuel de Falla Foundation and Archive,
which has been located in Granada (Spain) since 1991. The Manuel de Falla Archive is a public
institution which preserves the library and documental legacy of the composer. The archive consists
of a collection of historical documents and an extensive reference library concerning the
composer’s life and times. The Spanish composer was closely associated with the most important
figures of his time, and documentary evidence of these relationships is preserved in the archive.
In order to obtain essential information specifically related to my area of research, my
research methods involved the following:
• An analysis of the different articles, letters, scores, and unpublished works available in the
Manuel de Falla Archive that relate to my research topic, with the aim of discovering the factors
that influenced and changed the compositional style of the Spanish composer change and thus to
find the best way of interpreting his work Noches en los Jardines de España. It is important here to
mention the works that appear in the bibliography. First of all, Manuel de Falla. His Life and Music
by Nancy Lee Harper, who uses a large amount of unpublished sources from the Manuel de Falla
Archive in Granada. Harper’s book uses letters and unpublished material that I use as well in my
research, but with a different goal. The focus of my research and my use of these resources is to
obtain information which will help the performer play Falla’s music in the way the composer
wished. Also important here is to mention the Doctoral dissertation by Elizabeth Anne Seitz, the
title of which is Manuel de Falla’s years in Paris, 1907–1914. The focus of that work is analytical –
an analysis of the music of Manuel de Falla during his stay in Paris, but without any kind of
conclusion with regard to performance, which marks a very big difference from the focus of the
present research work.
There are two works from the unpublished sources listed in the bibliography of this thesis which
add very important information about Manuel de Falla’s life in Paris and which have not, as far as I
am aware, been used in any previous research: Falla y París and Tesoro Sacro Musical. Revista de
Investigación y Ensayo by Mariano Pérez Gutiérrez .
• Practical experience of conducting Manuel de Falla’s music, including El Amor Brujo, La
Vida Breve, El Sombrero de Tres Picos and Noches en los Jardines de España, so as to gain my own
vision of his music as a conductor. As yet I have not conducted the piece in which is focus of this
dissertation in concert; however, the experience with the other three works has given me a clear
picture of how Noches en los Jardines de España should be performed.
7
• An analysis of Noches en los Jardines de España, with the aim of identifying in this work
the influence of elements both from Andalusian folk music and from the impressionistic style of
Claude Debussy. Rather than adopting a traditional musical analysis of the score, the intention is to
identify and present certain stylistic elements that exist within the music so as to be able to realise
the piece as faithfully as possible to Falla’s original intentions in performance.
8
2. Manuel de Falla and Paris
Manuel María de los Dolores Falla y Matheu was arguably the most important Spanish
composer of the 20th century. Born in Cádiz, Spain, on 23rd November 1876, he died in Alta Gracia,
Argentina, on 14th November 1946. He began piano lessons with his mother, Maria Jesús Matheu,
and then continued with a local teacher; by the age of ten he was attending chamber concerts in
Cádiz.
By the mid-1890s Falla, now firmly resolved to become a composer, had begun working
with Alejandro Odero, a student of Marmontel and Enrique Broca, who taught harmony and
counterpoint at the local conservatory. He would spend long intervals in Madrid studying the piano
with José Tragó, a student of Georges Mathias affiliated with the Madrid Conservatory,
where Falla eventually enrolled.
The year 1900 found him living in the capital, Madrid, with his family, whom he was
obliged to support by giving piano and harmony lessons. Despite an early failure with a zarzuela, a
Spanish musical and dramatic genre which contains both spoken and sung scenes, Falla’s first
Madrid period clarified and gave substance to his musical priorities. He was much impressed by
Louis Lucas’s treatise L’acoustique nouvelle (1854), a discussion of the natural generation of
consonance and dissonance, which gave theoretical justification to his loyalty to tonal structures. In
Madrid he also began his association with Felipe Pedrell, the Catalan composer, critic, teacher and
musicologist, who moved to the capital from Barcelona in 1902. Like Pedrell’s other students
(Granados, Albéniz, Vives, Lluís Millet and Roberto Gerhard) Falla held Pedrell in high regard.
In 1905 the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando sponsored a competition for a
Spanish opera, which Falla won with La Vida Breve. This was the first of his explorations of
Gypsy cante jondo (‘deep song’). As in subsequent works, he set himself the challenge of elevating
traditional Gypsy music to the highest level of art while preserving its primordial essence. Though
part of the prize was to have been a public performance of the winning opera, no authorisation for a
performance of La Vida Breve at a Spanish theatre ever materialised. Frustrated with the musical
institutions in Spain, in 1907 he accepted an offer to tour France as an accompanist. (Franco 2001:
371–374).
9
As Falla told his biographer Alexis Roland-Manuel (1891–1966), a French composer and
critic born in Paris, „he decided very soon inside himself that he should go to study in Paris“.3 In the
summer of 1907 he was able to realise his dream, presenting himself very successfully with La Vida
Breve. This work, in which Falla tries to evoke Granada, opened to him the doors of the artistic
world in Paris. „Debussy and Dukas were very impressed by the Spanish composer’s piece and
offered him their support from the very beginning“.4
After the initial tour he decided to stay on in Paris, where would live for seven years. He
was very attracted by French music, especially by the music of Claude Debussy, with whom he was
to have a very good relationship. Proof of this is his Homenaje pour le Tombeau de Claude
Debussy, his only piece for solo guitar, composed by Falla in 1920 as a tribute to his fellow
composer and friend who had died in 1918. With the outbreak of World War I in 1914, however,
Falla was obliged to return to Spain. Nevertheless, he always maintained his contact with Paris,
making frequent trips to the French capital for the premières or concerts of a number of his pieces,
and to be present at the tributes rendered to him by the musical and cultural elite of Paris.
But what had been happening in Falla’s life before 1907? When he was 9 years old he had
started to take piano lessons with Eloísa Galluzo, but at that time he felt himself more called to the
vocation of a writer than to that of a musician. This is confirmed in a letter written to his biographer
Roland-Manuel, in which he states „my vocation, despite the love I felt for some music, was
literature“.5 But with adolescence his real passion would appear. In the same letter written to Roland
Manuel in 1928 Falla wrote about his new passion, the art of composing, with which he fell in love
when he was 17 years old. „... From that moment some kind of power made me leave everything to
dedicate my life to composition. That vocation was so strong that I was even afraid because of it...“6
In 1900 Falla decided to move permanently to Madrid where, because of his family’s
financial straits, he made contact with the world of the Spanish Zarzuela. Even as a Spanish
composer, however, he was not really attracted to the genre. „The composers of Zarzuelas wanted
only to compose very fast so as to get an early performance and to be easily understood by the
public.“ (Falla 1988: 85). Only one Zarzuela composed by Manuel de Falla was performed, Los
Amores de la Inés, premièred at the Teatro Cómico de Madrid on 12 April 1902.
3
Part of a document on display in an exhibition organized by the Manuel de Falla Archive (MFA) in Granada, Spain.
4
Part of a document on display in an exhibition organized by the MFA.
5
Letter from Manuel de Falla to Roland-Manuel. December 1928. MFA 7521.
6
Letter from Manuel de Falla to Roland-Manuel. December 1928. MFA 7521.
10
While still in Madrid, in 1905 Manuel de Falla got his first taste of success as a professional
musician. First of all he won the Ortiz y Cussó piano prize, awarded by the Madrid Music
Conservatory, and then in November of the same year the Real Academia de Bellas Artes awarded
him the Opera prize for La Vida Breve, with libretto by Carlos Fernández Shaw, which Falla had
entered into the competition. But the latter success had a sting in its tail, one which made Manuel de
Falla think seriously of leaving Spain; for despite winning such a major prize with La Vida Breve, in
the event it proved impossible to première the opera in Spain. Partly as a result of this, in 1907 he
moved to Paris, attracted by its status as one of the world’s great cultural centres.
2.1. Manuel de Falla moves to Paris
„In the sonorous garden of France are cultivated every plant and every flower. The best of
each school and the best of each creator genius are carefully grafted on to every tree of that garden,
where even the most modest flower has something special compared with that cultivated in other
gardens.“7 In such terms did Falla write about France in the Preface to a work by Georges JeanAubry (1882–1950), French music critic and translator.
Falla had started to learn French when he was 10 years old. He always dreamed of Paris and
never abandoned the study of the French language (Roales-Nieto 1988: 86). This suggests that
Manuel de Falla already felt some kind of attraction for French culture from a very early age. In
terms of his musical education it is of interest to note that as a student Falla studied harmony and
counterpoint with Alejandro Odero, a disciple of the French pianist Antoine François Marmontel
(1816–1898) and a student of Pierre Zimmermann. This is of importance because it suggests that
from his very early studies of harmony there was already some influence from French music.
Furthermore, Falla took piano lessons in Madrid from José Tragó, who brought to Madrid the
wonderful technique he had learnt in Paris from Georges Mathias. In addition, there were many
people around him who were connected in some way to France. My own experience suggests that
teachers and professors tend to value their experience as students very highly, both in terms of the
teachers who influenced them and the places where they studied. In the case of Manuel de Falla –
though this can, of course, be no more than conjectural – it is quite possible that this early exposure
to French music and musicians, albeit indirect, might have helped create in his own mind a great
interest in France for his future development as a composer.
7
Pérez Gutierrez, Mariano Falla y París. Unpublished biography. MFA. Page 11.
11
Before his move to Paris one of the pieces Falla studied was Debussy’s Danses Sacrée et
Profane, scored for two harps and stringed instruments; from Madrid he wrote to the French master
a letter8 full of requests for advice about its interpretation. According to Jean-Aubry, this
demonstrates that „Manuel de Falla was one of the first pianists in Spain to demonstrate a curiosity
and interest in modern French music“.9
Manuel de Falla’s compositional style underwent significant development once he had left
Spain and begun to come into contact with more music from outside his own country. Before the
Spanish composer moved to Paris, in fact, his knowledge of contemporary music outside Spain was
limited; however, along with other factors of a personal nature, it was his experience of a small
number of modern French works, including L’apprenti Sorcier by Dukas and Debussy’s Danses
sacrèe et profane, that confirmed his desire to study in France. The move to Paris was undoubtedly
one of the most momentous decisions of his entire life. That he himself recognised this almost as
soon as he arrived in the French capital is clear from a letter of December 1913 to his friend
Salvador Viniegra (1862–1915), a Spanish historical painter and patron of the arts born in Cádiz, to
whom he wrote:
„As time goes on I am more and more happy with my decision to leave Madrid. There was
no future for me in Madrid“ [...] „Without Paris, I would be a lost person in Madrid, having a dark
life, living miserably giving some lessons and keeping the award for the score of my opera as a
family keepsake“.10
He continues in the same letter to write about his first meeting with Dukas, in a passage
which spells out some of the reasons for which he had moved to Paris:
„I had my first great satisfaction in Paris shortly after my arrival when I visited Dukas here.
In that visit I tried to show Dukas the reasons for which I came to Paris: to work and to study so as
to get to know the technical procedures of the modern French school“.11
It is clear from this letter that Manuel de Falla recognised his need to leave his own country
in order to develop himself as a composer and musician. In Spain it was as if he were stuck, his
musical options limited to the narrow ones offered by his native land; it was as if he were looking
for something that he could not find there. In his search for a new path to follow he found what he
8
This letter is not conserved in the MFA.
9
Pérez Gutierrez, Mariano Falla y París. Unpublished biography. MFA. Page 18–24.
10
Letter from Manuel de Falla to Salvador Viniegra. December 1913. MFA 7755.
11
Letter from Manuel de Falla to Salvador Viniegra. December 1913. MFA 7755.
12
wanted in the French music he was playing on his piano, especially in the compositions of Claude
Debussy. He seems to have felt a profound connection to this music; though new to him, he sensed
in some way that this was the path that he had wanted for some time to take himself, but for which
he had been unable to find the key. Thus it was that he concluded that in order to develop as a
composer he needed to visit Claude Debussy and to experience everything that was happening
artistically speaking in the French capital.
