Poster of Doña Francisquita

Zarzuela (Spanish pronunciation: [θarˈθwela]) is a Spanish lyric-dramatic genre that alternates between spoken and sung scenes, the latter incorporating operatic and popular song, as well as dance. The etymology of the name is not totally certain, but some propose it may derive from the name of a Royal hunting lodge, the Palacio de la Zarzuela near Madrid, where, allegedly, this type of entertainment was first presented to the court.^[1] The palace was named after the place called "La Zarzuela" because of the profusion of brambles (zarzas) that grew there, and so the festivities held within the walls became known as "Zarzuelas".

There are two main forms of zarzuela: Baroque zarzuela (c.1630–1750), the earliest style, and Romantic zarzuela (c.1850–1950), which can be further divided into two. Main sub-genres are género grande and género chico, although other sub-divisions exist.

Zarzuela spread to the Spanish colonies, and many Hispanic countries – notably Cuba – developed their own traditions. There is also a strong tradition in the Philippines where it is also known as sarswela/sarsuela.^[2] Other regional and linguistic variants in Spain include the Basque zartzuela and the Catalan sarsuela.

A masque-like musical theatre had existed in Spain since the time of Juan del Encina. The zarzuela genre was innovative in giving a dramatic function to the musical numbers, which were integrated into the argument of the work. Dances and choruses were incorporated as well as solo and ensemble numbers, all to orchestral accompaniment.

[edit] Baroque zarzuela

In 1657 at the Royal Palace of El Pardo, King Philip IV of Spain, Queen Mariana and their court attended the first performance of a new comedy by Pedro Calderón de la Barca, with music by Juan Hidalgo de Polanco. El Laurel de Apolo (The Laurels of Apollo) traditionally symbolises the birth of a new musical genre which had become known as La Zarzuela.

Like Calderón de la Barca's earlier El golfo de las sirenas (The Sirens' Gulf, 1657), El Laurel de Apolo mixed mythological verse drama with operatic solos, popular songs and dances. The characters in these early, baroque zarzuelas were a mixture of gods, mythological creatures and rustic or pastoral comedy characters; Antonio de Literes's popular Acis y Galatea (1708) is yet another example. Unlike some other operatic forms, there were spoken interludes, often in verse.

Italian influence[link]

In 18th-century Bourbon Spain, Italian artistic style dominated in the arts, including Italian opera. Zarzuela, though still written to Spanish texts, changed to accommodate the Italian vogue. During the reign of King Charles III, political problems provoked a series of revolts against his Italian ministers; these were echoed in theatrical presentations. The older style zarzuela fell out of fashion, but popular Spanish tradition continued to manifest itself in shorter works, such as the single-scene tonadilla (or intermezzo) of which the finest literary exponent was Ramón de la Cruz. Musicians such as Antonio Rodríguez de Hita were proficient in the shorter style of works, though he also wrote a full-scale zarzuela with de la Cruz entitled Las segadoras de Vallecas (The Reapers of Vallecas, 1768). José Castel was one of several composers to write for the Teatro del Príncipe.

19th century[link]

In the 1850s and 1860s a group of patriotic writers and composers led by Francisco Barbieri and Joaquín Gaztambide revived the zarzuela form, seeing in it a possible release from French and Italian music hegemony. The elements of the work continue to be the same: sung solos and choruses, spiced with spoken scenes, and comedic songs, ensembles and dances. Costume dramas and regional variations abound, and the librettos (though often based on French originals) are rich in Spanish idioms and popular jargon.

The zarzuelas of the day included in their librettos various regionalisms and popular slang, such as that of Madrid castizos. Often, the success of a work was due to one or more songs that the public came to know and love. Despite some modifications the basic structure of the zarzuela remained the same: dialogue scenes, songs, choruses, and comic scenes generally performed by two actor-singers. The culminating masterpieces from this period were Barbieri's Pan y toros and Gaztambide's El juramento. Another notable composer from this period was Emilio Arrieta.

