MUSEO MANUEL DE FALLA

Music lovers won't want to miss a visit to the Los Espinillos (Mimosas) chalet, the last home of the famous Andalusian composer Manuel de Falla (1876-1946). Among the most famous works by this friend of Debussy and Ravel, who renewed Spanish classical music, are L'Amour sorcier, La Vie brève, Le Tricorne and the highly impressionistic Nuits dans les jardins d'Espagne.

In 1939, fleeing the Franco dictatorship that had just won the civil war, he landed in Buenos Aires to take charge of the Institución Cultural Española. He integrated himself into the musical world of Buenos Aires, giving performances at the Teatro Colón, where he premiered his orchestral suite Homenajes. In search of healthier air for his fragile health, he spent the last years of his life between 1942 and 1946 in this peaceful cottage in the Córdoba sierras, before his remains were repatriated with great pomp to his native Cadiz. Here, in Alta Gracia, he worked tirelessly on what was to become his masterpiece, Atlántida, an ambitious opera that he was unable to complete before his death.

The museum contains a number of devotional objects belonging to this devout Catholic, as well as handwritten scores, photos and correspondence, a portrait by Picasso, the Eavestaff mini piano used by the master, and numerous documents on the concerts he conducted at Buenos Aires' Teatro Colón.

Note that it is possible to buy a joint ticket to visit all four of the city's museums.