The Ultimate Manuel de Falla Quiz

Study Notes

Manuel de Falla was born in Cádiz and died in Alta Gracia, Argentina at the age of 69.
His father was a Valencian who inherited shares in the Bank of Cádiz, and his mother was a Catalan piano player who was his first teacher.
Falla was raised by Ana "la Morilla" who exposed him to songs, dances, and stories.
Falla preferred composition over writing and studied at the Conservatory in Madrid, finishing in 1899 with a first prize for piano.
Falla disliked zarzuela, a popular form of musical theater in Madrid, and composed only one moderately successful zarzuela called "Los amores de la Inés".
Falla was a hypochondriac and had several manias, including a dislike of dust, wind, and flies, and an obsession with hygiene and the number seven.
Falla composed his opera La vida breve at the age of 28, inspired by Granada, which he had not yet visited.
Falla premiered El amor brujo in 1915 and El sombrero de tres picos in 1919, which was turned into a ballet by Diaghilev and Picasso.
Falla moved to Granada in 1921 and became friends with Federico García Lorca, trying to recover the primitive Andalusian singing in his work.
Falla refused an offer from Franco to be the director of the Instituto de España and considered exile due to increasing nervous breakdowns and the assassination of Lorca.
Manuel de Falla was a Spanish composer.
He went into exile in Argentina with his sister after the Spanish Civil War.
He lived in poor health at the age of 65.
He died of a heart attack at the age of 70.
He is considered a non-conformist and perfectionist composer.
He is known for his Spanish nationalist style.
He was part of the homage to Góngora in 1927.
His most important work was the cantata Atlántida.
He spent the last 20 years of his life composing and retouching it.
He died before finishing it, and his pupil Ernesto Halffter finished it.