La Vida Breve

(The Short Life) by Manuel de Falla (1876 - 1946).
Lyric drama in two acts. 1905.
Libretto by Fernández Shaw.
First performance at the Municipal Casino, Nice, on 1st April 1913.

CHARACTERS

Time: the present
Place: Granada

Salud and Paco are lovers. Unknown to Salud, Paco has agreed to marry Carmela, a girl of his own richer class. The wedding takes place, and is observed from the street by Salud. Her uncle Sarvaor gains entrance to the wedding-feast by offering to entertain the wedding-guests but Salud comes forward to accuse Paco, then falls dead of grief when he tries to have her evicted. Grandmother and Uncle curse Paco as the curtain falls.

Falla's opera includes a series of dances that have appeared in a number of arrangements, notably, in the case of the first dance, for violin and piano by Fritz Kreisler. Orchestral excerpts include the prelude and one or more dances.