Manuel de Falla: La Vida Breve (The short life) - Synopsis

ACT ONE

Tableau One.

A courtyard in the poor gypsy quarter on the Albaicin hill in Granada. There is a smithy nearby. It is a sunlit afternoon.

1 An elderly gypsy woman is feeding birds in a cage by her door. Voices of workmen can be heard as they toil in the smithy.

2 One of them laments the lot of those born to the anvil and not to the hammer. The woman contemplates a sick bird. She imagines it must be suffering from the same love-sickness as her granddaughter; Salud.

3 Voices of street-vendors drift from a nearby street. When girls pass by chattering and giggling, the old woman murmurs, "Laugh! One day it will be your turn to weep."

4 Salud fears that her lover, Paco, is not coming. He is kind and mannerly, says her grandmother, as well as rich and well-born; Salud must be wary of loving too much.

5 Salud confesses that she loves only two people, Paco and her grandmother.
She begs the old woman to go to the attic and watch for Paco's approach.

6 The workers in the forge console themselves with the thought that they endure pain to make others happy.

7 Salud recalls her mother's song about the flower, which blooms in the morning but is dead by nightfall. Flowers, she reflects, are unaware of their fate, unlike the sorrowing bird that flew into her garden and died - the surest way to banish love's illusions.

8 As the workmen renew their plaint, Salud repeats the old saying: "Long live those who laugh! Death to those who weep."

9 A call from the grandmother tells of Paco's approach. Salud is filled with joy.

10 When Paco greets Salud with protestations of affection, she is ecstatic.

11 She asks him if it is true that he will "never, ever, ever" abandon her. His reassurances appear passionate and sincere.

12 The grandmother looks on as the lovers embrace. The voices of the men in the smithy are heard again, weary and resigned.

13 The old woman intercepts her brother Sarvaor, a swarthy, ill-tempered gypsy. He has heard confirmation of what they both feared: that Paco is about to marry a girl

of his own class, rich and "not bad looking". Sarvaor wants to kill Paco then and there, but the old lady restrains him.

14 Paco continues his protestations of love for Salud as a lone voice sings in the smithy. Tableau Two.

15 An intermezzo, for orchestra and wordless chorus, depicts night falling over Granada. As the lovers part, Sarvaor is seen trying to free himself from his sister's restraining grasp.

ACT TWO

Tableau One.

A street in Granada looking into a courtyard, where a fiesta, celebrating the wedding of Paco and Carmela, is in progress.

16 A singer honours the bride and bridegroom and the guests drink to their health.

17 The company dances a jota.

18 Seeing Paco in the courtyard from the street beyond, Salud expresses her misery and her longing for death "like the lonely bird and the flower that fades".

19 As the singer resumes, Salud resolves to confront Paco. One of them - or both - must die.

20 The grandmother and Sarvaor have followed Salud, who reproaches them for

keeping from her their suspicions about Paco's infidelity. All three curse Paco but the sound of his voice draws Salud towards the courtyard.

21 Salud goes to a window and sings. Her words "she is dead and the very stones cannot but cry out against you" are heard by Paco. Carmela is alarmed by her husband's pale and frightened look, but her brother, Manuel, insists nothing is amiss. Salud and Sarvaor decide to enter the courtyard and confront Paco. The grandmother's cry "For pity's sake! No, Salud!" goes unheeded.

22 Intermezzo.

Tableau Two.

The courtyard of Carmela's house. The wedding fiesta is in full swing. The guests are people of wealth and fashion magnificently and colourfully dressed.

23 Dance.

24 Carmela and Manuel are puzzled by Paco's nervousness. Manuel speaks of the pride he takes in his sister's marriage, but Paco's mind is fixed on the girl he knows he has unjustly deserted. The wedding guests stir uneasily as Salud and Sarvaor appear.

25 Sarvaor says that he and the girl have come to sing and dance. "At your age?" asks Manuel. Sarvaor says that he sings like a nightingale, she like a lark.

26 "No! No!" cries Salud. She has come not to sing or dance but to beg "this man" - Paco - to kill her. In tones of quiet anguish, she tells of his betrayal:
"He cheated me! He deceived me! He left me!" Paco's blustering response "You are lying! Throw her out!" is too much for Salud to bear. Staggering towards him, she utters his name and collapses dead at his feet.
Her grandmother's cry "Salud!" pierces the silence. She denounces Paco as a deceiver and a traitor. Sarvaor's curse is more specific: "Judas!"