Manuel de Falla (1876-1946)
Scribal music manuscript, signed by Falla and inscribed with an autograph quotation, of the ‘Danza ritual del Fuego’ from El amor brujo, [c.1939]
Piano-vocal score. 12 written pages, 313 x 224mm, on a bound gathering of 8 leaves. Title page, notated in dark brown ink on up to 12 staves per page, text in Spanish, signed (‘Manuel de Falla’) presentation inscription dated 1939 with an autograph musical quotation of 3 bars from the Introduction, autograph annotation to the title on p.1 (‘para ahuyentar los malos espiritus’), a few pencil annotations to the music, including the addition of one bar, in pencil, possibly autograph. Provenance: Sotheby’s, 22 May 1987, lot 388.

The ‘Ritual Fire Dance’ from El amor brujo is Manuel de Falla’s most popular composition. Falla sought in El amor brujo to unite art music with the spirit of traditional Gypsy music: it provoked a wide range of opinion within Spain, but was popular internationally. The ‘Ritual Fire Dance’ was a favourite encore piece of Arthur Rubinstein.