EL RETABLO DE MAESE PEDRO
("Master Peter's puppet show").Musical and theatrical version of a scene from El ingenioso cavallero Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes.
Libretto by Manuel de Falla.
Composed "in devoted homage to the glory of Miguel de Cervantes" and dedicated to the Princess de Polignac, who commissioned the work.
DATE OF COMPOSITION
1919-1923
FIRST PERFORMANCE
Concert performance: Seville, Teatro San Fernando, 23 March 1923. Staged performance: Paris, palace of the Princess de Polignac, 25 June 1923; conductor, Wladimir Golschmann; sets and puppets by Hermenegildo Lanz, Manuel Ángeles Ortiz, José Viñes Roda and Hernando Viñes; staging under the direction of Manuel de Falla.
SECTIONS / MOVEMENTS
El Pregón - La Sinfonía de maese Pedro - Historia de la libertad de Melisendra - Scene I. La corte de Carlomagno - Scene II. Melisendra - Scene III. El suplicio del moro - Scene IV. Los Pirineos - Scene V. La fuga - Scene VI. La persecución - Finale.
CHARACTERS
Don Quixote (bass or baritone); Master Peter (tenor); the Boy (treble or soprano); Sancho Panza, the Innkeeper, the Student, the Page, the Man with the Lances and Halberds (non-singing parts).
DURATION
27 minutes approx.
INSTRUMENTATION
Flute (piccolo), 2 oboes, cor anglais, clarinet, bassoon, 2 horns, trumpet, timpani, percussion, harpsichord, harp-lute (or harp) and strings.
PUBLISHER
Chester. New edition by Yvan Nommick. Manuel de Falla Ediciones / Chester (co-published for Spain, Portugal and Latin America).