Manuel de Falla Homenaje

Manuel de Falla

Homenage:

Piece de Guitar ecrite pour “Le Tombeau de Claude Debussy”

 Manuel de Falla was one of the most influential Spanish composers and pianists of the 20th century. Falla established his compositions on Spanish folk idiom with elements from modern French and Russian composers such as Stravinsky, Debussy, Ravel, Diaghliev. For instance, among his most famous compositions belongs Fantasia Betica, Miller’s Dance, La Vida Breve etc.

 Homenage: Piece de Guitar ecrite pour ``Le Tombeau de Claude Debussy’’ (Tribute: a piece written for guitar as a memoriam of Debussy) was Falla’s first piece written especially for the guitar on the request of Miguel Llobet, who was one of the greatest classical guitarists at that time. Interestingly, it was Llobet who firstly performed this piece, surprisingly not on the classical guitar but on the harp-lute in 1921. Homenaje is an instrumental piece written as a memoriam of French impressionist composer Claude Debussy, who was considered the most significant composer of the nineteenth century. Not only did Falla feel an enormous respect for Claude Debussy who gave him confidence as a composer, he also had an admiration for Debussy as a musician as well as a person.

 The entire composition, portraying a dark mysterious mood, evokes peculiar feelings. Assuredly, there is a kind of duality as well as contradictions in this piece. It is presumed that Falla expressed his sadness over the loss of his closest friend. As ,,mesto e calmo’’(sadly and calm) indicates  the entire essence of the piece captures Falla’s grief as well as memories of Debussy. However, the composer applied unexpectedly the rhythm Habanera (slow Cuban dance with dotted rhythms), which is quite opposing of a mourning atmosphere. On the other hand, this unusual combination of different elements gives us a very unique and distinctive composition. The main structure of the piece is based on Phrygian mode (also known as Spanish gypsy scale) a typical characteristic feature of Spanish folk music. The beauty of the melody lies in the minor melodic interval e and f throughout the entire piece. Although, in certain parts, the concept for the melody comes out of improvisation and becomes more melancholic, that interval pattern can still be recognised. Not only is the harmony emphasised by very open chords (E over F chord) and dramatic fast-run arpeggios, in certain Manuel de Falla used natural octave harmonics to make the harmony slightly lighter and brighter. The piece is not technically demanding in most of its parts. However, the enormous amount of contrasting tone colours as well as dynamics marks requires maximum attention in its interpretation. Therefore, the performer should give his best to paint images of sadness to the audience. Although, the piece has not been always favoured among the audience, it has been played by many highly respected guitarists including Julian Bream, Andreas Segovia etc.