Zarzuela ( ) 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 name derives from a Royal hunting lodge,
the Palacio de la
Zarzuela
near Madrid, where this type of entertainment
was first presented to the court.
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 of
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
zarzuelta. Other regional and linguistic variants in
Iberia
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.
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 de
Hidalgo. El Laurel de Apolo (The Laurels of
Apollo) traditionally symbolises the birth of a new musical genre
which had become known as
La Zarzuela.
The genre was named
after the Palacio de la
Zarzuela
, one of the King's hunting lodges, situated in a
remote countryside thick with zarzas or brambles, in what is now El Pardo.
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
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
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).
19th century
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 cultural 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 periodwere
Barbieri's
Pan y toros and Gaztambide's
El
juramento. Another notable composer from this period was
Emilio Arrieta.
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. Valverde's son
"Quinito"
Valverde was even more famous in his day than his father had
been.
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.
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.
Twentieth century
In the first years of the 20th century, greater quality pieces were
composed, such as
Doña Francisquita by
Amadeo Vives. Zarzuela was supported together
with these works that, sometimes, were adapted to the Italian opera
musical structure, thanks to the works of
Pablo Sorozábal,
Federico Moreno Torroba and
Jacinto Guerrero. The zarzuela style
continued to flourish, 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
was almost total. There were no new authors in the genre 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. Furthermore,
existing zarzuela is difficult and expensive to play, and is only
seen sporadically, by seasons, during a few days.
The name of
género ínfimo was given to the emerging form
of entertainment known as
revistas, a genre rising from
the ashes of zarzuela: musical works similar to the zarzuela but
lighter and bolder, with many scenes that were described at the
time as
verdes—"green"—containing sexual themes and racy
double entendres. One masterpiece of the género ínfimo ("minimal"
or "extremely low genre") is
La corte de Faraón, by
Vicente Lleó (based on the French
operetta
Madame Putiphar.) These revistas caught on with
the public and the songs are still a part of popular culture.
From 1950, zarzuela was revivified by the invention of
LP recordings. A series was released by the
Alhambra Company to great success, many directed by the Spanish
conductor
Ataulfo Argenta. The best
voices of the day, world-renowned opera singers such as
Teresa Berganza,
Manel Ausensi, and
Pilar Lorengar, performed the leads, and
choirs such as the Orfeón Donostiarra and Coro de Cantores de
Madrid provided the chorus. 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, using such
great singers as
Alfredo Kraus and
Plácido Domingo.
(Domingo's parents
were themselves zarzuela singers, and he grew up working in their
touring company in Mexico
; zarzuela
inspired him to pursue a singing career.)
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) enjoyed
a brief golden age of political and cultural fame, highlighting the
plight of the mulata woman and other, mainly black, underclasses in
Cuban society. The outstanding vedette who sang and acted in many
of these productions was
Rita
Montaner.
Mexico
and the
Philippines
likewise had their own, politically conscious,
zarzuela traditions. In the Philippines, the zarzuela has
become known as sarsuwela.
Interest has been further renewed since the late 1970s as zarzuela,
after the death of
Francisco
Franco, again found favor in Spain and elsewhere. Young people,
in particular, enjoyed the lyrical music and the theatrical
spectacle. Radio and television dedicated program slots to
zarzuela, including a popular series of programs offered
by
TVE entitled
Antología de la
zarzuela ("Zarzuela Anthology").
Recordings
From 1950 onwards,
zarzuela was able to survive thanks to
album recordings, an area which has only grown in subsequent years.
The first series met with great success, and the majority of these
earliest productions were directed by the Spaniard
Ataulfo Argenta. Some of the most popular
voices of the time appeared on these discs, world-recognized
singers who were professional devotees of opera and recitals.
Teresa Berganza, Ana María Iriarte,
Carlos Munguía, and others 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 the death of Ataulfo Argenta, directors like Indalecio
Cisneros, García Asensio, and others picked up the cause. There
were even recordings which were directed by the works' original
composers, as was the case with
Pablo Sorozábal and
Federico Moreno Torroba. In this
phase, acclaimed voices participated in the newer, bigger
recordings:
Montserrat
Caballé,
Alfredo Kraus,
Plácido Domingo,
José Carreras and many more. In 2007,
tenor
Rolando Villazón
released 'Gitano', a recording of zarzuela arias, accompanied by
the
Community of Madrid
Orchestra, with Plácido Domingo conducting.
Zarzuela performances are also starting to be captured in high
definition video. 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.
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.
Zarzuela composers
Spanish zarzuelas (including zarzuela-style operas)
- Adiós a la bohemia
- Agua, azucarillos y aguardiente
- La alegría de la huerta
- El año pasado por agua
- El asombro de Damasco
- Alma de Dios
- El barberillo de Lavapiés
- El bateo
- Black, el payaso
- Bohemios
- Gigantes y
cabezudos
- La bruja
- La Calesera
- La canción del olvido
- El caserío
- El chaleco blanco
- La chulapona
- Los Claveles
- La corte de Faraón
- La Dogaresa
- La dolorosa
- Don Gil de Alcalá
- Don Manolito
- Doña
Francisquita
- La fiesta de San Antón
- Los gavilanes
- La generala
- Las golondrinas
- La Gran Vía
- El huésped del Sevillano
- Jugar con fuego
- El juramento
- Katiuska
- Las Leandras
- Luisa Fernanda
- La del manojo de rosas
- Marina
- La tempranica
- Maruxa
- La leyenda del beso
- Me llaman la Presumida
- Molinos de viento
- La montería
- El dúo de La africana
- El niño judío
- Pan y toros
- La Parranda
- La patria chica
- La pícara molinera
- La revoltosa
- 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
- La tabernera del puerto
- La tempestad
- La verbena de la Paloma
- La viejecita
- La villana
Notes
- dvdtalk.com review
- dvdtalk.com review
References
- 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
- Roger Alier (auct.) "Zarzuela", in
L. Macy (ed.) New Grove Dictionary
of Music and Musicians Online. Accessed 4 Jul 05. (subscription
access)
- "Zarzuela" Spanish Wikipedia:
La enciclopedia libre, accessed 4 Jul 2005.
- "zarzuela.net" The leading internet zarzuela resource
(1997- )
- Antoni Pizà, Antoni Literes : Introducció a la seva
obra (Palma de Mallorca: Edicions Documenta Balear, 2002) ISBN
84-956-9450-6
- Cincotta, Vincent J. Zarzuela-The Spanish
Lyric Theatre. University of Wollongong Press, rev. ed.
2005,pp. 766 ISBN 0-864187-00-9
External links