BARCELONA. FIFTIETH BIRTHDAY
Along with Cádiz, Madrid, Paris and Granada, Barcelona was one of the cities that played an important role in the life and work of Manuel de Falla. It was at the city’s Palau de la Música on 9 February 1925 that the first performance was given of Falla’s Psyché, a setting of a poem by Jean-Aubry. When writing this work, the composer decided to transfer the mythological setting of the original poem to the Queen’s Bedchamber in the Alhambra around the beginning of the eighteenth century. Falla himself explained his decision in a written preface to the printed score of Psyché:
On 23 November 1926, the composer celebrated his fiftieth birthday. Throughout 1926 and into 1927, the occasion was marked by various tributes: he was honoured by the cities of Seville and Granada, both of which declared him an “adopted son”, and also by Cádiz, of which he was declared a “favourite son”. Barcelona too joined in the celebrations, with two “Manuel de Falla Festivals” in November 1926 (including the premiere of the Concerto) and March 1927. Furthermore, various private parties were thrown for Falla in Barcelona, such as the one held in the studio of the painter Oleguer Junyent on 10 November 1926: an occasion recorded in a splendid photograph.
Remembering that Philip V and his wife Elizabeth Farnese lived in the Alhambra palace around 1730, as I composed this Psyché I imagined a little courtly concert which might have taken place in the Queen’s Bedchamber, which, situated at the top of a high tower, looks out over a truly magnificent view28[28] FALLA, Manuel de. Psyché. London, Chester, 1927. Printed score of the work..
It was also at Barcelona’s Palau de la Música that Falla’s next work was premiered: Concerto, for harpsichord and five instruments. The first performance was given on 5 November 1926 by the harpsichordist Wanda Landowska (to whom the work is dedicated), accompanied by a group of soloists from the “Orquestra Pau Casals” conducted by Manuel de Falla.On 23 November 1926, the composer celebrated his fiftieth birthday. Throughout 1926 and into 1927, the occasion was marked by various tributes: he was honoured by the cities of Seville and Granada, both of which declared him an “adopted son”, and also by Cádiz, of which he was declared a “favourite son”. Barcelona too joined in the celebrations, with two “Manuel de Falla Festivals” in November 1926 (including the premiere of the Concerto) and March 1927. Furthermore, various private parties were thrown for Falla in Barcelona, such as the one held in the studio of the painter Oleguer Junyent on 10 November 1926: an occasion recorded in a splendid photograph.
