Daughter of the married couple José María Falla y Franco and María de Jesús Matheu y Zavala, sister of Manuel (1876-1946) and Germán de Falla y Matheu (1889-1959). She accompanied the composer throughout his life, supporting and helping him, especially since the death of his parents in 1919. The siblings, Manuel and María del Carmen, spent 19 years living in Granada in the Antequeruela Alta House, very close to the Alhambra.
María del Carmen was the composer’s shadow, sharing friends with him (among whom were Fernando de los Ríos, Federico García Lorca, Emilia Llanos, Miguel Cerón or Hermenegildo Lanz), successes and adversities, including the musician’s voluntary exile in Argentina. In Granada, the artists and intellectuals of Granada, as well as the personalities who were passing through the city, visited his house regularly. Manuel de Falla became the epicenter of intellectual life from the moment he took up residence in Granada. María del Carmen took care of her brother’s domestic affairs and often acted as his secretary, answering letters when he was ill. She cared for him and supported him throughout his life.
María del Carmen took care of her brother’s domestic affairs and often acted as his secretary, answering letters when he was ill. She cared for him and supported him throughout his life.
In 1939, she went into exile in Argentina and returned to Spain after the musician’s death in 1946. In the 1960s, while living in Jerez de la Frontera, at the age of 84, she visited Granada to supervise the conversion of the Antequeruela House into a house-museum. She died in Jerez de la Frontera in 1971.
