Wikipedia

Zarzuela

For other uses, seeZarzuela (disambiguation).

Zarzuela(Spanish pronunciation:[θaɾˈθwela]) is a Spanish lyric-dramatic genre that alternates between spoken and sung scenes, the latter incorporatingoperaticand popular songs, as well as dance. The etymology of the name is uncertain, but some propose it may derive from the name of a royal hunting lodge, thePalace of Zarzuela,near Madrid, where that type of entertainment was allegedly first presented to the court.[1]The palace in turn was named after thebrambles(zarzas) that grew there.

Poster ofDoña Francisquita

There are two main forms ofzarzuela:Baroquezarzuela(c. 1630–1750), the earliest style, andRomanticzarzuela(c. 1850–1950). Romantic zarzuelas can be further divided into two main subgenres,género grandeandgénero chico,although other sub-divisions exist.

Zarzuelaspread to the Spanish dominions, and many Spanish-speaking countries – notablyCuba– developed their own traditions.Zarzuelais also a strong tradition in thePhilippines,where it is also referred to in certain dialects assarswela/sarsuela.[2]Other regional and linguistic variants in Spain include theBasquezartzuelaand theCatalansarsuela.

Amasque-like musical theatre had existed in Spain since the time ofJuan del Encina.Thezarzuelagenre was innovative in giving a dramatic function to the musical numbers, which were integrated into the plot of the work. Dances and choruses were incorporated as well as solo and ensemble numbers, all to orchestral accompaniment.

Baroquezarzuela

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In 1657 at the Royal Palace ofEl Prado,KingPhilip IV of Spain,Queen Mariana and their court attended the first performance of a new comedy byPedro Calderón de la Barca,with music byJuan Hidalgo de PolancotitledEl Laurel de Apolo(The Laurels of Apollo).El Laurel de Apolotraditionally symbolises the birth of a new musical genre that had become known asLa Zarzuela.

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

Italian influence

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In 18th-centuryBourbonSpain, Italian artistic style dominated in the arts, includingItalian opera.Zarzuela,though still written to Spanish texts, changed to accommodate the Italian vogue. During the reign of KingCharles III,political problems provoked a series of revolts against his Italian ministers; these were echoed in theatrical presentations. The older stylezarzuelafell out of fashion, but popular Spanish tradition continued to manifest itself in shorter works, such as the single-scenetonadilla(orintermezzo) of which the finest literary exponent wasRamón de la Cruz.Musicians such asAntonio Rodríguez de Hitawere proficient in the shorter style of works, though he also wrote a full-scalezarzuelawith de la Cruz entitledLas segadoras de Vallecas(The Reapers of Vallecas,1768).José Castelwas one of several composers to write for theTeatro del Príncipe.

19th century

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In the 1850s and 1860s a group of patriotic writers and composers led byFrancisco BarbieriandJoaquín Gaztambiderevived thezarzuelaform, 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 dramasand regional variations abound, and thelibrettos(though often based on French originals) are rich in Spanish idioms and popular jargon.

Thezarzuelasof the day included in their librettos various regionalisms and popular slang, such as that of Madridcastizos.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 thezarzuelaremained the same: dialogue scenes, songs, choruses, and comic scenes generally performed by two actor-singers. The culminating masterpieces from this period were Barbieri'sPan y torosand Gaztambide'sEl juramento.Another notable composer from this period wasEmilio Arrieta.

Romanticzarzuela

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After theGlorious Revolutionof 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 theTeatros Variedades( "variety theatres" ) in Madrid, with cheap tickets for one-act plays (sainetes). This "theatre of an hour" had great success andzarzuelacomposers took to the new formula with alacrity. Single-actzarzuelaswere classified asgénero chico( "little genre" ) whilst the longerzarzuelasof three acts, lasting up to four hours, were calledgénero grande( "grand genre" ).Zarzuela grandebattled 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 thegénero grande,but it soon yielded to the taste and economics of the time, and became the "temple" of the more populistgénero chicoin 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 lowlifecomedycharacters. There are also many types ofzarzuelain between the two named genres, with a variety of musical and dramatic flavours.

Many of the greatestzarzuelaswere 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 theSpanish Civil War,the form rapidly declined, and the last romanticzarzuelasto hold the stage were written in the 1950s.

