8/23: Music of Spain: Cassadó, de Falla, and Granados

Enrique Granados (1867-1916) wrote to a friend: “I have composed a collection of Goyescas of great fleetness and difficulty….I have fallen in love with Goya’s psychology: the psychology of his palette, with him and with the Duchess of Alba, with his ‘maja’ lady, with his models, his quarrels, his loves and gallant remarks.” The 18th-century Spanish painter Francisco Goya was a major inspiration for Granados, a native of Catalonia who was himself a painter, as well as a writer and a most accomplished musician. The “Goyescas” for piano, inspired by paintings, were written for piano between 1909 and 1911, and later turned into an opera that was premiered at the Met. At that time Granados added the beautiful Intermezzo that’s one of the most often-played of the “Goyescas.” It was arranged for cello and piano by Gaspar Cassado, a Catalonian cellist and composer from the following generation, some of whose music we’ll be hearing tonight.

Probably the most famous of the late-Romantic Spanish composers is Manuel de Falla (1876-1946), especially for his ballets “The Three-Cornered Hat” and “El Amor Brujo,” source of colorful orchestral excerpts like the Miller’s Dance and the Ritual Fire Dance. Falla lived and worked in France and Latin America as well as Spain. His cycle of folksong settings called “Seven Popular Spanish Songs” was composed in 1914 and later turned into an instrumental work, “Suite Populaire Espagnole” (with one of the original vocal pieces left out). The suite can be played by violin and piano or by cello and piano, and the songs have been arranged for other combinations too. The suite opens with a folksong from Murcia in the Spanish region of Andalusia, “El Pano Moruno,” or “The Moorish Cloth.” Next come “Asturiana,” a lament from the region of Asturias, and “Jota,” a dance song from Aragon. “Nana” is an Andalusian lullaby that Falla knew from his own childhood; “Cancion” is a love song. The suite eneds with “Polo,” derived from Spain’s tradition of gypsy and flamenco music.

Gaspar Cassadó (1897-1966) was born in Barcelona and studied with Pablo Casals starting at the age of 10. His composition teachers were Falla and Maurice Ravel. Hiss career as a concert cellist took him all over the world in the 1920s and Thirties; he was both a recitalist and a concerto soloist, and his interest in the music of his own time led him to give the premieres of works by Hindemith, Martinu, Delius, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, and Khachaturian among others. He famously performed Brahms’ Double Concerto with Joseph Szigeti, and in the 1950s his frequent recital partner was the distinguished Spanish pianist Alicia de Larrocha. For Andres Segovia, he transcribed a Boccherini cello concerto for guitar and orchestra. Cassado’s numerous cello compositions and arrangements include the lyrical Serenade and “Requiebros” — which may be translated as Flatteries or Flirtations. This is a virtuosic piece inspired by Spanish folk melodies; the cello part can be heard as a singing voice, while the piano part echoes the sounds of a guitar. “Requiebros” was dedicated to Casals.