[edit] Romantic zarzuela

After the Glorious Revolution of 1868, the country entered a deep crisis (especially economically), which was reflected in theatre. The public could not afford high-priced theatre tickets for grandiose productions, which led to the rise of the Teatros Variedades ("variety theatres") in Madrid, with cheap tickets for one-act plays (sainetes). This "theatre of an hour" had great success and zarzuela composers took to the new formula with alacrity. Single-act zarzuelas were classified as género chico ("little genre") whilst the longer zarzuelas of three acts, lasting up to four hours, were called género grande ("grand genre"). Zarzuela grande battled on at the Teatro de la Zarzuela de Madrid, founded by Barbieri and his friends in the 1850s. A newer theatre, the Apolo, opened in 1873. At first it attempted to present the género grande, but it soon yielded to the taste and economics of the time, and became the "temple" of the more populist género chico in the late 1870s.

Musical content from this era ranges from full-scale operatic arias (romanzas) through to popular songs, and dialogue from high poetic drama to lowlife comedy characters. There are also many types of zarzuela in between the two named genres, with a variety of musical and dramatic flavours.

Many of the greatest zarzuelas were written in the 1880s and 1890s, but the form continued to adapt to new theatrical stimuli until well into the 20th century. With the onset of the Spanish Civil War, the form rapidly declined, and the last romantic zarzuelas to hold the stage were written in the 1950s.

Whilst Barbieri produced the greatest zarzuela grande in El barberillo de Lavapiés, the classic exponent of the género chico was his pupil Federico Chueca, whose La gran vía (composed with Joaquín Valverde Durán) was a cult success both in Spain and throughout Europe.

The musical heir of Chueca was José Serrano, whose short, one act género chico zarzuelas - notably La canción del olvido, Alma de dios and the much later Los claveles and La dolorosa - form a stylistic bridge to the more musically sophisticated zarzuelas of the 20th Century.

Twentieth century[link]

From about 1900, the term género ínfimo ("degraded" or "low genre") was coined to describe an emerging form of entertainment allied to the revista ("revue"): these were musical works similar to the género chico zarzuela but lighter and bolder in their social criticism,^[3] with scenes portraying sexual themes and many verbal double entendres. One popular work from the género ínfimo years is La corte de Faraón (1910), by Vicente Lleó, which was based on the French operetta Madame Putiphar.

In the second decade of the century, the influences of operetta and the English followers of Sullivan such as Lionel Monckton^[4] made themselves felt, in works such as Molinos de viento and El asombro de Damasco (both by Pablo Luna), before the Spanish tradition was reassered in Vives's Doña Francisquita (1923). The zarzuela continued to flourish in the 1930s, thanks to composers of the stature of Pablo Sorozábal – who reinvigorated it as a vehicle for socio-political comment – Federico Moreno Torroba, and Francisco Alonso.

However, the Spanish Civil War brought a decline of the genre, and after the war, its extinction as a live genre was almost total. There were no new authors and the compositions are not renovated. There have been no significant new works created since the 1950s; the existing zarzuela repertoire is costly to produce, and many classics have been performed only sporadically in recent years, at least professionally.

Interest has been renewed in zarzuela since the late 1970s and the death of Francisco Franco. The genre has again found favour in Spain and elsewhere: younger people, in particular, have been drawn to its lyrical music and theatrical spectacle. Spanish radio and television have dedicated time to zarzuela, not least in a popular series of programs produed by TVE and entitled Antología de la zarzuela ("Zarzuela Anthology"). These were based on lip syncs of the classic recordings of the 1950s. Some years earlier, impresario Jose Tamayo created a theatrical show of the same name which popularized zarzuela through several national and international tours.^[5]

[edit] Zarzuela in Catalonia

While the zarzuela tradition flourished in Madrid and other Spanish cities, Catalonia developed its own zarzuela, with librettos in Catalan. The atmosphere, the plots, and the music were quite different from the model that triumphed in Madrid; the Catalan zarzuela was looking to attract a different public, the bourgeois classes. Catalan zarzuela was turned little by little into what is called, in Catalan, teatre líric català ("Catalan lyric theater"), with a personality of its own, and with modernista lyricists and composers.

