El Amor Brujo: Ritual Fire Dance: Full Orchestra, Ensemble Works

The ballet El Amor Brujo (The Bewitched Love) was composed by Manuel de Falla (1876-1946) in 1915, with revisions taking place throughout until 1920, resulting in several versions. In the ballet, which uses a libretto by María de la O Lejárraga García, a young Andalusian gypsy girl is haunted by the ghost of her dead husband. To be rid of the ghost, all of the gypsies form a circle around their campfire at midnight, while the girl performs the Ritual Fire Dance. When the ghost appears, she dances with him until he is drawn into the fire, vanishing forever. With its fast, repetitive trills and high energy, the section titled Ritual Fire Dance is the most popular music from the ballet. Today, concert versions of this mesmerizing work serve as an encore piece with the likes of Rimsky-Korsakov's Flight of the Bumblebee or Khachaturian's Sabre Dance. Instrumentation: 2+Picc.2.2.2: 4.2.3.0: Timp.Perc(2): Str (9-8-7-6-5 in set).