El retablo de maese Pedro and El corregidor y la molinera

by Manuel de Falla

EL RETABLO DE MAESE PEDRO (“Master Peter’sPuppet Show”)

musical and stage adaptation of El ingenioso cavallero Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes

In 1918 the Princess of Polignac, a great patron of the arts and music, commissioned from Falla, who was living in Madrid at time, a work for puppets to be performed privately at her home and dedicated to her. Falla chose an episode from Cervantes Don Quixote.

EL CORREGIDOR Y LA MOLINERA (“The Magistrate and the Miller’s Wife”)

Pantomime ballet in two scenes adapted from Pedro Antonio de Alarçon’s novella The Three-Cornered Hat, based on a traditional Spanish tale.

For the musicFalla took his inspiration from folk tunes and Spanish regional dances, and even from noises like the creaking of the pulleys of the well and the snoring of the magistrate, while maintaining the elegance and lightness that are typical of his music.

performance commissioned and staged for the Festival Opera Barga