2.2. Two personalities of major importance: Joaquín Turina and Claude Debussy
Manuel de Falla moved to Paris in 1907, remaining there until 1914 when the outbreak of
World War I meant that he had to return to Spain. These seven years spent living in the privileged
environment of the city widely considered to be the cultural centre of Europe offered him the
opportunity not only to develop himself as a musician but also to meet artists from all sorts of
different cultures. As Nancy Lee Harper wrote in her book Manuel de Falla. His Life and Music, the
composer had not had much contact with foreign composers until his arrival in Paris:
„Save for a childhood encounter with Saint-Saëns, and the correspondence
with Debussy mentioned above, Falla did not come into contact with any
foreign composers until his arrival in Paris in 1907. It was during the next
seven years, however, that most of his lifelong friendships with other
European composers were initiated. This was furthermore the period of their
most intense fraternization.“ (Harper 2005: 251)
When Manuel de Falla arrived in Paris he found a city with a great variety of artistic
movements of all kinds. Of primary interest to a study of Falla is, of course, what he found in terms
of musical trends. At the beginning of the 20th century contemporary Parisian musical life centred
around two distinct schools or movements. On one hand there was the conservative school, whose
centre was the Schola Cantorum led by Vincent d’Indy, an educational institution founded in Paris
in 1894 as a society for the dissemination of religious music; here the curriculum had a strong
antiquarian and musicological bias, encouraging the study of late Baroque and early Classical
works, Gregorian chant, and Renaissance polyphony (Pasler 2001: 206). On the other hand there
was the new movement known as Impressionism, led by Claude Debussy; related to late 19th
century French painting this was, in fact, Debussy’s extension of the new musical ideas in vogue at
the time, and one which would have a major impact on the future of French Music. (Morgan 1999:
56–67)
13
Falla’s move in 1907 to the most important European cultural city of the time was a major
decision which was to have a great influence on both him and his music. This is the reason why it is
important to understand the relationship between Manuel de Falla and the two musicians who, in
their different ways, had a great influence on the Spanish composer while he was in Paris: the
Spanish composer Joaquín Turina, one of the representatives of the conservative school, who in his
works retained elements from the music of the Spanish folklore, and Claude Debussy, icon of the
new French musical movement.
2.2.1. Joaquín Turina and Manuel de Falla
The Spanish composer Joaquín Turina was born in Seville in 1882, though his family
originally came from northern Italy. Music played a large part in his life from his early childhood.
He soon became well known in Seville as a composer and, from 1897, as a pianist. His early
successes prompted him to go to Madrid with the intention of arranging to have his opera La
Sulamita performed. This proved an impossible ambition for an unknown provincial composer;
Turina, however, gradually became better known in artistic circles, and his friendship with Falla
influenced his ideas on the proper character of Spanish music. In October 1905 Turina moved to
Paris, studying piano for a time with Moritz Moszkowski as well as composition at the Schola
Cantorum under d’Indy, though it was hard to escape the influence of Debussy and other
antagonists of the Schola. (Gómez 2001: 264–265)
Prior to Turina’s move to Paris in October 1905, two years before Falla arrived in the city,
the two composers had already been in regular contact; indeed, it is in one of the letters sent by
Turina to Falla in 1906 that we first learn of Manuel de Falla’s intention to move to Paris. In this
letter Turina says he would „celebrate the arrival of Falla in the French city“ and at the same time
he told him about his first contacts, studies and activities in Paris. Turina wrote about his „studies of
composition at the Schola Cantorum with Auguste Sérieyx“, a pupil of Vincent d’Indy at the time.12
In a letter to his girlfriend Obdulia Garzón of 2nd July 1907, Turina writes that Falla had
already decided to follow the path that he had taken two years earlier and move to Paris. (Pérez
1983: 5) It would have been natural if, at the outset, Falla had followed in the footsteps of Joaquín
Turina; in fact, however, musically speaking they took different paths, though they would maintain
a very good relationship with each other. Thus we find Falla and Turina both in Paris, located in two
12
Letter from Turina to Falla. February 1906. MFA 7703.
14
different orbits and in musically opposed camps, but with one very important factor in common:
their nationality. Their Spanish origins, indeed, would remain evident in the music of both
composers. Though their shared nationality might at first sight appear trivial, an event involving
both composers and another compatriot suggests otherwise. This event, which took place in Paris on
3rd October 1907, is documented in the writings of Turina, who explains how his music changed
from that day onwards. For Turina the meeting he had with Manuel de Falla and Isaac Albéniz after
the première of his Quintet for strings and Piano op.1 was of the utmost importance. The scene is
described as follows:
Turina said that when everything was ready to begin the concert they saw a
person rushing in, a fat man with a black beard wearing a very big hat. After
the concert had started the fat man asked another member of the audience if
the composer of the piece was English. The answer was that he was not
English but Spanish, from Seville“. At the end of the performance the fat
man and his companion, a very thin man, came to meet Turina. The fat man
was Albéniz and his companion Manuel de Falla. Thirty minutes later they
were walking together down the Champs-Élysées in Paris. Finally they
decided to have a beer together in a bar and a glass of champagne. The three
Spanish composers, all in Paris, talked about Spain and about how they
needed to make big efforts on behalf of Spanish music. They felt they had
the obligation to show Spanish music to the rest of Europe in the best
possible way. Turina left the place with new ideas and said that he would
never forget that scene. (Pérez 1983: 8)
As a conclusion to this story we may note that Isaac Albéniz was a very important influence
on both Turina and Falla, the first to promote the idea of retaining their common Spanish roots
whatever compositional avenues they ventured down. As mentioned above, Turina and Falla, in
fact, followed different paths. While the former adhered to the principles of Vincent d’Indy’s Schola
Cantorum, the latter followed the new movement championed by Claude Debussy, the music of the
so-called French Impressionism; both, however, reveal their Spanish roots in their own
compositions. Two examples of this Spanish element in pieces from the composers’ Paris years will
suffice. Joaquín Turina’s Sonata Romántica (Op. 3, 1909) is an early work that retains some of the
influences that Turina absorbed during his period in Paris but which also incorporates elements
from his native Andalusia (the piece is based around the popular Spanish melody „El Vito“13), while
7 Canciones Populares Españolas (7 Spanish Popular Songs), completed by Manuel de Falla in
1914, consists of seven songs from different parts of Spain.
13
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRs2NWCP3yU
15
2.2.2 Claude Debussy and Manuel de Falla
When used in music, the term Impressionism, originally related to late 19th century French
painting, is closely related to the music of Claude Debussy. In music, indeed, the association
between Impressionism and innovation is largely restricted to the French composer and those whose
music was influenced by him. Whether the name Impressionism is appropriate or not is a matter for
debate, but the term is now well established for the music of this style. (Whittall 2001: 30–31)
At the end of the 19th century Paris was the cultural centre of Europe. Painting and poetry
were moving away from 19th century Realism and positioning France in a new artistic period.
Music, however, did not share in this movement, but remained largely under the influence of
German aesthetic principles. That said, before the 19th century was over signals of a new and
independent direction did begin to appear in French music, so that as time progressed the
development of music would take different paths in France and in Germany. The figure primarily
responsible for the establishment of the new direction taken by French music was Claude Debussy,
and it was his extension of the new ideas circulating in France that were to have the greatest impact
on the future of French Music. (Morgan 1999: 56–67) In this new vision of music the composer was
not looking for a real representation of nature. What the composer was looking for was „the
mysterious correspondence between Nature and the Imagination“. (Whittall 2001: 30–31)
It was in the figure of Claude Debussy that the new style of composition that appeared in
France at the end of the 19th century found its most successful exponent. The new techniques to be
found in his works include, amongst other things, the use of different kinds of scales and rhythms
with varied changes of accent to give a sense of vagueness. Composers promoted the use of big
blocks of chords and developed the art of orchestration to try to find the greatest variety of colours
in their music. (Crocker 1986: 476–480) In an attempt to understand better the principal means used
by Claude Debussy and others who followed his example, it is useful to analyse the techniques
adopted from the point of view of three different aspects: melodic, harmonic and textural/timbral.
With regard to melody, the traditional concept of melody often proves inappropriate to
describe the concept of melody and the construction of melodies in this style. Rather, melody is
constructed on the basis of the appearance of several small motives, normally based on one or
several intervals, whose repetition creates a line that can be recognised during the development of
the piece. This is not, however, the only technique used by Debussy and his followers to create a
melody: the use of the arabesque should not be overlooked. According to the New Grove Dictionary
of Music and Musicians arabesque is a term apparently introduced into Europe during the moorish
16
conquest of Spain, first applied to architecture and painting to describe an ornamental frieze or
border. In music we can describe it as an elaboration by gruppetti, scale figures and so on, of the
theme itself which was to lead to the variation techniques of the 19th century. (Brown2001: 794–
795) Arabesque is the term used by Debussy for a melodic line created by very fast undulations of
the music as it tries to find, according to the composer, new expressions of life and freedom.
(Morgan 1999: 56–67) Another very important aspect relating to melody is the use of different types
of scales in the music of Claude Debussy, particularly the dorian, phrygian, lydian and mixolydian
modes. In addition to these diatonic modes, the hexatonic and pentatonic scales are not unusual.
(Persichetti 1995: 11)
In terms of harmony, a very important characteristic is the use of parallelism, with parallel
intervals, triads, seventh chords and larger triadic structures creating ambiguity and the loss of a
sense of tonality. Chords may appear as a textural component against which the melodic line moves
quite freely, and harmony is often used as a static element to produce colour effects in the sonority.
An important resource is the use of static chords without the third or the fifth. (Crocker 1986: 476–
480) Tonal ambiguity is very common in this style. Sometimes we may find passages with nonfunctional harmony which end with a very clear cadence; at other times we may find the key of a
passage by examining its harmony, while the melody does not bear any relation to the tonality thus
determined. The use of repetition is also a good means with which to find or establish a tonal centre,
with pedals used as an important resource. (Morgan 1999: 56–67)
Texture and timbre are very important aspects in Debussy’s music and have a great influence
on the dramatic impact of a piece. The use of accompaniments consisting of single pedal tones,
homophonic textures and radical changes of register are the most important factors creating tension,
while the use of ostinatos (a melodic idea repeated immediately and frequently in the same voice) or
of parallelism in the music are among the means of moulding the texture of a piece. (Morgan 1999:
56–67) Also very important is the exploration of different tone colours to create a great variety of
timbres in the music. Various different instrumental and vocal resources and techniques could be
mentioned here, but as examples let us take the use of harp harmonics, muted cymbals, or the
sonority created by a chorus singing with closed lips. (Whittall 2001: 30–31)
Turning now to Claude Debussy, the leader of the new movement that appeared in French
music at the end of the 19th century, we find ourselves faced with one of the most important
musicians of his time. A friend of Manuel de Falla, his harmonic innovations had a profound
influence on generations of composers. In his only complete opera, Pelléas et Mélisande, Debussy
made a decisive break from Wagner and all he stood for; and in his works for piano and for
17
orchestra he created new genres, revealing a range of timbre and colour which indicated a highly
original musical aesthetic. (Howat 2001: 96–119) The originality of Debussy’s musical style is
something that Manuel de Falla had admired before his move to Paris. We noted above that Falla
wrote to the French master from Madrid enquiring about the interpretation of the latter’s Danse
Sacreé et Profane as he sought to make his own arrangement of the harp parts for the piano;
Debussy’s reply to this letter is preserved in the Manuel de Falla Archive in Granada.14
One of Manuel de Falla’s first priorities in Paris was to meet Claude Debussy face to face.