In the final years of the 19th century, as modernisme emerged, one of the notable modernistas, and one of Felipe Pedrell's pupils, Amadeo Vives came onto the Barcelona scene. He contributed to the creation of the Orfeó Català in 1891, along with Lluís Millet. In spite of a success sustained over many years, his musical ambition took him to Madrid, where zarzuela had a higher profile. Vives became one of the most important zarzuela composers, with such masterpieces as Doňa Francisquita, La villana (both based on plays by Lope de Vega) and the through-written opera in zarzuela style Maruxa.

[edit] Zarzuela in Cuba and the Philippines

In Cuba the afrocubanismo zarzuelas of Ernesto Lecuona (María la O; El cafetal), Eliseo Grenet (La virgen morena) and Gonzalo Roig (Cecilia Valdés, based on Cirilo Villaverde's classic novel) represent a brief golden age of political and cultural importance. These and other works centred on the plight of the mulata woman and other black underclasses in Cuban society. The outstanding star of many of these productions was Rita Montaner. Mexico and the Philippines likewise had their own zarzuela traditions. In the Philippines, the zarzuela (or sarsuwela) was supported financially by Imelda Marcos. In addition, Zarzuela Ilocana has been staged in the Ilocano dialect.^[2]

[edit] Recorded zarzuela

From 1950 onwards, zarzuela prospered in a series of LP recordings from EMI, Hispavox and others, with worldwide distribution. A series produced by the Alhambra company of Madrid, the majority conducted by the leading Spanish conductor Ataulfo Argenta had particular success. Many featured singers soon to become world famous, such as Teresa Berganza, Alfredo Kraus and Pilar Lorengar; and later, Montserrat Caballé and Plácido Domingo. Less known performers such as Ana María Iriarte, Inés Ribadeneira, Toñy Rosado, Carlos Munguía, Renato Cesari, and others frequently lent their voices to the recordings. The choirs of Orfeón Donostiarra and Singers' Choir of Madrid also contributed, rounding out the overall quality of the works. After Argenta's death others such as Indalecio Cisneros and Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos continued in his footsteps. There were also recordings made conducted by the composers themselves, such as Pablo Sorozábal and Federico Moreno Torroba. Many well-known singers, including Victoria de los Angeles and Montserrat Caballé, have recorded albums of zarzuela songs and arias.

Many zarzuela productions are now to be seen on DVD and Blu-ray disc. In March 2009, EuroArts released Amor, Vida de Mi Vida, a recording on Blu-ray disc of an August 2007 zarzuela concert by Plácido Domingo and Ana María Martínez, with the Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg conducted by Jesús López-Cobos.^[6] In April 2009, BBC/Opus Arte released a Blu-ray disc of a July 2006 performance of Federico Moreno Torroba's Luisa Fernanda with Plácido Domingo and Nancy Herrera, recorded at the Teatro Real de Madrid with Jesús López-Cobos conducting.^[7]

[edit] Zarzuela composers

Spanish zarzuelas (including zarzuela-style operas)[link]

