1915, A BUSY YEAR
It was in 1915 that Gregorio Martínez Sierra and his wife María de la O Lejárraga (whom Falla had met in Paris two years earlier) began to play prominent roles in the composer’s life and work. Gregorio formed his first theatre company around that time, and found himself to all intents and purposes director and impresario of the Teatro Eslava in Madrid. For her part, María was the author of the theatrical works performed and published – by mutual agreement – under the name “Gregorio Martínez Sierra”. In short, she wrote while he made things happen.
María Martínez Sierra maintained a close friendship with Manuel de Falla. It was she who took him to Granada for the first time: an event described by María in her memoirs Gregorio y yo as “the best adventure of our friendship”. María’s book presents a vivid portrait of that adventure, which took place in late March and early April 1915:
One morning in April […] I said: “Today we’re going to visit the Alhambra”. And off we went […]. On reaching the gateway to the great palace and fortress, I said to my fellow pilgrim: “Give me your hand, close your eyes and don’t open them until I say so”. He went along with my whim, enjoying himself like a little boy playing blindman’s buff. […] I led him to the middle window [of the Ambassadors’ Hall in the Comares Tower] […] “Look!” I said, releasing my companion’s hand. And he opened his eyes. I shall never forgot the ‘Aaah!’ which sprang from his mouth. It was almost a cry15[15] MARTÍNEZ SIERRA, María. Gregorio y yo. Medio siglo de colaboración. Valencia, Pre-Textos, 2000, p. 195..
The premiere of El amor brujo was given at the Teatro Lara in Madrid on 15 April 1915. In an interview in that day’s La Patria, Falla went out of his way to praise both his literary collaborator Martínez Sierra (María, though it was Gregorio whom he named, for reasons already explained) and Pastora Imperio, who came up with the original idea for El amor brujo and was responsible for its production. He also declared:We have produced a new, unusual work, which we have “felt”, though we don’t know what effect it will produce in the audience16[16] La Patria. Madrid, 16 April 1915. Manuel de Falla interviewed by Rafael Benedito..
The composer spent most of the second half of 1915 with the Martínez Sierras in Catalonia. Barcelona and the coastal town of Sitges – where the painter Santiago Rusiñol had his house “El Cau Ferrat”, in which Falla worked on his Noches en los jardines de España – were the staging posts during this Catalonian sojourn.Evidence of the friendship between María Martínez Sierra and Manuel de Falla during the months spent together in Catalonia may be found in her postcards to the composer. In the last of these postcards, María wrote a cryptic message in three languages:
Feliz año nuevo. A merry new year. ¡Adieu, oh Barcelone! ¡Vive la musique moderne! ¡Oh mon cher maître, que je suis bête! [Oh my dear master, how silly I am!] No me gusta cumplir un año más, aunque no me importa que me quede uno menos. [I don’t like to count off another year, though it doesn’t matter to me that I now have one less to live.] ¡Bonsoir!17[17] Postcard from María Martínez Sierra to Manuel de Falla, dated 28 December 1915 [no place of provenance stated]. The card features a reproduction of a painting by Santiago Rusiñol (Jardín de Aranjuez). A.M.F. (correspondence folder 7251).