That Falla managed to do this was due in part to another French composer who would play an
important role in his future stay in Paris, Paul Dukas (1885–1935). Dukas was, in fact, the first
musician of note that Falla met in Paris. The reason for their first meeting was so that the Spaniard
could show the French composer his own work, La Vida Breve, and to ascertain his opinion of it.
Initially Paul Dukas was unsure whether there would be anything of any real interest in the music of
this young Spanish composer; after reading through the piece, however, he was very attracted by the
music and formed the opinion that the young Spaniard’s compositions would be very successful in
France. The two formed a close friendship, and subsequently it was Dukas, a friend also of Claude
Debussy, who opened the door to the first meeting between Falla and the French master. After their
meeting Debussy would become one of the young Spaniard’s most important advisers – indeed
perhaps the most important one – in matters of composition. (De Persia 1991: 24) The best proof of
the strength of Falla’s regard for Debussy as both musician and friend is the piece Falla composed
and dedicated to him after his death. Pour le Tombeau de Claude Debussy was published in the
special musical supplement dedicated to the memory of Claude Debussy in La Revue Musicale.
Originally a piece for guitar (the only work Manuel de Falla ever composed for the instrument), it
was included in the suite Homenajes and subsequently adapted for piano. Of the encounters of the
two composers during Manuel de Falla’s sojourn in Paris Debussy’s wife said that „she never saw
her husband as enthusiastic as he was with the Spanish composer or, as Debussy use to call him, „le
petit spagnol tout noir“. (Pérez Unpublished)
In the person of Claude Debussy, Manuel de Falla found a new friend and forged a
relationship that was to be a major factor in the development of his own music. Falla was an
admirer of Debussy’s music, and he had in his personal library a large collection of Debussy scores,
which can be seen in the Manuel de Falla Archive in Granada, some of them bearing numerous
annotations in Falla’s hand. The scores in the archive with remarks by Manuel de Falla include
Pelléas et Mélisande, Danse sacrée et Danse profane, La mer, Ibéria, Prélude á l’après-midi d’un
14
Letter from Debussy to Falla. January 1907. MFA 6898.
18
faune, Nocturnes, Quatuor, Sonate pour flute, alto et harpe, Sonate pour violon and piano, Trois
chansons de Charles d’Orleans, Estampes, Deux arabesques pour le piano, Children’s Corner and
Préludes pour piano.
This is a large corpus of works, and one from which Manuel de Falla would derive a lot of
information in the development of his compositional style. There is one feature in Falla’s
annotations to Debussy’s scores that is of particular interest, namely the frequency with which Falla
notes questions of sonority and how these are created: clearly the creation of different sonorities by
the judicious combination of different groups of instruments and the careful spacing of chords in
distinct instrumental sections was something to which Manuel de Falla paid special attention.
Orchestration was, indeed, one major aspect of composition that the Spanish composer wished to
develop in France. Many of the manuscripts of Falla’s own works in the Archive Manuel de Falla in
Granada contain plenty of corrections made by the composer himself, suggesting that he was
initially not always convinced about his first thoughts. Jaime Pahissa, writing about the première of
La Vida Breve in Paris in 1913, notes: „Falla went again to see Debussy and Dukas (before the
première) to ask their advice about orchestration, for he was very unsure of himself owing to his
inexperience in this field of composition…“ (Pahissa 1979: 59–60)
Falla was a privileged composer who for seven years lived in the orbit of some of the finest
artists in Europe and who could count as a friend Claude Debussy, icon of one of the movements
that would mark the future of French music. It is difficult to ascertain the frequency of contact
between the two composers during Falla’s seven years in Paris. In the Archive Manuel de Falla in
Granada there are only nine extant letters from Debussy to Falla; of these, the only one relevant to
our research is the one mentioned above, in which Debussy sent some suggestions to Falla relating
to the performance of Danse Sacreé et Profane. Their relationship during Falla’s sojourn in Paris,
however, was to prove fundamental in the influence that the music of Debussy was to have on the
development of Falla’s compositional style.
19
3. The influences of flamenco singing and Debussy’s music in Manuel de
Falla’s Noches en los Jardines de España
Noches en los Jardines de España is the last piece Manuel de Falla began to compose in
Paris. In this chapter I will consider this work of Manuel de Falla, analysing it to identify, on one
hand, the resources and techniques related to the music of flamenco singing that are used by the
composer in this piece and, on the other, characteristics of the music of the French composer Claude
Debussy. The aim is to ascertain whether the influence of Debussy on Manuel de Falla was so
profound that his music would have not been the same without Paris, as is suggested by Suzanne de
Marquez, for example: „The French influence that is so profound in Manuel de Falla at that time is
clearly visible in a piece such as Noches en los Jardines de España. According to Jankélévitch, who
was a French philosopher and musicologist, Noches en los Jardines de España would not have that
splendour without the existence of Rhapsodie Espagnole by Ravel and Iberia by Claude Debussy“
(Demarquez 1986: 94) – or, conversely, whether the influence of Debussy’s compositional style on
the music of Manuel de Falla was not in fact so relevant as is sometimes claimed.
Falla arrived in Paris with his work La Vida Breve; by the time he returned to Spain he had
not composed a large number of works, but he had collected a vast quantity of musical experiences
which would guide him in developing his career as a composer on his return to Spain, where he
arrived with an almost finished piece that would become one of his best-known works, Noches en
los Jardines de España. Falla began to compose this piece in Paris in 1909 and completed it in
Sitges (near Barcelona) in 1915; at the première in Madrid in 1916 the conductor was Enrique
Fernández Arbós and the pianist José Cubiles.
In order to understand Falla’s initial intentions in composing this work it will be useful to
focus first of all on the inspiration behind it. The first movement, entitled En el Generalife, is
clearly inspired by the gardens of El Generalife situated in La Alhambra of Granada. It is important
to realise, however, Falla only visited Granada for first time in March 1915, fully six years after
starting to compose the piece. What, then, were the sources from which Falla found the inspiration
to recreate the Gardens of Spain? In the Archive Manuel de Falla there is a letter from the composer
to his family which provides a clue: „Regarding the gardens, we have to find a way to bring them
here, by train perhaps...“15 These gardens Falla is asking his family about are actually a book of
paintings by the Catalan painter Santiago Rusiñol Jardins d’Espanya. This book consists of 40
15
Letter from Falla to his family. January 1909. MFA 7808.
20
pictures, of which seventeen are dedicated to Granada, including four to La Alhambra and El
Generalife. These paintings were presumably one of the inspirations behind the composition of the
piece, in which Falla wanted to recreate the sensations he felt when he saw the pictures of a city he
did not know yet but already loved and wanted to discover for himself (in La Vida Breve, which he
had begun to composed in 1904, he tries to recreate life in Granada). As we listen to the music of
Noches en los Jardines de España the music evokes feelings of the darkness, intimacy and mystery
of the gardens, feelings which are also awakened in some of Rusiñol’s paintings.
We can find one more inspiration related to Granada in María Martínez Sierra’s book
Gregorio y Yo. Medio Siglo de Colaboración. In this she mentions: that „...Falla was not feeling at
his best... While walking around he passed a Spanish library where he saw a book entitled Granada,
(Guía Emocional), which he bought, thus creating in himself the desire to compose.“ (Martínez
1953: 123–124) Though this sounds a very simple story, its veracity can be demonstrated by two
fundamental facts. First of all, the book, Granada, (Guía Emocional), is in the personal library of
the Spanish composer in the Archive Manuel de Falla of Granada.16 Secondly, the book does indeed
include a chapter dedicated to El Generalife, the title of which, as in Noches en los Jardines de
España, is none other than En el Generalife.
The real key to understanding what Manuel de Falla wanted to recreate in his piece,
however, is the text that appears on the programme note for the première of the piece on 9th April
1916, of which there are three copies in the Manuel de Falla Archive in Granada):
„The author of these Symphonic Impressions believes that if he has
managed to achieve the goal he set himself when he composed the work,
the title alone should be sufficient as a guide when listening to the piece.
Although in this work, as should always be the case, the author followed
a determined plan from the tonal, rhythmical and thematic point of view,
a detailed analysis of the musical structure of the piece would alter the
goal for which the piece was written. This goal was simply to evoke
places, feelings and sensations. [...]
As in most of the composer’s works (such as La Vida Breve or El Amor
Burjo) the thematic part of this piece is based on the rhythms, modes,
cadences and ornamental figures characteristic of Andalusian popular
singing. Such music is not often used in an authentic manner, as here,
imitating in a stylized form the popular instruments.
It is important to take into account that these nocturnes were not
composed to be descriptive, but rather to be expressive. This is not
16
Martinez Sierra, Gregorio. Granada, (Guía Emocional). MFA 2131.
21
merely music about parties and dancing: pain and the mystery also have
an important part in this composition“17
Though the author was of the programme note was anonymous, it is likely that the text was
written by the Spanish composer himself as the same text was used in several subsequent concerts
after the première, including those on 29th April 1916 at the Cádiz Theatre, 13th December 1918 at
the Price Theatre of Madrid, 28th March 1924 at the Philharmonic Society of Madrid, and on 8th
February 1927 at the Olympia Coliseum of Granada.
The paragraph in the above programme note that refers to the thematic part of the piece is
very important and must be taken into account in order to approach as closely as possible the
interpretation Falla wanted. That he specifically mentions Andalusian popular singing is highly
significant for performers when playing Noches en los Jardines de España. For me, as a conductor
and the author of this research, it is also significant that he compared this work in terms of its
themes to El Amor Brujo and La Vida Breve, both pieces that I have conducted. Knowing from
practical experience as a conductor the most effective means of achieving the best possible result in
these two latter works is useful; from Falla’s own comparison of the three works in his programme
note, it is clear that in his mind the style of the music in performance should be quite similar in the
three pieces.
Having dealt briefly with the background to the work, we may now focus our attention on
the piece itself in an attempt to reach a more complete understanding of Noches en los Jardines de
España.
The piece is divided into three movements:
1. En el Generalife
2. Danza lejana
3. En los Jardines de la Sierra de Córdoba
At first sight the work appears to be cast in the traditional form of a three-movement piano
concerto – fast, slow, fast, with the typical cadenzas for the soloist placed in the first and last
movements. The harmonic structure of the work, with the three movements having a clear harmonic
connection between them might also appear to suggest the traditional piano concerto. However, as I
17
Programme note from the premier on the 9th April 1916 of Noches en los Jardines de España. MFA 1916.
22
shall demonstrate, Noches en los Jardines de España is only related superficially, if at all, to the
traditional structure of the piano concerto.
The full title of the work itself, Noches en los Jardines de España: Symphonic Impressions
for Piano and Orchestra is possibly misleading. Though the piano is apparently ascribed a very
important role in the title of the piece, if we look at the music it is clear that the piano cannot be
considered as a solo instrument in a traditional concerto style. It is rather more accurate, in fact, to
consider the piano as a leading instrument inside the orchestra.
As far as the tempo relationship between the three movements is concerned, any apparent
similarity to the concerto is no more than superficial. Tempos change within the individual
movements quite frequently; and the second and third nocturnes are connected by the
instruction Attaca subito, so that the pianissimo close of the Poco animato of the second nocturne is
followed immediately by the fortissimo of the ensuing Vivo.
In the first movement, En el Generalife, we find an introduction by the orchestra which will
appear again after that presented by the piano, and at rehearsal number 20 we find a recapitulation
of the theme that brings back the original key signature of the beginning of the movement. Again, at
a cursory glance the movement appears to be organized along the lines of a traditional first
movement of a solo concerto; in fact, however, this is not the case. Though the movement may be
divided into three sections (exposition, middle section and recapitulation), the relation between the
sections in terms of tempos and character, the thematic relations (the whole movement is based on
the development of the first motive), the way the soloist is used (as a lead instrument, but treated as
one more instrument of the orchestra without cadenzas and virtuoso passages) and, of course, the
quiet end of the movement all serve to break the connection with traditional first-movement
concerto form.
