La Vida breve, opera after C.F. Shaw

Tragedy in Granada
In spite of its not being staged in Spain after its composition in 1901, it was not long before La Vida breve brought Manuel de Falla international recognition. This tragic idyll in the heart of the Albaicín of Granada is a lively combination of the Puccinian opera and a subtle stylisation of Spanish folk music (so typical of Falla, and totally exempt of any specious “folklorism”). “La Vida breve is the first work of mine in which I am beginning to rely a little on myself and, I may even say that it is the one I prefer”, he said a few years later. Falla’s legendary self-doubt has gone: La Vida breve had asserted itself at the summit of Spanish opera.