# De Falla's Ritual Fire Dance



## WJM

Who is the author of the piano arrangement of Manuel de Falla's Ritual Fire Dance?

In "My young years" Rubinstein claims that he made his own arrangement .

_"Could you lend me the score of this dance?", I asked the composer. "I would love to arrange it for the piano and play it in a concert". He laughed. "Of course I will let you have it", he said, "but I doubt if it would make any effect" . _

Harvey Sachs in Rubinstein's biography quotes Rubinstein:

_I still now have to live to a great extent of the Ritual Fire Dance, which I made into a piano piece._
_I said to Falla, who was a friend of mine, "This is a good piano piece". He said, "Nonsense". Well, I arranged it._

The book included in "Rubinstein The Complete Album Collection" also credits Rubinstein as the author of Fire Dance arrangement.

But recently I read that author of the piano arrangement is Manuel De Falla himself.

_Ritual Fire Dance. One of dances in Falla's ballet El Amor Brujo popularized in composer's pf. arr. and played with exceptional brilliance by Arthur Rubinstein. Also arr. for other instr., eg. vc._
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O76-RitualFireDance.html

Also on IMSLP Manuel the Falla is mentioned as the author.
http://imslp.org/wiki/El_amor_brujo_(Falla,_Manuel_de)

Anybody knows which version is true? Or are these two different arrangements?

Also, which arrangement did Georges Cziffra play? Or was it his own?


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## hreichgott

There are probably many different arrangements of this piece in the world.

I happen to have one published by J. and W. Chester in 1921 which is by de Falla. It is mostly piano but a vocal part appears from time to time.

Can't help you with Cziffra.


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## PetrB

I can only add one fact, which will not help you to ascertain authorship.

Rubinstein was an advocate of new music, and was more than generous to contemporary composers. He solicited the three movements from Petrushka from Stravinsky, and paid Stravinsky more for that arrangement than Diaghilev had paid Stravinsky for the complete ballet.

Clearly, he wanted to help these composers "get by." It is very possible he commissioned De Falla, for that arrangement, and paid the composer well. It is also possible he made that arrangement and did not shirk for a moment in making sure De Falla received his share of royalties from sales of the arrangement.

If you have not listened to the complete El amor brujo, it is a fabulous score, with some elements of Zarzuela as well as having those great songs which are part of it.

P.s. Rubinstein was also a proponent / advocate of De Falla's Noches en los jardines de España, performed it and recorded it.


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## Peter Gibaloff

Fantastic performance of this piece was when Paco de Lucia played it on double LP many years ago.


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