The structure of the second movement is not connected either with the typical slow
movement sonata form often found in concertos. A new theme is introduced, presented first by the
orchestra and then by the piano, but this is not subsequently developed in a traditional manner.
Rather there is a musical progression that increases the tension as the movement progresses, with
several changes of tempo before the main theme reappears (score number 14) in a kind of
recapitulation that leads to the calm before the Attaca subito eruption of the third movement.
As in many piano concertos, the third and final movement is cast as a rondo. In this case,
however, we find once more an absence of any specifically virtuoso passage for the piano, while the
23
character of the end of the piece, as the tempo slows and the sound dies away, is not at all typical of
the close of a traditional piano concerto.
In terms of harmony, the main characteristic to be found throughout the piece is the
ambiguity so characteristic of the music of Claude Debussy. The use of different scales and modes
to create different tonal centres at different moments – and even different tonal centres in the
different lines at the same moment – is characteristic of the work. A good example of this is the
beginning of the piece: while the key signature and the bass give a clear tonal centre in C# minor,
the melodic line presented by the harp and the violas moves around the note D#, simultaneously
creating a different centre at the same time. It is also worth noting how the Phrygian mode or a
variant of it, the Andalusian mode (which will be explained below), is very often used throughout
the work.
As far as thematic material is concerned, we may note here one important connection that is
clearly present throughout the three movements. The first motive presented at the beginning of the
piece by the violas and the harp will serve to generate the motives of most of the melodic lines that
will appear during the work. The variation of the motive created by the movement of a second up
and down will be the most important starting point for the thematic development of the piece.
When performing the piece careful attention should be paid to Falla’s very detailed way of
indicating articulations and dynamics. This is an important characteristic of the music of the
Spanish composer and is related to his desire to imitate the rhythms and contrasts of the Flamenco
singing style.
One further important characteristic is the evident connection of the piece with the
programmatic manner of musical composition. As mentioned above, the first movement, En el
Generalife, is based on the garden close to La Alhambra in Granada. The second of the three
nocturnes of Noches en los Jardines de España is entitled Danza Lejana (The dance from far away).
The title does not say very much about the location of the place which inspired Falla to write this
second nocturne; the beginning of the movement, however, is a good example of what Falla wanted
to express with the title. As we listen to the music we can imagine very easily a dark atmosphere
where the flutes and cor anglais represent the dance that is under way in the distance, far from
where we are. The third movement, En los jardines de la Sierra de Cordoba, is, like the first, again
clearly located, this time in the gardens of the Cordoba’s mountain range. In this third movement
Falla presents the clearest reference to flamenco singing in the piece, as the rondo-like structure
clearly intersperses the chorus with an imitation of flamenco singing style. In connection with the
24
programmatic sense of the piece, we should not overlook the word „Nights“ in the title; the piece
moves mostly in an atmosphere of darkness, creating for the listener a nocturnal atmosphere.
Neither should we forget that in the programme note for the première Falla mentions that the piece
was composed to evoke places, feelings and sensations.
Much of Manuel de Falla’s music is related to the music of Spanish folklore from Andalusia.
However, it is clear that in the music of any composer different influences are to be found at various
stages of their lives as composers. At this stage in his life the Spanish composer clearly felt attracted
by the new music that had begun to appear in France at the end of the 19th century, especially by the
music of Claude Debussy. He decided to go to France to find out why he was attracted to this music
and also to discover how to combine his music, based primarily on the flamenco singing, with that
particular style of French music. The result was the creation of something that would be known as
Falla’s French period. As Nancy Lee Harper claims, „It would be difficult to overstate the import of
Falla’s seven years in Paris. The influences exerted on him during this period led to the
transformation of his musical language and intentions.“ (Harper 2005: 255–256)
It is this combination of styles in Manuel de Falla’s compositional methods that I shall to
analyse in the following pages so as to ascertain whether the influence of the music of Claude
Debussy, generally described as French Impressionism, was actually reflected in the style of Falla’s
music during his stay in Paris. There can be no doubt that Falla was influenced by the behaviour of
French people and, of course, by French arts and music. The question we must ask, however, is
whether this influence is really reflected in his music? According to the lawyer Santiago Arimón,
the French influence in the music of Manuel de Falla was considerable: „Falla, always so fortunate,
so inspired, so colouristic, has not been so in this work. He is obsessed by the modern French
school, it attracts him, he cannot escape its influence. And clearly, it is impossible to write Spanish
music while thinking of Debussy and Ravel... There is an absolute lack of Spanish soul... [El Amor
Brujo] could just as well be Hungarian, Italian or Russian. (Hess 2001: 58)
Before embarking on my own analysis, which considers a number of extracts from the work
in order to gain a better understanding of how it should be performed, it is interesting to refer to a
letter in the Archive Manuel de Falla in Granada in which Manuel de Falla writes to the Swiss
conductor Ernest Ansermet, giving him some important advice for performing the piece:
„... I would like very much to be in Geneva to listen the piece conducted
by you. I will permit myself to give you some suggestions as follows:
25
1st Nocturne:
At the beginning, the melodic line near the bridge, and the harp very near
the bridge to imitate the sound of the guitars. When the piano enters the
chords of the instruments with a little accent and perdendosi.
At rehearsal number 5, quaver equal to quaver in all the rhythmical
changes. It is very important that every player observes all indications of
accents and dynamics.
2nd Nocturne:
Violas and Cellos with mute at the beginning
At rehearsal number 3, exaggerate the crescendo and diminuendo of the
strings.
At rehearsal number 8, pizz. molto marcato and forte in the first violins.
At rehearsal numbers 10 and 11, be careful with the numbers of players
who should play.
At rehearsal number 12, follow the dynamics. Ascending lines crescendo
and descending lines diminuendo.
At rehearsal number 14, the bassoon should play quite prominently but
dolce.
At rehearsal number 19, crescendo and stringendo gradually.
3rd Nocturne:
At rehearsal number 24, again the bassoon quite prominent.
At rehearsal number 25, horns should observe the diminuendo markings.
At rehearsal number 27, observe all the variations in the dynamics and
tempos, and after that, in the Allegro moderato marc strongly the horns
and the pizzicati: forte the first time and piano the second time.
At rehearsal number 41, to achieve the entrance of each instrument
without accelerating the tempo is important.
At rehearsal number 42 and 43, be careful with the changes of tempo.
In the largo at rehearsal number 45, begin with pianissimo subito.
Sorry my friend with all my gratitude for your collaboration...“18
18
Letter from Falla to Ernest Ansermet. Madrid October 1916. The original document is in Geneva. In this work we
used a photographed copy in the MFA, which is shown in the unpublished document by Yvan Nommick La
interpretación de las Noches: Una carta de Falla a Anserment.
26
The conclusion we can draw from both the programme note used in the première of the
piece and the letter Falla wrote to the Swiss conductor Ernest Ansermet is that Falla based the music
of Noches en los Jardines de España on the music of the flamenco from Southern Spain. I
mentioned above that most musicologists claim that Noches en los Jardines de España is the
composer’s most Impressionistic piece; however, from the data presented at the beginning of this
chapter (Chapter 3) it is clear that Falla focused his intentions on trying to imitate the feelings and
sensations of Spain – indeed, there is no mention at all of France or of Impressionism. In Falla’s
letter to the Swiss maestro, in fact, almost every suggestion has the goal of imitating better the
sound of the flamenco singing. He speaks for example about the use of playing strings very near the
bridge to imitate the sounds of the guitar and about the importance of the accents to emphasise the
very rhythmical character of the music. He also mentions the importance of the diminuendos of the
horns to maintain the rhythmical character of the music and speaks about the importance of playing
all the dynamics and accents which will give the music the feelings of contrast so characteristic of
the flamenco singing. As a conductor I would therefore conclude that to perform Noches en los
Jardines de España as the composer intended it is very important to try to imitate the sonorities
Falla wanted for this music, knowing that when he was composing the piece he was trying to
imitate the sounds of Andalusia. Of course we should not overlook the fact that he lived for 7 years
in Paris and was influenced by the music there, but, as I shall attempt to demonstrate, this French
influence is not so strongly reflected in the piece as is sometimes claimed.
The remainder of this chapter considers a number of extracts from the piece, focusing on
one hand on the influence of flamenco singing and on the other on the influence of the music of
Claude Debussy in Noches en los Jardines de España. The goal of this analysis is to help the
performer to discern the best way to play this music so as to achieve the result that Falla intended
for his piece.
3.1. The influence of flamenco singing in Noches en los Jardines de España
It is impossible to speak about the music of Manuel de Falla without giving major
importance to the music of Spanish folklore of Andalusia. This music is a fundamental part of
Falla’s work, and an understanding of his music is not possible if we are not able to recognize that
within his works there are always elements of the music of flamenco singing. I use the term
„elements“ because in Manuel de Falla’s music pre-existing melodies from Spanish folklore do not
27
appear; rather, he creates new melodies using the rhythms and the colours used in the music of
Spanish folklore (an exception in this respect is his work Siete Canciones Populares Españolas).
Siete Canciones Populares Españolas was completed by Manuel de Falla in 1914 and
consists of seven songs from different parts of Spain: Paño Moruno (from Murcia in the south-east
of Spain), Seguidilla Murciana (based also on music from Murcia), Asturiana (from Asturias in the
north of Spain), Jota (from Aragón in the north-east of Spain), and Nana, Canción and Polo (all
based on music from Andalusia); in the first three songs of the set the original melodic lines are
almost entirely preserved. (Seitz, 1995: 245–264)
If we focus our attention on the influence of folklore in the music of Manuel de Falla, it is
reasonable to conclude that the development of Falla’s oeuvre began with his use of a style based on
the music of the folklore of Andalusia. After this he proceeded to follow the Spanish national
school, which at that time was under the guiding influence of Felipe Pedrell and Isaac Albéniz;
Noches en los Jardines de España appears as the fullest expression of the rather stylized use of the
national folk influence on Falla. This assertion does not contradict the claim, made above, that
Noches en los Jardines de España is Falla’s most Impressionistic work, nor is the historical fact that
it was the last work he started to compose in Paris, for the piece is also full of elements from folk
music. Spain always played an important part in the music of Manuel de Falla and, as Nancy Lee
Harper commented, „There is a tendency for music historians to confine their discussion of Falla’s
work under the heading „Spain“. To some extent this is understandable: he was intensely proud of
his nationality, and almost all of his music is clothed in the colours of his country and its culture.“
(Harper 2005: 247)
Manuel de Falla’s music contains elements from the music of Spanish folklore, particularly
from the colours and rhythms of the music of flamenco singing. In this context the term „Flamenco“
applies specifically to a particular body of cante (song), baile (dance) and toque (solo guitar music),
mostly emanating from Andalusia in southern Spain. It is also known as cante andaluz, cante gitano
or cañi (‘Gypsy song’) and cante hondo (‘deep song’). Despite the varied conjectures concerning its
origin, consensus confines the early history and development of cante flamenco to southern
Andalusia, where the Gypsies began to settle in the latter half of the fifteenth century (Katz 2001:
920–925). As will be demonstrated below in the analysis of certain passages from Noches en los
Jardines de España, the colours and rhythms to be found in Falla’s music have their origins in
flamenco singing. Some of the principal resources defining flamenco singing are the following:
28
a) Harmony:
- The use of the Andalusian mode. The Andalusian mode, Andalusian scale or flamenco
mode is a variant of the mode on E (or the Phrygian mode). First of all the I chord in that scale can
appear with the third raised by a semitone. It is also possible to change the second degree of the
scale. Thus we have a mode on E in which it is possible to find variants in the second or in the third
degree of the scale. (Persichetti 1995: 4–10)
Phrygian mode
Andalusian mode
- The use of the Andalusian Cadence (I/VII/VI/V in the minor mode), or the use of the
Flamenco Candence (IV/III/II/I in the minor mode). (Fernández 2004: 75–83)
Andalusian Cadence in A minor
Flamenco Cadence in E mode
29
b) Melody and sonority:
- The songs almost always begin with an introduction consisting of some guitar strumming,
often with a percussion instrument, which could be a flamenco box drum. (Fernández 2004: 20)
- The use of microtonalism is very characteristic of flamenco music; microtones appear in
appoggiaturas and flourishes, giving flamenco music its special beauty. (Fernández 2004: 60) The
repetition of one note several times or of some small motives is very often used in the creation of
the melody in flamenco music. Falla spoke about that in an interview:
„While Falla never employed microtones in his music they, per se, they do
exist naturally in the cante jondo singing such as is found in El Amor Brujo
or Siete Canciones Populares Españolas. In an interview in the Daily Mail,
Falla spoke about this topic on 18 July 1919: ... the folksongs of my native
Andalusia derive from a much subtler scale than can be found in an octave
of twelve notes. All I can do in my day is to give an illusion of these quartertones by superimposing chords of one key on another“. (Harper 2005: 190)
c) Rhythm:
- Flamenco music frequently alters the rhythm, alternating binary and ternary accentuation.
