Master Peter's Puppet Show
A musical and stage version of an episode from Miguel de Cervantes’s “The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha”. Libretto by Manuel de Falla. Composed “as a devoted tribute to the glory of Miguel de Cervantes” and dedicated to the Princess de Polignac, who commissioned the work from Falla.
Composition Dates
1919-1923
Place and Date for Premier
Concert version: Seville, Teatro San Fernando, 23rd March 1923.
Stage version: Paris, Palais de la Princesse de Polignac, 25th June 1923; Wladimir Golschmann, conductor; sets and puppets by Hermenegildo Lanz, Manuel Ángeles Ortiz, José Viñes Roda, and Hernando Viñes; stage movement directed by Manuel de Falla.
Script
• The Proclamation
• Master Peter’s Symphony
• The Story of Melisendra’s Freedom
• Scene I. Charlemagne’s Court
• Scene II. Melisendra
• Scene III. The Moor’s Torment
• Scene IV. The Pyrenees
• Scene V. The Escape
• Scene VI. The Pursuit
• Finale
Characters:
Don Quixote (bass or baritone); Master Pedro (tenor); The Interpreter (boy soprano or soprano); Sancho Panza, The Innkeeper, The Student, The Page, The Man with Lances and Halberds (mimes).
Duration
Approximately 27 minutes.
Musical Elements
Piccolo flute, 2 oboes, English horn, clarinet, bassoon, 2 horns, trumpet, timpani, percussion, harpsichord, harp-lute (or harp) and strings
Edition and Scores
Chester-Wise Music Group. Score edited by Yvan Nommick. Manuel de Falla Ediciones • Chester-Wise Music Group (co-edition for Spain, Portugal and Latin America).