• Adiós a la bohemia (1933) Pablo Sorozábal
• Agua, azucarillos y aguardiente Federico Chueca
• La alegría de la huerta Federico Chueca
• El año pasado por agua Federico Chueca
• El asombro de Damasco Pablo Sorozábal
• Alma de Dios
• El barberillo de Lavapiés Francisco Asenjo Barbieri
• El bateo Federico Chueca
• Black, el payaso
• Bohemios (1904) Vives.
• Gigantes y cabezudos Manuel Fernandez Caballero
• La bruja
• La calesera Francisco Alonso
• La canción del olvido
• El caserío Jesús Guridi
• El chaleco blanco "The white waistcoat" (1890) Federico Chueca
• La chulapona Federico Moreno Torroba
• Los claveles José Serrano
• La corte de Faraón Vicente Lleó
• La Dogaresa Rafael Millán
• La dolorosa José Serrano
• Don Gil de Alcalá
• Don Manolito
• Doña Francisquita (1923) Vives.
• La fiesta de San Antón
• La fontana del placer José Castel
• Los gavilanes "The sparrowhawks" Jacinto Guerrero
• La generala
• Las golondrinas
• La Gran Vía Federico Chueca
• El huésped del Sevillano Jacinto Guerrero
• Jugar con fuego
• El juramento
• Katiuska
• Las Leandras
• Luisa Fernanda Torroba
• La del manojo de rosas
• Marina Emilio Arrieta
• Maruxa Amadeo Vives
• La leyenda del beso
• Me llaman la Presumida
• Molinos de viento Pablo Luna
• La montería
• El dúo de La africana, Manuel Fernández Caballero
• El niño judío Pablo Luna
• Pan y toros (1864), Francisco Asenjo Barbieri
• La parranda
• La patria chica
• La pícara molinera Pablo Luna
• La revoltosa Ruperto Chapí
• El rey que rabió
• La rosa del azafrán
• El santo de la Isidra
• El señor Joaquín
• Los sobrinos del capitán Grant
• La del Soto del Parral Reveriano Soutullo, and Juan Vert
• La tabernera del puerto Pablo Sorozábal
• La tempestad
• La tempranica Jerónimo Giménez
• La verbena de la Paloma Tomas Breton
• La viejecita
• La villana Federico Moreno Torroba

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Webber, Christopher. The Zarzuela Companion. Maryland, Scarecrow Press, 2002. Lib. Cong. 2002110168 / ISBN 0-8108-4447-8
• Casares Rodicio, Emilio (ed.). Diccionario de la Zarzuela. España e Hispanoamérica. (2 Vols.) Madrid, ICCMU, 2002-3
• Alier, Roger (auct.) "Zarzuela", in L. Macy (ed.). New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians Online. Accessed 4 Jul 05. (subscription access)
• Pizà, Antoni. Antoni Literes. Introducció a la seva obra (Palma de Mallorca: Edicions Documenta Balear, 2002) ISBN 84-95694-50-6
• Cincotta, Vincent J. Zarzuela-The Spanish Lyric Theatre. University of Wollongong Press, rev. ed. 2005,pp. 766 ISBN 0-86418-700-9
• History of Zarzuela at Zarzuela.net

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Zarzuela

• Zarzuela.net edited by Christopher Webber
• Zarzuela Discography at operadis-opera-discography.org.uk
• Zarzueleros.com in Spanish.

v t e Cultural domain of the Community of Madrid History Prehistoric Iberia · Iberians Beaker culture of Ciempozuelos · Roman Hispania (Tarraconensis) · Visigothic Kingdom · Al-Andalus · Kingdom of Castile Castle of Manzanares · Crown of Castile Royal Alcazar of Madrid · Spanish Empire (New Castile) · Phillip II of Spain (Madrid as capital of the empire) El Escorial · Spanish transition · Autonomous community Language Castilian Spanish Sports Ports of Guadarrama classic · Madrid Alpine Marathon · Trofeo Santiago Bernabéu · Gran Premio de Madrid · Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open · Madrid Masters (golf) · Ciudad Real Madrid · Real Madrid C.F. · Atlético Madrid · Real Madrid Baloncesto · CRC Madrid Noroeste · Atlético Madrid (Superleague Formula team) · Rivas Osos · Interviú FS Cuisine Churro · Cocido madrileño · Spanish omelette · Bocadillo de calamares · Tapas · Calamares a la romana · Gallinejas · Patatas bravas · Oreja a la plancha · Migas a la madrileña · Rosquillas tontas y listas · Caracoles a la madrileña · Roscón de Reyes · Agua, azucarillos y aguardiente · Wines of Madrid Traditional music Bandurria · Bolero · Castilian Jota · Chotis · Fandango · Género chico · Seguidilla · Villancico · Yé-yé · Zarzuela Festivals Art Madrid · Cavalcade of Magi · Festimad · Holy Week · Madrid Motor Show · Madrilenian Groove · Saturday Night Fiber · Summercase · Toro de fuego Category

Teresa Berganza, born on March 16, 1935), is a Spanish mezzo-soprano. She is most closely associated with the roles of Rossini, Mozart, and Bizet. She is admired for her technical virtuosity, musical intelligence and beguiling stage presence.

