Manuel de Falla’s El sombrero de tres picos (The Three-Cornered Hat) is a Ballet in 2 Acts based on Pedro Antonio de Alarcón’s novella and commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev for the Ballets Russes. It was created in collaboration with Léonide Massine (choreography) and Pablo Picasso (sets and costumes) and premiered by the Ballets Russes at the Alhambra Theatre, London, on 22 July 1919.

The score is organized as an Introduction followed by Part I (including “La tarde,” the Miller’s Wife’s dance—fandango—and “Las uvas”) and Part II (including “La noche,” the Neighbors’ seguidillas, the Miller’s dance/farruca, the Magistrate’s minuet, and the final jota). Two sung numbers for mezzo-soprano (cante jondo style) punctuate the action; the drama unfolds as a tightly constructed sequence of dances and pantomime episodes rather than extended symphonic development.

Musically the ballet fuses Andalusian folk and flamenco elements (fandango, seguidilla, farruca, jota) with Falla’s modal harmonies, crisp rhythmic articulation and economy of texture. Instrumental writing favors transparent, sharply colored orchestration and vivid percussion effects to support the choreography and local color; at one point Falla even quotes the opening of Beethoven’s Fifth within the farruca.