El Corregidor y La Molinera

During World War I Manuel de Falla wrote a pantomime ballet in two scenes and called it El Corregidor y la Molinera or, The Governor and the Miller's Wife . The work was scored for a small chamber ensemble and was performed in 1917. Pantomime may refer to two different types of performing arts. ...

El Sombrero de Tres Picos

Sergei Diaghilev, of the Ballets Russes, saw the premiere of El Corregidor y la Molinera and commisioned de Falla to rewrite the ballet. The outcome was a two-act ballet scored for large orchestra called El Sombrero de Tres Picos or, The Three-Cornered Hat . El Sombrero de Tres Picos was first performed in London in 1919. Diaghilev asked de Falla to conduct the premiere but de Falla felt he was not experienced enough to conduct a work so complex. After the first rehearsal de Falla handed the baton over to Ernest Ansermet. Sets and costumes were done by Pablo Picasso and Choreography by Léonide Massine. Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev (Сергей Павлович Дягилев) (March 19, 1872 – August 19, 1929), often known as Serge, was a Russian ballet impresario and founder of the Ballets Russes from which many famous dancers and choreographers would later arise. ... Léon Bakst: Firebird, Ballerina, 1910 The Ballets Russes was a ballet company established in 1909 by the Russian impresario Serge Diaghilev and resident first in Paris and then in Monte Carlo. ... Ernest Alexandre Ansermet (November 11, 1883 – February 20, 1969) was a Swiss conductor. ... Young Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (Full name) (October 25, 1881 in Málaga, Spain – April 8, 1973) was a Spanish painter and sculptor. ... Leonid Fyodorovich Myasin (August 9, 1896–March 15, 1979) was a Russian choreographer and ballet dancer. ...

The Story

The story of El Sombrero de Tres Picos is based on a Spanish Folktale. It is about a governor who has fallen in love with a miller's wife and his attempts to flirt with her.

Act One

After a short fanfare the curtain rises revealing a mill in Andalusia. The miller is trying to teach a pet blackbird to tell the time. He tells the bird to chirp twice, but instead it chirps three times. Annoyed the miller scolds the bird and tells it to try again. The bird now chirps four times. The miller gets mad at the bird again and his wife offers it a grape. The bird takes the grape and chirps twice. Themiller and his wife laugh over this and continue their work.

Soon the governor, his wife, and their bodyguard pass by taking their daily walk. The procession goes by and the coupe return to their work. The governor is heard coming back. The miller tells his wife that he will hide and that they will play a trick on the governor.

The miller hides and the governor sees the miller's wife dancing. After her dance she offers him some grapes. When the governor gets the grapes the miller's wife runs away with the governor following her. Finally he catches her and the miller jumps out of a bush with a stick. The miller chases the governor away and the miller and his wife continue working.

Act Two

That night guests are at the miller's house. The miller dances to entertain them. His dance is interrupted by the governor's bodyguard who has come to arrest him. After the miller is taken away the guests leave one by one. The miller's wife goes to sleep and soon the governor comes to the mill. On his way to the door the governor trips and falls in the river. The miller's wife wakes up and runs away.

The Governor undresses and hangs his clothes on a tree and goes to sleep in the miller's bed. The miller has escaped from prison and sees the governor in his bed. The miller thinks that the governor is sleeping with his wife and plans to switch clothes with the governor and avenge himself in the bed of the governor's wife. The miller leaves dressed as the governor and the governor soon wakes up. He goes outside and sees that his clothes are gone so he dresses in the miller's clothes. The bodyguard comes and sees the governor dressed as the miller and goes to arrest him. The miller's wife sees the bodyguard fighting with what looks like her husband and joins in the fight. The miller comes back and sees his wife in the fight and joins it to protect her. The governor explains the entire story and the ballet ends with the miller's guests tossing the governor up and down in a blanket.

The Music

Throughout the entire ballet Manuel de Falla uses traditional Andalusian folk music. The two songs sang by the mezzo-soprano are examples of cante-jondo singing, which often accompany flamenco music. Cante-jondo uses a lot of embellishments and has usually very sad. Manuel de Falla y Matheu (November 23, 1876 – November 14, 1946) was a Spanish composer of classical music. ... Andalusian Referring to Andalusia A type of horse: see Andalusian horse This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... A mezzo-soprano (meaning medium soprano in Italian) is a female singer with a range usually extending from the A below middle C to the F an eleventh above middle C. Mezzo-sopranos generally have a darker (or lower) vocal tone than sopranos, and their vocal range is between that...