Biography[link]

Teresa Berganza during a master class in May 2009

Teresa Berganza was born in Madrid. She studied piano and voice at the Madrid Conservatory, where she was awarded first prize for singing in 1954. She made her concert debut in Madrid in 1955.

Berganza made her operatic debut as Dorabella in Così fan tutte in 1957 at the Aix-en-Provence Festival. That same year, she made her Teatro alla Scala debut and the following year her debut at Glyndebourne. In 1959, Berganza made her first appearances at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden as Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia, which became one of her signature roles. In 1967, she made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro.

As a recitalist, Berganza made her Carnegie Hall debut in 1964. Her concert repertoire includes Spanish, French, German, and Russian songs. From 1957 to 1977 Berganza was married to the composer and pianist Félix Lavilla, with whom she recorded and performed regularly and with whom she has three children, including soprano Cecilia Lavilla Berganza.

Berganza shared the 1991 Prince of Asturias Award for arts and letters with six other Spanish singers. She also won the Grand Prix Rossini.^[1]

In 1992, Berganza participated in the opening ceremonies of Expo '92 in Seville and the opening ceremonies of the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. In 1994, she became the first woman elected to the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando. In 1996, she was awarded the Premio Nacional de Música.^[2] She currently teaches singing at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía, continues to perform music of Spanish composers, and gives master classes all over the world. Her students have included María Bayo and Jorge Chaminé.

Films[link]

Teresa Berganza has appeared in nine motion pictures, including Il barbiere di Siviglia in 1972, as Zerlina in the Joseph Losey's Don Giovanni in 1979, and both Werther and Carmen in 1980.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official web page
• Teresa Berganza at the Internet Movie Database
• Discography (Capon's Lists of Opera Recordings)

Interviews[link]

• Teresa Berganza interview by Bruce Duffie, December 1, 1984

Francisco Asenjo Barbieri (3 August 1823 – 17^[1] or 19 February 1894) was a well-known composer of the popular Spanish opera form, zarzuela. His works include: El barberillo de Lavapiés, Jugar con fuego, Pan y toros, Don Quijote, Los diamantes de la corona, and El Diablo en el poder.

He was born and died in Madrid, appropriately, since the themes are characters of his operas are often distinctly Spanish and Madrileñan. Among the characters featured by Barbieri are bullfighters, manolos and manolas, and even (in Pan y toros) the famous Spanish painter, Francisco Goya.

The character of much of Barbieri’s work is farcical, utilizing mistaken identity and other devices to entertain the audience. His themes deal largely with the ins and outs of love, and the relations between the upper and lower classes in nineteenth-century Spain, but there is also a distinct political character to much of his work. The zarzuelas Barberillo and Pan both contain plots to overthrow the government.

In addition to his compositions, Barbieri was also an accomplished musician. He was the founder of La España Musical (a society for the promotion of Spanish operetta) and the Society for Orchestral Music.

References[link]

• Webber, Christopher. The Zarzuela Companion. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 2002.

External links[link]

• Free scores by Francisco Asenjo Barbieri at the International Music Score Library Project

This article about a Spanish composer is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (February 2010)

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (February 2010)

For the zarzuela by Federico Moreno Torroba, see Luisa Fernanda (zarzuela).

Luisa Fernanda Lozano (born c. 1970) is a Mexican television entertainment news anchor. She worked for Telemundo until the end of 2007. She currently co-animates a talk show for Univision Radio, and hosts exclusive interviews for Terra.com.

Biography[link]

Luisa Fernanda has been working on television since 1987, when she began her career as a host in Mexico, as well as a member of "Garibaldi" the music group, where she sang together with Patty Manterola, Pilar Montenegro, Katia Llanos, Sergio Mayer, Javier Ortiz, Victor Noriega and Charly Lopez.