This alternation always occurs within a cycle of twelve beats, where the accents are divided into
two groups of three beats and three groups of two beats, positioning the accent on the first beat of
each group. In this sense there is something very typical in the Buleria, one of the different types of
flamenco song, where the alternation between binary and ternary rhythm appears, alternating for
example a 3/4 with a 6/8. (Fernández 2004: 31–53)
These are some of the characteristics of flamenco song. We will now demonstrate the
influence of the harmony, melody, sonority and rhythm of these typically Spanish sounds on Falla’s
music by considering some examples from his Noches en los Jardines de España.
30
3.1.1. Harmony
As mentioned above, the use of the Andalusian mode and the Andalusian cadence is very
characteristic in flamenco music. Very near the beginning of Noches en los Jardines de España,
before rehearsal number 1 in the score, there appears a passage with a very clear example of the
Andalusian mode in the original E mode. (ex. 1)
Example 1: First Movement Noches en los Jardines de España
If we continue to rehearsal numbers 5 to 6 of this first movement, En el Generalife, and if
we pay attention to the harmony, we will notice that this passage is written in the Andalusian F#
mode and includes in the piano part inflected notes such as E# to obtain the characteristic interval of
the main motive which is present at the very beginning in the Harp and Violas. (ex. 2)
31
Example 2: First movement: Noches en los Jardines de España
32
3.1.2. Melody and sonority
We mentioned above three characteristics of flamenco: cante (song), baile (dance) and toque
(solo guitar music). I will now present some examples of how Falla introduces the sonority of these
resources into his orchestral music, specifically in Noches en los Jardines de España.
At the very beginning of the work we hear the main motive, which will be present
throughout the entire piece. The most important characteristic of this motive is the semitone
interval. At the beginning of the movement we find two practically similar phrases (bars 1–4 and
bars 5–8), with the texture of melody plus accompaniment, the melody played by the Harp and the
Viola „solo sul ponticello“ while the rest of the strings, together with bassoons, horns and trumpets,
provide the harmony. This clearly imitates the sonority of the guitar, first because the harmony,
played in short notes with pizzicati in the violin and double bass, is, in my opinion, an attempt to
imitate arpeggios played on the guitar. As conductor, I would encourage the strings playing these
short pizzicati to try to get a resonance after each note so as to imitate the resonance of the strings of
the guitar when it is play with arpeggios. Secondly, the melody played „sul ponticello“ by the viola
also recalls the sonority of the guitar in some flamenco passages. In the following youtube link we
can appreciate very well the sound of the guitar that Falla wished to imitate.19 (ex. 3) In
performance it would be excellent to highlight this guitar sonority by trying to imitate the sound of
the guitar as closely as possible.
19
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2x58jaW3Y4
33
Example 3: First Movement: Noches en los Jardines de España
34
If we continue to the passage between rehearsal numbers 5 and 6 of this first movement, En
el Generalife, we find more examples of sonorities which might remind the listener of music from
southern Spain. In this passage (see the youtube link) we find all the different sonorities that Falla
wished imitate, including the typical sound produced by flamenco dancers with their shoes on the
floor.20 First of all the arpeggios in the piano part recall the playing of the guitar in flamenco music,
while the music that appears on the remaining instruments in a very rhythmical manner is like the
sound produced by flamenco dancers with their shoes on the floor. (ex. 4) In this passage, in fact,
the woodwinds and harp have an accent at the beginning of every group of notes, while the strings
have a little diminuendo in each group. This is an attempt by Falla to imitate the percussive sound
of the shoes of the dancer on the floor, and for this reason we should be careful to play the
beginning of each group in a very percussive way and then to pull back the sound very rapidly to try
to imitate the typical resonance of flamenco.
20
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbadDj9KF1s
35
Example 4: First Movement Noches en los Jardines de España
36
37
Now let us turn to the passage between rehearsal numbers 16 and 17. Once again the music
here recalls the Spanish music of Andalusia. It starts with a very rhythmical passage combining
binary and ternary metres over eight bars; here we should try again to imagine and imitate the shoes
of the dancer on the floor as an introduction to the guitar, here imitated by the piano; two bars later
comes the singer, played first by a solo viola, and then by solo cello followed by the first violin
solo, with the characteristic intervals of the second. (ex. 5) In this singer-player imitation I would
ask the players not to be too fastidious in maintaining the intonation through the duration of each
tone, in imitation of the fluctuation of the voice of a flamenco singer.
38
Example 5: First Movement Noches en los Jardines de España
39
At the opening of the second movement, Danza Lejana, we find the violas imitating a
flamenco singer singing around the note A above the rhythmical feeling created by the pizzicati in
double basses and cellos. (ex. 6) Once more the violas should not be too exact with their intonation
or with the rhythm of the groups of seven notes, but should try instead to imitate the way a
flamenco singer might perform such a passage.
40
Example 6: Begining Second Movement Noches en los Jardines de España
At the beginning of this second movement we can see in the score rhythms of semiquaver
triplets serving as flourishes, something very typical in the music of Southern Spain (see an
example of this in Example 7 below). For me as a conductor, it would be very important to keep a
sense of calm in this rhythm and to give importance to every note. I have noted that non-Spanish
musicians sometimes appear to think that this kind of group of notes should be played very fast as
an adornment to the music, but actually the contrary is the case: the notes should be played in
tempo, taking care to show that all three notes are important inside the group, and not only the first
one. If we move forward to five bars after rehearsal number 4 (ex. 7) we will notice that the
character of the music changes owing to the entrance of the piano. Actually the music here is
created by the same patterns as before, but with a new characteristic, namely the percussive piano
imitating once more the sound of the flamenco dancer with the shoes on the floor, called in Spanish
taconeo. Here in another youtube clip is a good example of taconeo flamenco.21
21
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhn0rOCdRvw
41
Example 7: Second Movement Noches en los Jardines de España
Now let us move on to the third movement, En los Jardines de la Sierra de Córdoba. As we
suggested above in the general analysis, this movement is in a kind of Rondo form, alternating a
chorus with the appearance of the imitation of the flamenco singing. At rehearsal number 25 in the
score we can appreciate the piano imitating the guitar in two different ways: while the right hand
imitates the riffs of the guitar, the left hand has the function of guitar strumming, in conjunction
with the semi-trill of the first note of the right hand in each bar. (ex. 8)
42
Example 8: Third Movement Noches en los Jardines de España
If we turn our attention to rehearsal number 28 in the score, we find a passage that calls to
mind the Petenera or the Polo. (ex. 9) The Petenera22 or the Polo23 are two further varieties of
flamenco singing with a rhythmical structure quite similar to the flamenco itself. This typical
rhythm is known as „de amalgama“ or „hemiolia“. It consists of a bar of 12 beats divided into two
parts: 6/8 and 3/4. The melody is sung (in this case the voice is imitated by the piano) with a clear
rhythm at the beginning of each phrase, but the end of each phrase is freer, with some rapid scales
sung melismatically, normally either to the final vowel of the verse or voiced by the vowel „a“. This
free end of the phrase is call as „quejío“, which may be translated as a cry. (Fernández 2004: 103–
123) To create this „quejío“ feeling, I think the orchestra should play in tempo, keeping the
rhythmic feeling of the base to aid the piano, which should be not very precise with the rhythm,
playing rather with a rubato feeling to create the picture of the freedom of a flamenco singer.
22
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao9_AW3rXIo
23
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVjFCF2b8cw
43
Example 9: Third Movement Noches en los Jardines de España
44
45
If we move now to the passage beginning at rehearsal number 39, the piano part begins by
imitating a guitar solo in preparation for the entrance at rehearsal number 40 of the upper voice of
the divided cellos; seven bars later the piano imitates a human voice singing. (ex. 10) I would
suggest that when imitating the guitar the pianist should not play the grace notes too fast, so as to
achieve very clearly the sound of every string of the guitar; later, when imitating the voice, the
pianist should again not be over-precise with the rhythm, thus giving the feeling of the vocalist’s
freedom.
Example 10: Third Movement Noches en los Jardines de España
46
47
3.1.3. Rhythm
As mentioned above, one of the most important characteristics of the rhythm in flamenco
music is the alternation between binary and ternary accentuation. We can find examples of this
characteristic feature in Noches en los Jardines de España. We have already noted in example 5
above (rehearsal number 16) how the section starts with a very rhythmical passage combining
binary and ternary for eight bars as an introduction to the guitar (as played by the piano). (ex. 5)
If we continue to the third movement, En los Jardines de la Sierra de Córdoba, and look at
the passage beginning at rehearsal number 25, we may note with regard to the rhythm how even the
time signature does not alter the feeling that what we have here is three bars in 3/4 followed by two
bars in 6/8. (ex. 11)
48
Example 11: Third movement Noches en los Jardines de España
A clearer example of this is to be found in the score at rehearsal number 44, where the
change of time signature from binary to ternary, 3/4 to 9/8, is explicitly marked. (ex. 12)
Example 12: Third Movement Noches en los Jardines de España
Another example of this combination of binary and ternary feeling may be found in the
passage beginning at rehearsal number 38. (ex. 13) The time signature is 6/8 but to make a correct
interpretation in my opinion we should feel the bars marked with a red colour as 3/4. It is most
important to give very clear accents on the first beat on bars marked with a red colour and on both
beats on bars marked with a blue colour so as to highlight this change of rhythm.
49
Example 13: Third Movement Noches en los Jardines de España
50
The above are some of the examples in Noches en los Jardines de España where we can see
reflected the music of Spanish folklore from the south of Spain. The rhythm, the sound – often
including the Andalusian mode – and the use of the piano to imitate the sonority of the guitar are
some of the most important effects Falla uses in his music to create a special atmosphere
reminiscent of the sonority of Andalusian music. As performers we should pay special attention to
finding where in the score Falla wished to imitate these elements of Spanish folklore so as to
achieve as clearly as possible an imitation of the sonority, the strongly accented rhythms, the
freedom of the flamenco singer, and so on.
Manuel de Falla’s use of the music of folklore in his works is part of his identity as a
composer: it is not something that he started to adopt when he moved to Paris. It might be supposed
that he wanted to imitate his friends Debussy and Ravel, for example, in their use of the piano to
imitate the strumming of a guitar; we can assert, however, that this is not the case, because we know
that Falla had already made use of these effects in pieces that he had composed before his sojourn in
Paris. He had already used that guitar trick in pieces that were already completed or that were
retouched in Paris, such as „La Vida Breve“ or „Cuatro Piezas Españolas“. As Mariano Pérez
Gutierrez said, „Falla had, musically speaking, gipsy blood, and he tried to include and make
manifest a predominantly popular element.“ (Pérez 1987: 44–47)
3.2. The influence of Debussy’s music in Noches en los Jardines de España
As demonstrated in subsection 3.1 above, Noches en los Jardines de España is a piece full
of resources from the music of flamenco singing. We also noted above that when he began to
compose the piece his main intention was to imitate the sonorities and colours of the gardens of
Spain, as the title of the piece indicates. Alongside the Spanish elements, however, there is also
evidence of the influence of the music of Claude Debussy, which imparts to the piece some special
colours. My aim in this next section is to undertake a similar analysis to the one in the previous
section in order to discover the influence of Debussy in this, the last work that Falla started to
compose in Paris. To this end I will look for similarities between the harmony, melody and texture
of Noches en los Jardines de España and the major orchestral work composed by Claude Debussy
between 1903 and 1905, La Mer.
