EL SOMBRERO DE TRES PICOS
Diaghilev, “stubborn and impatient” according to María Martínez Sierra, demanded the speedy transformation of El corregidor y la molinera into a ballet for his company. “Pressed into action by his imperious will, the composer and I (as librettist) got back to work”, María recalled 19[19] MARTÍNEZ SIERRA, María. Gregorio y yo..., p. 204.. Meanwhile, the creator of the Ballets Russes had brought Pablo Picasso in on the project. The painter was to design the costumes, the sets and the curtain for El sombrero de tres picos (as the ballet was to be definitively known).
As the First World War drew to a close, Diaghilev, who had left Spain in August 1918, scored a triumph with his company in London. In October, Manuel de Falla sent him a postcard depicting Goya’s El Pelele, and on top of the image he wrote out a popular tune that would reappear in El sombrero de tres picos. On the back, Falla congratulated Diaghilev in French:
As the First World War drew to a close, Diaghilev, who had left Spain in August 1918, scored a triumph with his company in London. In October, Manuel de Falla sent him a postcard depicting Goya’s El Pelele, and on top of the image he wrote out a popular tune that would reappear in El sombrero de tres picos. On the back, Falla congratulated Diaghilev in French:
Many congratulations on the great success of the Ballets in London … and on the magnificent triumph of the Allies. I’m brimming over with happiness!20[20] Postcard from Manuel de Falla to Serge Diaghilev, dated Madrid, 21 October 1918. The original is in the ownership of the Ayuntamiento de Granada, and is placed on deposit at A.M.F. (correspondence folder 6908).
On 22 July 1919, in London’s Alhambra Theatre, the Ballets Russes premiered El sombrero de tres picos, with choreography by Léonide Massine. However, Falla was not there to bask in the ballet’s success: that same day, his mother died in Madrid. The poet Juan Ramón Jiménez wrote to Falla on 27 July:In the same copy of “El Sol”, I read of the sadness of a son and the success of a musician. My deepest thoughts are with you, and I hope that you will sense in them my intense feelings of admiration and joy, mixed with love and pain21[21] Handwritten letter from Juan Ramón Jiménez to Manuel de Falla, dated Madrid, 27 July 1919. A.M.F. (correspondence folder 7135)..