Her looks garnered the attention of some model agencies, and soon, she was named one of the top fifty most beautiful women of México. In 1994, she left "Garibaldi".

From 1990 to 1998, she worked in many telenovelas for Televisa, including the international super hits "Alcanzar una estrella" and "Agujetas de Color de Rosa","El premio mayor", soap operas which were mainly geared towards Latin American teenagers.

In 2000, she went to the United States to work at the Home Shopping Network's Spanish channel.

Less than a year in the US, she was hired by Telemundo/NBC to host the network morning show "De mañanita". Soon after she was cast to co-host the network entertainment news show "Cotorreando", alongside Esteban Arce and Mauricio Zeilic.

Apart from covering daily show business news, she has also covered live spacial events from Los Angeles, California, Mexico, New York, New York, Texas and Puerto Rico, among many other places.

In June 2007, she was fired by Telemundo/NBC after a segment in which she used the word cherna to refer to a type of fish (grouper), and this was misinterpreted as an anti-gay epithet based on colloquial Cuban usage.^[1] Her firing was condemned by Monica Taher of GLADD and its Latin American counterpart LGBT who issued a joint statement in support of Luisa Fernanda, stating, "We are dismayed with the decision of Telemundo/NBC to fire Luisa Fernanda. Her comment was not in any way offensive towards us. She has attended numerous events sponsored by the LGBT and is one of the many artists who have supported us."

After her dismissal from the NBC Universal owned network, she made another appearance publicly, but in radio. At the end of September she signed a contract with Telemundo/NBC's longtime rival Univision Network Group to co-animate a radio-talk show alongside Omar Moynelo for Univision Radio called "El Arañazo" and another one alongside Carlos Calderon called "El Colmillo" and was recently signed by the leading Spanish internet portal in US and Latin America "Terra.com" as the network special celebrity correspondent.

As of February 2012, she is co-host of Buenas Noches America, con Fernando Arau, a nightly variety show on Azteca America. Was married to Mexican actor Sergio Mayer.

Link[link]

• Cotorreando Homepage
• Luisa Fernanda group @ Yahoo
• [1]

References[link]

Federico Chueca

Federico Chueca (5 May 1846 – 20 July 1908) was a Spanish composer of zarzuelas and author of La gran vía along with Joaquín Valverde Durán in 1886. Chueca was one of the most prominent figures of the género chico.

Born in Madrid, Chueca entered the conservatory at eight years old, but his family later obligated him to abandon music to study medicine. He was arrested in 1866 as a participant in the student demonstrations against the Narváez government. While he spent three days in the prison of San Francisco in Madrid, he composed several waltzes that he entitled Lamentos de un preso ("Lamentations of a Prisoner"). Later, Francisco Asenjo Barbieri helped orchestrate and direct the works, and their success helped Chueca leave medicine and devote himself once more to music.

He worked as a pianist and directed the orchestra of the Teatro Variedades. Chueca had an intuitive grace with melody and rhythm that produced many works. Yet, he was more schooled in the sciences than in music, and thus always worked with a collaborator like the aforementioned Barbieri, Tomás Bretón, and especially Valverde, who harmonized and orchestrated many of his works.

Works[link]

Among the many zarzuelas that Chueca wrote, some of the most notable are:

• La canción de la Lola (1880)
• La Gran Vía (1886)
• Cádiz (1886)
• El año pasado por agua (1889)
• El chaleco blanco (1890)
• Agua, azucarillos y aguardiente (1897)
• La alegría de la huerta (1900)
• El bateo (1901)

External links[link]

• (Spanish) Biographies and Lives: Federico Chueca
• (Spanish) Biography of Federico Chueca
• (Spanish) Biography of Federico Chueca at Buscabiografías
• (Spanish) Pictures of Agua, Azucarillos y Agüardiente by Innova Lyrica
• Free scores by Federico Chueca at the International Music Score Library Project

This article about a Spanish composer is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e