51
3.2.1. Harmony
As suggested with regard to the music of Claude Debussy in Chapter 2, this style of
composition frequently attempted to achieve a sense of vagueness in the music by adopting the use
of large blocks of chords to produce an effect of colour in the sonority. One very important
characteristic is the use of parallelism, with parallel intervals, triads, seventh chords and larger
triadic structures. Another very significant aspect is the use of scales, particularly the dorian,
phrygian, lydian and mixolydian modes, to which the hexatonic and pentatonic scales may be added
as not unusual.
If we take the second movement of La Mer, Jeux de vagues, at rehearsal number 20 in the
score we may note the parallel movement in the scales of the harps and in the melody of the horns.
If we pay attention to this we will discover that the composer is using in both cases, harps and
horns, a whole-tone scale. (ex. 14)
Example 14: Second Movement La Mer
52
Staying with the second movement, Jeux de vagues, if we go back to rehearsal number 16
we find a melody on the cor anglais which will subsequently be transposed some bars later to a
different tonal centre and given to the oboe (figure 17). This passage is written using the Lydian
mode. (ex. 15)
Example 15: Second Movement La Mer
53
Noches en los Jardines de España is basically a modal work in which we will find
considerable use of the Aeolian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian and Andalusian modes and, to a lesser
extent, of the whole tone scales. We also find the occurrence of parallel chord progressions, using
mixtures of different modes. This way of organizing the harmony of the music is related to the
harmonic ambiguity characteristic of the music of Claude Debussy, and this ambiguity is at times
very evident in when listening to Noches en los Jardines de España. If we wish to find a good
example of this, we may go to the passage of the first nocturne En el Generalife between rehearsal
numbers 16 and 17. (ex. 16) In subsection 3.1.3 we described this passage as a rhythmical
introduction quite similar to the introduction in a flamenco song, but we did not consider at that
point how the harmony is organized. Here we can observe a modal movement with the relation of a
third between the tonic of the different modes used by Falla. It starts with Phrygian in B modulating
to the Andalusian D mode and finally transposing to F# in the Andalusian mode once more. At the
same time we may note the parallel movement of perfect fifths up and down in contrary motion.
While performing such passages with their clear modal sonority, which directs our thinking to the
music of Claude Debussy, we should not forget at the same time the importance of the rhythm;
bearing both in mind, we may achieve the right balance between the harmony, closer to the music of
French Impressionism, and the rhythm, closer to Spanish Flamenco.
54
B Phrygian
D Andalusian
F# Andalusian
Parallel mixtures
55
Example 16: First Movement Noches en los Jardines de España
To create a tonal centre one of the most important resources for the music of Debussy was
repetition. In La Mer we can see a very clear example of this at the beginning of the second
movement, where we find a static structure constructed by the notes C#, G# and F# in the strings,
which creates a tonal centre around these notes. (ex. 17)
56
Example 17: Beginning Second Movement La Mer
Now let us look at the very beginning of Noches en los Jardines de España. If we consider
the melody played by the harp and the violas, we find a tonal centre on the note D# owing to the
repetition of this note during this passage. (ex.18) This example was mentioned above. This does
not mean that the tonal centre of the whole passage is D#. The piece clearly opens in C# minor, as is
confirmed in the time signature; this particular melody, however, is created around the note D#, thus
suggesting another tonal centre for the melodic line and creating the kind of ambiguity in the
harmony so characteristic of the music of Claude Debussy.
Example 18: Beginning First Movement Noches en los Jardines de España
57
3.2.2. Melody
As mentioned in the previous chapter, the use of repetition was an important resource to
create a melodic line in Debussy’s compositional style. In Chapter 2.2.2 above I wrote: „The
concept of melody in the traditional sense is often not appropriate to describe the concept of melody
and the construction of melodies in this style. Rather, melody is constructed on the basis of the
appearance of several small motives, normally based on one or several intervals, whose repetition
creates a line that we will recognize during the development of the piece.“
In La Mer we find a collection of small motives that will appear during the piece to give a
melodic sense to the work through their development. I will demonstrate two examples of this.
If we take the beginning of the piece, we can identify a motive consisting of a rising major
second with the rhythm of a semiquaver followed by a dotted quaver in the cellos. (ex. 19) This
motive will be repeated during the piece. A clear example is to be found in the horns at rehearsal
number 45 of the third movement. (ex. 20)
Example 19: Beginning First Movement La Mer
Example 20: Rehearsal number 45 Third Movement La Mer
A second example of the development of a small motive appears again in the first and third
movements. Compare the motive of the bassoons and horns at rehearsal number 14 in the first
58
movement (ex. 21) with the motive of oboe, cor anglais, bassoons and horns that appears in the
third movement at rehearsal number 46, creating a little melody of its own. (ex. 22)
Example 21: First Movement La Mer
Example 22: Third Movement La Mer
59
Let us now turn to Falla’s Noches en los Jardines de España and focus at the beginning of
the piece on the first four notes that appear in the harp and in the violas. (ex. 23) This is an example,
already presented above, of a little motive whose repetition will create a sense of melody
throughout the piece, especially during the first movement which is built round the development of
this little motive . If we go, for example, to rehearsal number 12 and look at the lines of the
clarinets, violins and violas we will see that this is a variation of these four first notes from the
opening of the piece. (ex. 24) A further example is to be found in the second movement at rehearsal
number 3 in the piccolo and piano lines. (ex. 25) These are merely two examples of the
development of the first little motive; Noches en los Jardines de España is a piece full of similar
examples of this technique.
60
Example 23: Beginning First Movement Noches en los Jardines de España
Example 24: First Movement Noches en los Jardines de España
61
Example 25: Second Movement Noches en los Jardines de España
In this subsection concerning melody in the music of Claude Debussy and the influence of
this on Falla, we should not forget the Arabesque. As I stated in Chapter 2, this is the name the
French composer used for a melodic line created by very fast undulations of the music as it tries to
find, according to Debussy, new expressions of life and freedom. With regard to this aspect of the
62
music, one example will suffice. Consider the use of the piano by Manuel de Falla between
rehearsal numbers 3 and 4 in the first movement of Noches en los Jardines de España (ex. 26).
Example 26: Score Number 3 First Movement Noches en los Jardines de España
63
3.2.3. Texture
As stated in the Chapter 2.2.2, texture and timbre are very important aspects in the music of
Claude Debussy and have a great influence on the dramatic impact of the music. I would like now
to highlight the importance of the different sonorities of the orchestra in the music of Manuel de
Falla. Claude Debussy’s style of composing placed a new emphasis on instrumental colours,
seeking more variety and more rapid changes in colour. If we pay attention to the orchestration in
Noches en los Jardines de España we can see that the orchestra Falla utilises in this piece is larger
than the orchestra he utilizes in the pieces he had composed previously, owing to the addition of the
harp, celesta, three drums, cymbals and triangle.
Very characteristic of the sonority of the music of Debussy is the use of harp glissandi, as we
can appreciate, for example, in bars 135 and 136 of the first movement of La Mer (ex. 27); in Falla
we find something similar both on the harp and the piano at rehearsal numbers 15, 24 and 25 of the
first movement of Noches en los Jardines de España. (ex. 28)
Example 27: Bars 135 and 136 First Movement La Mer
64
Example 28: Score Number 15, 24 and 25 First Movement Noches en los Jardines de
España
65
It is also important to note the use of the high register of the piano, very characteristic of the
music of Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel. The high notes in the piano part at rehearsal numbers
3 and 5 of the first movement of Noches en los Jardines de España (ex. 29) produce that special
sonority which recalls the sound of water and which, in this way, is related to several pieces
composed for this instrument by composers who followed the compositional style of Claude
66
Debussy. We may find an example of this, for example in Reflets dans L’Eau from Images by the
French composer (ex. 30).
Example 29: Score Numbers 3 and 5 First Movement Noches en los Jardines de España
67
68
Example 30: Passage of Reflets dans L’Eau from Images by Debussy
One further characteristic we may note in the sonority of this style is the combination of
long altered chords with a very rapid line of music. In this respect we can see examples in La Mer,
bars 155 to 159 of the second movement, (ex. 31) and Noches en los Jardines de España, from
rehearsal number 13 of the first movement, (ex. 32) where the piano and the harp respectively play
a very fast line of music accompanied by slow chords in the rest of the orchestra. Even though this
69
is a very important feature of the music of Debussy, however, as a conductor I would remind the
players during these long held chords not to lose the sense of rhythm, a very important
characteristic of the music of the Flamenco, and to be very precise with the internal rhythm so as to
maintain it in the passages that follow.
Example 31: Second Movement La Mer
70
71
Example 32: First Movement Noches en los Jardines de España
72
Here I have presented a number of examples where we can appreciate the influence of the
music of Claude Debussy in Manuel de Falla’s Noches en los Jardines de España. Although these
examples demonstrate that the influence of Impressionism is real, as a conductor I would claim that
this influence is not so important for the development of the piece. Of course, in many moments
these resources impart a special colour to the piece; nevertheless, I would still maintain that the
piece is fundamentally based on the music of Spanish folklore and tries primarily to imitate sounds
which conjure up images of Andalusia. In performance it is on these elements that we should focus,
while at the same time, of course, not ignoring those resources that Falla uses in the piece which
serve to create those special sonorities reminiscent of the music of the French Impressionism.
73
4. Conclusion
Manuel de Falla, a Spanish composer whose compositional roots lie in the folk music of
southern Spain, decided in 1907 to move to Paris, where he stayed for seven years while improving
his compositional skills. The available letters and other documents suggest many reasons why he
might have decided to move to France: the desire to change and improve his way of life; the
frustration that his opera La Vida Breve was not premièred in Madrid; his attraction to the music of
Debussy and his consequent wish to meet him; his desire to get to know the city that was
undoubtedly the cultural capital of Europe at the time; and so on. Whatever the reasons, the fact is
that he moved to Paris and that his experience there impacted both on him and on his music.
My own experience as a Spaniard who decided to move to Tallinn at the age of 23 and who
remained in Estonia for seven years suggests that people move because they are looking for
something – in my case something related to music. However, people who do this develop not only
in terms of the particular thing they are searching for; their personalities also undergo development
and change, especially when the place they move to is very different from their own place of origin.
However, it is also true that even when people change or develop as a result of such an experience,
many things in their personalities remain unchanged. These are the things that are, as it were, in our
blood. In my case, ever since I was a child I have had a great love for Spanish folk music; even after
seven years spent living in Tallinn I this passion remains with me, and I try as much as possible in
my career as an orchestral conductor to include music related to Spanish folk music in my own
programmes.
To prove conclusively that without the influence of Paris Manuel de Falla would have been
as great a composer as he is considered now is, in my opinion, impossible; what is beyond doubt,
however, is that thanks to the experience of France – not only musical influences, but also personal
experiences – Falla developed a particular musical language that would not have been possible in
other circumstances.
The development of Manuel de Falla’s music underwent a natural process of evolution in
which the composer, whose compositional roots were based in the music of the folklore of southern
Spain and who spent seven years of his life in Paris, introduced into his music certain elements
belonging to the new musical movement led by Claude Debussy, thus making his music richer in
aspects such as harmony and melody and, more especially, in terms of its sonority and texture.
