El amor brujo

El amor brujo was commissioned in 1914 as a gitanería, or danced gypsy entertainment, dedicated to the flamenco dancer and cantaora Pastora Imperio.

Falla then revised the ballet by removing its spoken dialogue, replacing the cantaora part with three songs for mezzo-soprano and enlarging the accompaniment for sextet and small orchestra.

[1] This more concise version, still in two scenes, was played on 12 March 1916 by members of the Madrid Symphony Orchestra under Enrique Fernández Arbós.

The entire village knows about the haunting, but still brands Candela as crazy because she dances every night with her husband’s ghost ("Danza del terror").

In 1986, Spanish director Carlos Saura directed El amor brujo based on the ballet, starring and choreographed by Antonio Gades.

The Orquesta Nacional de España was conducted by Jesús López-Cobos, and the cante jondo singer heard on the soundtrack was Rocío Jurado.

The section "Cancion del Fuego Fatuo" was recorded in 1960 by jazz musician Miles Davis as "Will O' the Wisp" in an arrangement by Gil Evans for their album Sketches of Spain.