Manuel de Falla's one-act ballet El Amor Brujo (Love the Magician) was first performed in 1915. The libretto by G. Martinez Sierra is based on an old folk tale, a colorful story in which the beautiful gitana gypsy girl Candelas is haunted by the evil spirit of a former unfaithful lover. Eventually the spirit is conquered by the love between Candelas and her current fiancee Carmelo, and the story ends in happiness.

Falla provided a splendidly pianistical piano 'reduction' of this ballet (as he also did with El Sombrero de Tres Picos), out of which the Ritual Fire Dance has become very popular with pianists.

Ritual Fire Dance

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Helling, E.