74
Other aspects, notably considerations of musical form, lie outside the scope of this research.
When we analyse the harmony of Noches en los Jardines de España we can appreciate the
relationship between the use of modal harmony in Debussy’s style of composing and in the music
based on flamenco singing. Naturally, Manuel de Falla developed his use of modal harmony during
his Paris years, enriching it with the techniques and resources he gained through the influence of the
music of Debussy. We can appreciate, for example, his striving after a sense of vagueness in his
adoption of the use of large blocks of chords to produce an effect of colour in the sonority, his use
of parallelism, with parallel intervals, triads, seventh chords and larger triadic structures, and his use
of scales such as the dorian, phrygian, lydian or mixolydian modes. That said, however, a careful
analysis of Noches en los Jardines de España reveals that the mode Falla uses most in this work is
the phrygian mode which, as we have explained, is related to the Andalusian mode used in flamenco
singing.
In terms of melody, sonority and texture we can appreciate that many of the techniques and
resources used by Falla in Noches en los Jardines de España are similar to those of Debussy. First
of all, the repetition of little motives as an important resource to create a melodic line – note, for
example, the first four notes which appear in the harp and the violas in the first movement of the
piece whose repetition will create a sense of melody throughout the work; and secondly we should
not forget the use of the Arabesque. With regard to the texture, and paying attention to the
orchestration of the piece, we may note that the orchestra Falla utilizes in this piece is larger than
that used in his earlier works. Very characteristic also is Falla’s use of a large number of divisi in the
strings, as well as his use of muted strings and of the sonority of harp glissandi, all techniques very
characteristic of the music of Claude Debussy. In terms of sonority we should also mention Falla’s
use of the high register of the piano to depict the sound of water, a device also very characteristic of
Debussy’s music. One further feature that we may note with regard to the kind of sonority that
influenced the music of Manuel de Falla is the combination of long altered chords with a very rapid
line of music.
However, despite all these resources and techniques typical of Debussy’s style of
composition that Falla uses in Noches en los Jardines de España, I firmly believe that it is more
important to realise that the piece is full of techniques which try to imitate flamenco singing. Cante
(song), baile (dance) and toque (solo guitar music) are resources that are to be found throughout the
work. This kind of imitation is a very important aspect in the relation between the Spanish folklore
of southern Spain and the music of Manuel de Falla. We may note, for example, that the piece is full
of imitations of the riffs and strumming of the guitar. As regards the cante, we can appreciate how
75
Falla creates melodies in some instruments that imitate flamenco singing, with a clear rhythm at the
beginning of each phrase but a freer end to each phrase, with some rapid scales sung melismatically.
The use of microtonalism is also very characteristic of flamenco music, and Falla tries to imitate
this with very fast passages around one note which, in my opinion as a conductor, should be not
performed with absolute precision as regards intonation if we wish to create a true imitation. We
should not forget, either, the imitation of the rhythmical sound of the shoes of the dancer on the
floor, as Falla achieves this feeling in the music by writing some free melodies accompanied by a
group of instruments playing in a very rhythmical manner. It is important that we recognize these
resources and, in performance, that we help the music to sound as similar as possible to these
sonorities that the composer wished to imitate.
In terms of rhythm, we can find passages in Noches en los Jardines de España in which the
rhythm is not very clear, giving a sense of vagueness typical of Impressionism; at the same time,
however, Noches en los Jardines de España is full of passages where binary and ternary are
combined in a very clear manner, recalling the rhythm of flamenco singing as one of the most
important rhythmic characteristics of flamenco music. Sometimes Falla indicates these changes of
rhythm very clearly by changing the time signature; at other times we as performers have to find
this feeling in the change of the rhythm, even when the time signature does not change.
The main body of this thesis consists of an analysis of Noches en los Jardines de España in
which we present some extracts to ascertain the relative influence of flamenco singing and of the
music of Claude Debussy respectively in this, the last piece that Manuel de Falla was to begin
composing in Paris. The goal of the research is to find the best way to interpret the work. I refer in
this work to some letters and unpublished documents from the Archive Manuel de Falla which I
have used as an aid to understanding the reasons for which Falla decided to move to Paris and also
– and more importantly – in an attempt to identify the precise musical intentions of the Spanish
composer while composing Noches en los Jardines de España. As always, the final goal is to
achieve as conductor and performer the best possible interpretation of Falla’s work in the manner
most faithful to his intentions.
There is no doubt that Paris had a decisive influence on the music of Manuel de Falla.
Amongst other things, he was able to make new contacts with the cultural world in what was at the
time Europe’s most important cultural centre, where he met many leading proponents of the various
contemporary cultural movements; he was also able to find ways to enrich his music and
disseminate it more widely. I believe that in Paris Falla’s artistic sensibility found everything that
was necessary for his music to develop. However, in my modest opinion, Paris was not so crucial to
76
the Spanish composer as to change totally his method of composing music. While Paris and the
influence of Claude Debussy helped Falla to forge the language he wanted for his music, the
nucleus of his music nevertheless remains the folklore of southern Spain, which he was
subsequently able to enrich thanks to the influence of the French composer. For the conductor this
understanding is very important in performing the music of Manuel de Falla. It is clear that when
performing the music from Falla’s Paris period we should take note of those aspects of it that
borrow from the style of Claude Debussy. However, fundamental to a proper understanding of
Falla’s music is the realisation that it is based primarily on the folklore of southern Spain, and thus
we should strive in performance to try to imitate the colours, rhythms, ways of singing a melody,
and so on that come originally from Flamenco singing.
The musical language of Manuel de Falla is universal, in the sense that it is very well-known
and appreciated throughout the world; without Paris, Falla’s language would have been as universal
as it is now, but this is something that is impossible to demonstrate or to prove. Overall I would
describe Manuel de Falla as a Spanish composer whose music is based firmly on the flamenco
singing of Spain but who spent an important period of his life in Paris, where he was able to
develop his skills as a composer on the example of the music of the new style of composition
represented first and foremost by the person of Claude Debussy. During his Paris period Manuel de
Falla was undoubtedly the most Impressionistic of Spanish composers; nevertheless his music
always remained firmly rooted in the folklore of southern Spain.
77
Bibliography
Brown, Maurice J. E. 2001. Arabesque. – The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Vol.
1, ed. Stanley Sadie, London: Macmillan Publishers, pp. 794–795.
Casanovas, José 1976. Manuel de Falla, Cien Años. Barcelona: Ediciones de Nuevo Arte.
Collins, Chistopher Guy 2002. Manuel de Falla and his European Contemporaries: Encounters,
Relationships and Influences. Tesis Universal. Manuel de Falla Archive in Granada.
Crivillé i Bargalló, Josep 2004. Historia de la Música. El Folklore Musical. Madrid: Alianza
Musical.
Crocker, Richard L. 1986. A History of Musical Style. New York: Mcgraw-Hill.
de Falla, Manuel 1972. Escritos sobre Música y Músicos. 3rd. Edition. Espasa Calpe S.A.
Colección Austral nº 950.
de Falla, Manuel 1988. Felipe Pedrell (1841–1922). Published by La Revue Musical (February
1923) in Escritos Sobre Música y Músicos. Introducción y notas de Federico Sopeña. Madrid,
Espasa-Calpe, col. Austral, nº53, 4th edition.
Demarquez, Suzanne 1986. Manuel de Falla. Labor S.A. Barcelona.
De Persia, Jorge 1991. Manuel de Falla. Diálogos con la cultura del s.XX. Dedicated to the opening
of the Archive in Granada.
Fernández, Lola 2004. Flamenco Music Theory. San Lorenzo del Escorial, Madrid: Acordes
Concert.
Franco, Enrique 2001. Falla, Manuel de. – The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Vol.
6, ed. Stanley Sadie, London: Macmillan Publishers, pp. 371–374.
Gómez Amat, Carlos 2001. Turina, Joaquín. –The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.
Vol. 19, ed. Stanley Sadie, London: Macmillan Publishers, pp. 264–265.
Hess, Carol A. 2001. Manuel de Falla and Modernism in Spain, 1898–1936. Chicago and London:
The University of Chicago Press.
Hess, Carol A. 2005. Sacred Passions. The Life and Music of Manuel de Falla. New York: Oxford
University.
Katz, Israel J. 2001. Flamenco. – The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Vol. 8, ed.
Stanley Sadie, London: Macmillan Publishers, pp. 920–925.
Malipiero, G. Francesco 1983. Manuel de Falla. (Evocación y correspondencia). Universidad de
Granada.
Marco, Tomas 2001. Albéniz, Isaac. – The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Vol. 1,
ed. Stanley Sadie, London: Macmillan Publishers, pp. 202–204.
Martínez Sierra, María 1953. Gregorio y yo. Medio Siglo de Colaboración. Mexico: Biografías
Gandesa, pp. 123–124.
Morgan, Robert P. 1999. La Música del Siglo XX. Madrid: Ediciones Akal.
78
Morrison, D. Naumann 1960. Influences of Impressionist Tonality on Selected Works of Delius,
Griffes, Falla and Respighi. Based on the Concept Developed by Robert Mueller. Ph.D.
dissertation. Indiana University.
Nancy Lee Harper 2005. Manuel de Falla. His Life and Music. Unites States of America:
Scarecrow Press, Inc.
Nichols, Roger 2001. Debussy, Claude.– The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Vol.
5, ed. Stanley Sadie, London: Macmillan Publishers, pp. 292–314.
Nommick, Yvan 1997. La Vida Breve entre 1905 y 1914: Evolución Formal y Orquestal. Granada.
Archivo Manuel de Falla, pp. 11–18.
Orledge, Robert 2001. Indy, Vincent d’. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Vol.
9, ed. Stanley Sadie, London: Macmillan Publishers, pp. 220–225.
Pahissa, Jaime 1979. Manuel de Falla, his life and works. Hyperion press.
Pasler, Jann 2001. Indy, Schola Cantorum. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.
Vol. 22, ed. Stanley Sadie, London: Macmillan Publishers, pp.206.
Pérez Gutierrez, Mariano 1983. Falla y Turina hermanados en el París de sus sueños Barcelona:
University of Melbourne.
Pérez Gutiérrez, Mariano 1987. La temática popular en la etapa parisina de Manuel de Falla. Real
Maestranza de Caballería de Sevilla.
Persichetti, Vincent 1995. Armonía del Siglo XX. Madrid: Real Musical.
Roales-Nieto, Amalia 1988. Manuel de Falla et Paris. Madrid: Madrid University.
Seitz, Elisabeth Anne 1995. Manuel de Falla’s years in Paris, 1907–1914. Boston: Boston
University.
Whittall, Arnold 2001. Impressionism. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Vol. 9,
ed. Stanley Sadie, London: Macmillan Publishers, pp. 30–31.
Unpublished sources. Manuel de Falla Archive in Granada, Spain
Martinez Sierra, Gregorio. Granada, (Guía Emocional). MFA 2131.
Nommick, Ivan. Noches en los Jardines de España: Génesis y composición de una obra.
Unpublished biography.
Nommick, Ivan. La interpretación de las Noches: Una carta de Falla a Anserment. Unpublished
biography.
Pérez Gutierrez, Mariano. Falla y París. Unpublished biography.
Pérez Gutiérrez, Mariano 1976. Tesoro Sacro Musical. Revista de Investigación y Ensayo. .
Unpublished biography.
Part of a document on display in an exhibition organized by the Manuel de Falla Archive in
Granada, Spain.
79
Printed program of the premier on the 9th April 1916 of Noches en los Jardines de España. MFA
1916.
Letter from Joaquín Turina to Manuel de Falla. February 1906. MFA 7703.
Letter from Claude Debussy to Manuel de Falla. January 1907. MFA 6898.
Letter from Falla to his family. January 1909. MFA 7808.
Letter from Manuel de Falla to Salvador Viniegra. December 1913. MFA 7755.
Letter from Manuel de Falla to Roland-Manuel. December 1928. MFA 7521.
