About this Piece

During World War I, neutral Spain received an invigorating influx of foreign artists looking for alternative markets to those along the usual Paris-Berlin-Vienna routes. Prominent among those artists was the impresario Serge Diaghilev and his Ballets Russes, which became a favorite of King Alfonso XIII. Diaghilev discussed several potential projects with Spanish composer Manuel de Falla, settling on an adaptation of the 19th-century writer Pedro Antonio de Alarcón’s comic novella El sombrero de tres picos (The Three-Cornered Hat). Falla brought this to the stage first as the pantomime El corregidor y la molinera, based on two scenes adapted by his usual collaborators, the husband-and-wife team of Gregorio Martínez Sierra and María Lejárraga.

Alarcón’s novella contains a confusing amount of incident, but the central narrative follows the traditional characters of a jealous miller, his beautiful young wife, and a lecherous corregidor (the local magistrate, whose position was symbolized by his three-cornered hat). The oafish but persistent corregidor is thwarted at every turn, is mistakenly arrested by his own constables, and suffers the peasant justice of being tossed in a blanket for a finale of general merriment.

For Diaghilev, Falla increased the size of the orchestra and eliminated some incidental music from the second part while adding a solo specifically for Léonide Massine, who choreographed the ballet and danced the part of the miller. Pablo Picasso designed the sets and costumes, and at his request Falla wrote an introduction and solo song to be performed before Picasso’s curtain went up. The ballet had a hugely successful premiere in London in 1919 (as Le tricorne), establishing Falla’s international reputation.

The Second Suite opens with the miller’s neighbors gathering to celebrate the Feast of St. John and dancing seguidillas based on traditional themes, including one also popularized in Gerónimo Giménez’s zarzuela La boda de Luis Alonso. The miller then has his solo, a dark and fiery flamenco farruca, the earthiest dance in the ballet. All of the ballet’s themes combine in the final jota, a chaotic climax and jubilant resolution in one. —John Henken