Scene One

The setting is a seaside either in Cádiz or Malaga. It is night. Candelas, a young Gypsy woman, sits with an old Gypsy woman on a room. A small brazier sits on the floor, and the two sit by it, reading their cards. The sea pounds loudly outside. Candelas fears the sea speaks ill, but the old woman cautions here that the sea says nothing. Occasionally, the voice of another young Gypsy girl, waiting outside for her lover, is heard.

Everything seems an ill omen to Candelas—the wind blowing out the lamp, the way the cards fall, a dog barking in the street. She reads the cards by the light of her cigarette, then angrily throws them down, saying that they tell her "that he has never loved me." She gets up and sings "Canción del amor dolido" (The song of sorrowful love).

Midnight strikes and the brief music of a "Sortilegio" (Magic Spell) sounds. Candelas laments that she has lived through another day without seeing him. Hoping to follow a good path the next day, she relights the brazier, throws on incense, and dances "Danza del fin de dia" (Dance of the End of the Day), which contains the music that later would be retitled "Danza Rituel del Fuego" (Ritual Fire Dance).

When the dance is over, she can hear through the window that the younger Gypsy girl is rejoicing because her lover has arrived. Sadly, Candelas watches the girl go to meet him, then sings the sad "Romance del pescador" (Romance of the fisherman) a song of lost love. Its words give her an answer: she must go to the cave of the witch. "If she does not give me an answer, then I wish to die!" she proclaims.

Scene Two

The introduction to Scene Two, which is set in the witch's cave, is the number "El Fuego fatuo" (Will-o'-the-Wisp). The curtain comes up to reveal the cave in a fantastic moonlit landscape. Will-o'-the-Wisp dances madly about the scene and the cave.

To music called "El terror," Candelas walks the path approaching the cave. She calls three times and receives no answer, meanwhile Will-o'-the-Wisp hides itself and its dim light in the corner where the witch's magical paraphernalia is kept. Hearing no answer, Candelas timidly enters the cave to discover it empty. Perhaps the witch is out visiting the Devil, or riding on her broomstick, she thinks. The flickering light of the Will-o'-the-Wisp seems to draw her toward the charms, potions, and herbs in the corner, but she jerks her hand back at the last minute everytime she is close to touching one. "If I were brave enough I would work the spell," she muses. She steels herself, shuts her eyes, reaches out—and touches the magic objects. A dull sound like thunder peals out and Will-o'-the-Wisp comes out from hiding to attack Candelas for defiling the magic.

Will-o'-the-Wisp attacks her and she dances frantically to get away from it, but in resisting it she also gains strength and confidence, and soon it yields before her, finally fleeing out the cave entrance ("Danza de la fuego fatuo"). Following a musical interlude called "Alucinaciones" (Hallucinations), she sings "Canción del Fuego fatuo" (Song of the Will-o'-the-Wisp).

Having gained control of the cave, she uses the magic items to work a spell. ("Conjuro para reconquistar al amor perdido"—Conjuration to recapture lost love) The stage grows dark as the almost full moon sets a little before dawn. When it turns pitch black, the sound of chains being dragged echoes through the cave.

Suddenly sweet music is heard ("El amor popular"—Popular love, a title that means that the strange music takes on the sound of a popular love song). A red dot appears on the path. It is the cigar being smoked by Candelas' lover, approaching on the path. Candelas' notices it and recognizes him before he is aware of her presence. She decides to play a trick on him to pay him back for the heartache she has suffered. At that point his cigar goes out.

The Gypsy man asks if there is someone in the cave who can light his cigar. Candelas disguises her voice to invite him in, and in an aside says she will light a flame to burn his heart. He enters the cave and lights his cigar with the fire that burns therein, and makes to leave. Candelas, still hidden in the darkness, remarks that he is in a hurry. The Gypsy replies that two dark eyes are waiting to shine with love when he returns. Candelas says she will have to wait a long time, emerges from the shadows (a veil concealing her identity), and dances and sings a seductive dance that weaves its spell around him ("Danza y canción de la bruja fingida"—Dance and song of the pretend witch). She chastises him for loving a Gypsy girl and throwing her over for another woman, and orders him away. Instead he approaches. She pretends to be the witch, and says if he touches her his hand will burn. But he can't resist trying to approach her as she continues to dance sensuously. He tries to grab her but succeeds only in removing the veil.

Stunned, he recognizes her as Candelas, who now says she will leave him in darkness forever. As the sun rises and "Las campanas del amanecer" (The bells of daybreak) are heard, he begs Candelas' forgiveness. She continues to walk away, as he follows, calling her name. "The day is dawning; let my glory ring out!" she cries in triumph.

© All Music Guide

###

This is a popular encore piece taken from a larger work, along the lines of Rimsky-Korsakov's Flight of the Bumblebee or Khachaturian's Sabre Dance. In this case, the Ritual Fire Dance is taken from Falla's ballet El Amor brujo (1914 - 1915). And just like those other pieces, it has been arranged for all sorts of instruments and ensembles. Falla's original scoring, in the first version of the ballet, was for a small ensemble of 14 or so instruments. He later extracted a piano suite from the ballet and in 1925, revised it for a larger orchestra. The Ritual Fire Dance since, then, has taken on a life of its own. The dance is mesmerizing and whirling, performed by the gypsies to exorcise a ghost; but it is also, like those other famous encores, a dramatic, exciting piece with a recognizable melody. In the opening, between the slower-paced bass line (originally in the piano) and the twice-faster melody (first in the oboe, then the violins), there is a driving, curling, repetitive figure, almost a rumbling (in the piano and strings). In the second section, the piano and lower strings resolutely bounce, while the brass and woodwinds take up the charge. Both sections are repeated before the coda, entirely expressed in full chords, to drive the ghost away once and for all. Alongside the many orchestral recordings, there are arrangements for the more typical ensembles: violin and piano, cello and piano, guitar or guitars, brass ensemble, two pianos, trumpet and piano. And there are arrangements for the atypical ensembles and instruments: trombone and piano, harmonica and piano, eight pianos, eight cellos, recorder and accordion, vibraphone. The piece works well on the piano or pianos because the instrument played an important role in Falla's original scoring. The guitar is also a natural, given the overall Spanish and folk flavor of the work. The effectiveness of the arrangement or performance is tied to conveying the fiery energy of the dance with proper reverence for the ritual.

© All Music Guide

Portions of Content Provided by All Music Guide.
© 2008 All Media Guide, LLC. All Music Guide is a registered trademark of All Media Guide, LLC.