Scores
Debussy, Claude 1966. Reflets dans l’Eau. Fortepianowe.
Debussy, Claude 1997. La Mer. New York: Dover Publications,INC.
Falla, Manuel de 2010. Noches en los jardines de España, Impresiones sinfónicas para piano y
orquesta. Madrid: Manuel de Falla Ediciones.
Internet Links
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYCiyNbDmRM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MS332sS7cA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2x58jaW3Y4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbadDj9KF1s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhn0rOCdRvw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao9_AW3rXIo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVjFCF2b8cw
80
Töö lühikokkuvõte
Käesolev töö „The influences of Spanish Folklore and French Impressionism on the work of
Manuel de Falla Noches en Los Jardines de España“ („Hispaania folkloori ja prantsuse
impressionismi mõjud Manuel de Falla teoses „Ööd Hispaania aedades“), mis on kirjutatud
doktorikraadi taotlemiseks Eesti Muusika- ja Teatriakadeemia doktoriõppe loomingulise harus, on
pühendatud Hispaania lõunaosa rahvaliku muusika ja prantsuse impressionismi mõjude uurimisele
Manuel de Falla loomingus seitsme aasta jooksul (1907–1914) tema Pariisis elatud perioodil. Töö
autor on keskendunud Manuel de Falla teosele „Noches en los jardines de España“ („Ööd Hispaania
aedades“), mille komponeerimist ta Prantsusmaa pealinnas alustas.
Töö autor on veendunud, et uue kunstivoolu – impressionismi – mõju kajastub helilooja
selle perioodi loomingus olulisel määral. Kuni Manuel de Falla Pariisi minekuni oli tema muusika
tugevalt mõjutatud lõuna-hispaania folkloorist, kuid siis tema käekiri muutus. Manuel de Falla
Pariisi kolimise ajal oli see linn kultuuriliselt vahest kõige tähtsam Euroopas – helilooja tutvus siin
kultuurimaailma suurte isiksustega, kes teda ühel või teisel viisil mõjutasid ja kõik see kajastus
tema muusikas. Orkestridirigendina on töö autor seadnud eesmärgiks uurida olukorda, millesse
Manuel de Falla sattus, kui ta oli otsustanud asuda elama Pariisi; samuti uurida asjaolusid, mis
võisid mõjutada tema loomingut, et sellest lähtuvalt saaks interpreteerida Manuel de Falla teost
„Noches en los jardines de España“ võimalikult ehedalt. Töö autor usub, et selline uurimus võib
väga oluliselt muuta teose interpreteerimise viisi.
Konkreetse teose käsitlemisel keskendub autor kahele olulisele aspektile: ühelt poolt lõunahispaania rahvalikule muusikale, millele hispaania helilooja looming 1907. aastani otseselt toetus ja
teiselt poolt uuele muusikavoolule, impressionismile, mis sündis Prantsusmaal XIX sajandi lõpul ja
mille eestvedajaks oli Claude Debussy.
Oma väidete põhjendamiseks on autor uurinud järgmisi asjaolusid:
1. Kõigepealt on autor püüdnud selgitada Manuel de Falla Pariisi siirdumise põhjusi.
2. Teiseks on autor püüdnud uurida kahe muusikavoolu mõju Manuel de Falla loomingule
Pariisis, kus ta ühelt poolt oli tihedas kontaktis Schola Cantorumi ühe juhtiva liikme Joaquín
Turinaga ja teisalt Claude Debussyga, kes kõige paremini esindab impressionismi prantsuse
muusikas.
3. Tundes kõiki esitatud asjaolusid, mis Fallat tema seitsme Pariisi-aasta jooksul võisid
mõjutada, on töö autor kõige olulisema punktina keskendunud teose „Noches en los jardines
81
de España“ analüüsile, otsimaks ühelt poolt, milline on olnud hispaania folkloori ja teisalt
prantsuse impressionismi mõju, toetudes konkreetsetele näidetele teosest. Kas otsustav oli
prantsuse mõju, nagu võiks oletada, või on Falla muusika tugisambaks jätkuvalt hispaania
folkloor?
Olles saanud oma ooperi „La vida breve“ komponeerimise eest 1907. aastal Madridis
preemia, otsustas Manuel de Falla kolida Pariisi. Hispaanlasest helilooja veetis Pariisis seitse aastat
kuni Esimese maailmasõja puhkemiseni 1914. a. ning naasis siis oma sünnimaale.
Manuel de Falla omakäeliste kirjutiste põhjal teame, et ta tundis end Pariisis esimesest
hetkest hästi, leides seal muusikalise keskkonna, mida ta oma arenguks vajas. Esimest korda elus
tundis hispaania helilooja erilist sidet avarama kultuuriga, kuna ta polnud varem oma kodumaalt
lahkunud ja seega rikastasid kohtumised rahvusvaheliselt tuntud isikutega ning nende
tundmaõppimine tema kui loovisiku arengut. Näitena võib tuua katke tema kirjast sõber Salvador
Viniegrale, milles ta ütleb: „... mul on järjest suurem heameel, et ma otsustasin Madridist lahkuda,
sest seal polnud minu jaoks mingit tulevikku...“ ning „Mu esimene suur kordaminek pärast Pariisi
saabumist oli Dukas’ külastamine. Selle esimese visiidi ajal sain Dukas’le tutvustada oma Pariisi
tuleku eesmärke: töötada ja tundma õppida prantsuse moodsa kooli tehnikaid, sest leidsin nad olevat
kooskõlas minu muusikatunnetusega...“
Falla peamiste mõjutajatena on töös käsitletud kahte isikut: Joaquín Turinat ja Claude
Debussyd. Turina tähtsus ei tulene selles kontekstis mitte eelkõige tema seosest Vincent d’Indy
poolt juhitud Schola Cantorumiga, vaid tugevatest seostest hispaania muusikaga tema enda
loomingus. Manuel de Falla oli teatavasti prantsuse impressionismi suur poolehoidja, see oli aga
täielik vastand Schola Cantorumi konservatismile, mille esindajaks oli Joaquín Turina. Need kaks
hispaania heliloojat, kes elasid Pariisis ühel ja samal ajal, soosisid täiesti vastandlikke muusikalisi
voolusid, olles sellele vaatamata head sõbrad ja esindades muusikas kõike hispaaniapärast, mida
nad pidasid väga omaseks ja millest nad loobuda ei raatsinud.
Arvatavasti oli just Claude Debussy see, kelle pärast Manuel de Falla Pariisi sõitis. Debussy
oli oma aja tähtsamaid heliloojaid, kelle innovatiivne stiil eristus radikaalselt Wagneri omast ning
avaldas omakorda suurt mõju järgnevatele heliloojate põlvkondadele. Debussy ja Falla tutvumisel
mängis tähtsat rolli prantsuse helilooja Paul Dukas. Debussyle avaldas sügavat mõju Manuel de
Falla ooper „La vida breve“, ning nende tutvumisest alates sai Debussyst Falla tähtsaim nõuandja ja
aegamööda ka suur sõber. Mõistetavalt mõjutas see muusikaline ja isiklik kontakt Manuel de Falla
hilisemat loomingut, milles kohtame impressionistliku muusika kõiki tehnilisi uuendusi, koos
erinevate helilaadide kasutamise, rütmika ja väljenduslaadi eripäradega. Muuhulgas kasutab hilisem
Falla suuri akordiplokke, püüdes luua orkestratsioonis võimalikult palju värve.
82
Töö põhiosa keskendub Manuel de Falla teose „Noches en los jardines de España“
analüüsile, milles püütakse näidata, milline on selles lõuna-hispaania rahvaliku muusika ja
prantsuse impressionistliku stiili elementide mõju, eesmärgiga otsida teed teose parima võimaliku
interpretatsiooni poole.
Analüüsis võetakse esmalt vaatluse alla hispaania rahvaliku muusika kolm aspekti:
harmoonia, meloodia ja kõlapilt ning rütm. Harmoonia puhul tuuakse mitme näite varal välja seosed
andaluusia helilaadiga (früügia-sarnane laad teise ja kolmanda astme võimalike alteratsioonidega)
ning nn andaluusia kadentsi tähtsus. Meloodia ja kõlapildi osas keskendutakse flamenko-muusika
kõlapildile, mida Manuel de Falla selles teoses imiteerib, eristades kolme aspekti: laulu, tantsu ja
kitarrikasutust. Tuuakse mitmeid näiteid, kuidas helilooja imiteerib kitarri erinevaid sõrmitsemistehnikaid, kombineerides seda flamenkotrummide ja -tantsijate rütmifiguuridega ning flamenkomuusika lauljate melismaatilise laulmisviisiga. Mis puudutab rütmi, siis tuuakse näiteid eelkõige
flamenko-muusikas tavalisest kahe- ja kolmeosalise meetrumi vaheldumisest. Flamenko-muusika
elementide kasutamine on üks Falla muusika identiteedi tunnustest, mida ta ei hüljanud ka pärast
oma seitset Pariisi-aastat.
Teisalt keskendutakse impressionismi mõjudele Falla teostes, tuues näiteid samuti teosest
„Noches en los jardines de España“ ja võrreldakse neid näidetega Claude Debussy teosest „La
Mer“. Siin on vaatluse all peamiselt harmoonia, meloodika ja faktuuri aspektid. Mis puudutab
harmooniat, siis käsitleb autor impressionistlikule stiilile väga omast tonaalset ambivalentsust ning
paralleelliikumisi kasutavaid suuri akordiplokke. Samuti leiab võrdlemist vanade diatooniliste
helilaadide kasutamine Claude Debussy teoses „La Mer“ ja uurimisaluses töös „Noches en los
jardines de España“. Käsitledes meloodikat, keskendab autor tähelepanu traditsioonilise meloodiakontseptsiooni kadumisele, esitledes uut kontseptsiooni impressionistlikus stiilis, mis baseerub
üksikutest intervallidest moodustatud lühikestel muusikalistel motiividel, mille kordused loovad
terves teoses tajutava meloodilise liini. Falla muusikas leidub ka kiirete lainetustena kujundatud
meloodialiine, mida Debussy nimetab arabeskiks – seda leidub sageli nii tema muusikas kui ka töös
uuritavas Falla teoses.
Tähtsaima aspektina, mis peegeldab prantsuse impressionismi mõjusid Falla teoses, on töös
vaatluse all faktuurikäsitlus. Esmalt näidatakse, kuidas Pariisis komponeerides muutus Falla
orkestreerimislaad rikkalikuma värvipaleti suunas. Samuti viidatakse kõlavõtete kasutamisele, mis
on väga omased impressionismile, nagu näiteks harfi glissandod või klaveri kõrge registri
kasutamine. Impressionistlikule stiilile väga iseloomulikuks faktuurivõtteks võib pidada ka suurte
akordiplokkide kasutamist kõrvuti kiiresti liikuvate meloodialiinidega.
83
Näidetele toetudes jõuab autor järeldusele, et impressionismi ja Debussy muusika mõju on
Manuel de Falla teoses „Noches en los jardines de España“ on küll ilmne, ent mitte nii valdav nagu
oleks võinud eeldada. Manuel de Falla loomingu ja ühtlasi teose „Noches en los jardines de
España“ interpreteerijana nendib töö autor teoses kajastuvaid impressionismi mõjusid, ent peab
samal ajal esitamisel ülimalt oluliseks rõhuasetust lõuna-hispaania rahvaliku muusika elementidele,
millel see muusika olulisel määral baseerub, eriti flamenkostiilist pärit rütmide, kõlavärvide ja
laulmismaneeri imiteerimisele. Töö autor usub, et just folkloorne aspekt on Falla loomingus
määrava tähtsusega ning see oleks leidnud laia tunnustuse ka ilma Pariisis veedetud perioodil
kogutud muljeteta ning prantsuse impressionismi olulise ja viljaka mõjuta.
84