b'PROGRAM NOTESMANUEL DE FALLAEl sombrero de tres picos [The Three-Cornered Hat] for Mezzo-Soprano and OrchestraCOMPOSER: Born November 23, 1876, Cdiz, Spain;died November 14, 1946, Alta Gracia, ArgentinaWORK COMPOSED: 1916-1919WORLD PREMIERE: July 22, 1919, in London at the Alhambra Theaterwith conductor Ernest Ansermet; sets and costumes byPablo Picasso; choreographly by Lonide Massine.INSTRUMENTATION: Mezzo-soprano soloist, 3 flutes (2 doubling piccolo), 3 oboes (1 doubling English horn), 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, triangle, cymbals, castanets, xylophone, tam tam, celesta, piano, harp, and stringsESTIMATED DURATION: 34 minutesI mpresario Serge Diaghilev first brought his Ballets Russes to Spain in 1916. As soon as he arrived, Diaghilev sought out Manuel de Falla about a collaboration on a Spanish-themed ballet. The two men agreed to create an expanded version of Fallas earlier work, a pantomime called El corregidor y la molinera [The Magistrate and the Millers Wife]. At the premiere, reviewers praised the ballet for its spirit, character and temperament, and hailed Fallas score as national in form and character as anything well could be. Other critics praised Falla for incorporating for the first time in Spanish music an [essentially Spanish] sense of humor, and a Spanish outlook on [folklore] andmusic in general. Falla believed folklore should be an inspiration, but not the sole basis for his compositions: Musics essential elements, its sources of inspiration, lie in the nations, in the peoples, he said. I am opposed to music founded upon authentic folkloristic documents. On the contrary, it seems to me that the composer must draw sounds and rhythm from natural, living sources and use them according to their substance, rather than in their superficial offerings.Trumpets, timpani and castanets set the scene, as a mezzo-soprano soloist warns young wives to beware of the devil. On a warm afternoon, a miller tries to teach a blackbird how to sound the hours (winds shrill various birdcalls); his wife Frasquita eventually succeeds. They feed their chickens together. The magistrate and his wife walk past, and the magistrate ogles the millers wife; he later returns to court Frasquita who tells the miller to hide. The music imitates the sounds of the farmyard, and sounds the magistrates bombastic theme. Frasquita then performs a flirtatious fandango with a heavy Spanish flavor, pretending not to notice the magistrate, who joins her in a minuet. She teases him, offering him grapes; he attempts to kiss her, then stumbles and falls. The miller emerges from hiding, and he and Frasquita help the magistrate to his feet, pretending to fuss over him. The magistrate, realizing they are making fun of him, leaves in a huff, while Frasquita and her husband reprise the sexy fandango.In the second scene, neighbors celebrate St. Johns Eve and dance a graceful seguidilla, whose opening melody, played by strings, flute/piccolo, winds, and the full orchestra, alternates with more passionate interludes. Meanwhile, the miller performs a macho farruca, which opens with a flourish of srsymphony.org2025-2026 Season 23'