A Short Life: The Representation of Spanish National Identity Through the Gitano Narrative Within Manuel de Falla's La Vida Breve

• Main Author: Dominguez, Lyanne
• Format: Others
• Published: Scholarship @ Claremont 2013
• Subjects: La vida breve; Manuel de Falla; Other Music
• Online Access: http://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/202; http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1276&context=scripps_theses

The purpose of this paper, analyzing Manuel de Falla’s La vida breve is to Chapter provides the background information, laying out the direction of the paper, and a review of literature pertaining to each chapter. Chapter two presents the origins of flamenco in two separate historical narratives as argued by flamenco scholar, Robin Totton, explaining the difference of … Chapter three analyzes Manuel de Falla’s childhood and his upbringing in the Andalucían city of Cádiz as he encounters elements of gitano culture, which later make their way into his compositions during his nationalistic period. Chapter four analyzes Falla’s first operatic work, La vida breve and focuses on a few musical selections that express flamenco influence. Chapter five brings all of these elements together and discusses the formation of a national identity that utilized flamenco and gitano culture as a way to bring the nation together to form one defining identity. In order to complete this paper, I analyzed a number of biographies on Manuel de Falla, books that documented the development of Spanish music, and previous research documents that discussed the Spanish national identity and its origins that lie within gitano representation. I also analyzed segments of Manuel de Falla’s score for La vida breve to identify the flamenco elements.