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La Vida Breve (Life is Short, also: The Brief Life) is an opera in two acts and four scenes by Manuel de Falla to an original Spanish libretto by Carlos Fernández-Shaw. The first performance was given at the Casino Municipal in Nice on April 1, 1913. The complete opera, only an hour in length, is seldom performed today, but its dances are, especially the famous Interlude and Dance, played often at orchestral concerts of Spanish music. Also, the Danse Espagnole, part of the wedding celebrations, is well-known among the violin-playing world as a violin showpiece arranged by Fritz Kreisler. The opera is unusual for having as much purely instrumental as vocal music. Its opening scene effectively portrays a typical morning in the village, with a male chorus of anvil workers plying their trade in the local forge. Kreisler, Fritz (actually, Friedrich), great Austrian-born American violinist; b. Vienna, Feb. 2, 1875; d. N.Y., Jan. 29, 1962. His extraordinary talent manifested itself when he was only 4, and it wa