Whilst Barbieri produced the influentialzarzuela grandeEl barberillo de Lavapiés,the classic exponent of thegénero chicowas his pupilFederico Chueca,whoseLa gran vía(composed withJoaquín Valverde Durán) was a cult success both in Spain and throughout Europe.

The musical heir of Chueca wasJosé Serrano,whose short, one actgénero chicozarzuelas- notablyLa canción del olvido,Alma de diosand the much laterLos clavelesandLa dolorosa- form a stylistic bridge to the more musically sophisticatedzarzuelasof the 20th century.

Just as romanticzarzuelafeatured popular customs, festivals, and manners of speech, especially those of the poor areas of Madrid, many feature strong social criticism and reflect political polemics of the day.[3]

20th century

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Château Margaux
Azarzuelasung by Lola Membrives and Paco Martínez, recorded in Barcelona in 1903
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From about 1900, the termgénero ínfimo( "degraded" or "low genre" ) was coined to describe an emerging form of entertainment allied to therevista(revue) type of musical comedy: these were musical works similar to thegénero chicozarzuela but lighter and bolder in their social criticism,[4]with scenes portraying sexual themes and many verbal double entendres. One popular work from thegénero ínfimoyears isLa corte de Faraón(1910), byVicente Lleó,which was based on the French operettaMadame Putiphar.

In the second decade of the century, the influences of Vienneseoperettaand the English followers ofSullivansuch asLionel Monckton[5]made themselves felt, in works such asMolinos de vientoandEl asombro de Damasco(both byPablo Luna), before the Spanish tradition of great acts was reasserted inAmadeu Vives'sDoña Francisquita(1923). The zarzuela continued to flourish in the 1930s, thanks to composers of the stature ofPablo Sorozábal– who reinvigorated it as a vehicle for socio-political comment –Federico Moreno Torroba,andFrancisco Alonso.

However, theSpanish Civil Warbrought a decline of the genre, and after the Second World 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.

The genre has again found favour in Spain and elsewhere: younger people, in particular, have been drawn to its lyrical music and theatrical spectacle in the 1940s and 1950s. Spanish radio and television have dedicated time to zarzuela in 1978, not least in a popular series of programs produced byTVEand entitledAntología de la zarzuela( "Zarzuela Anthology" ). These were based onlip syncsof the classic recordings of the 1940s and 1950s. Some years earlier,impresarioJosé Tamayoworked a theatrical show of the same name which popularized pieces of zarzuela through several national and international tours.[6]

Zarzuelain Catalonia

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While thezarzuelatradition flourished inMadridand other Spanish cities,Cataloniadeveloped its ownzarzuela,with librettos inCatalan.The atmosphere, the plots, and the music were quite different from the model that triumphed in Madrid, as the Catalanzarzuelawas looking to attract a different public, the bourgeois classes. Catalanzarzuelawas turned little by little into what is called, in Catalan,teatre líric català( "Catalan lyric theater" ), with a personality of its own, and withmodernistalyricists and composers such asEnric GranadosorEnric Morera.

In the final years of the 19th century, asmodernismeemerged, one of the notablemodernistas,and one ofFelip Pedrell's pupils,Amadeu Vivescame onto the Barcelona scene. He contributed to the creation of theOrfeó Catalàin 1891, along withLluís Millet.In spite of a success sustained over many years, his musical ambition took him to Madrid, wherezarzuelahad a higher profile. Vives became one of the most importantzarzuelacomposers, with such masterpieces asDoña Francisquita.

Zarzuelain Cuba and Mexico

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In Cuba theafrocubanismozarzuelasofErnesto Lecuona(María la O;El cafetal),Eliseo Grenet(La virgen morena) andGonzalo Roig(Cecilia Valdés,based onCirilo Villaverde's classic novel) represent a brief golden age of political and cultural importance. These and other works centred on the plight of themulatawoman and other black underclasses in Cuban society. The outstanding star of many of these productions wasRita Montaner.

Mexico likewise had its ownzarzuelatraditions. One example isCarlo Curti'sLa cuarta plana,starringEsperanza Iris.[7]

Zarzuelain the Philippines

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In thePhilippines,theZarzuela Musical Theatrehas been widely adapted by Filipinos in their native cultures, notably in urban areas. The theatre was only introduced by the Spanish in 1878, despite being part of theSpanish Empiresince the middle of the 16th century.[citation needed]During this time, the plays were performed only by Spanish people. By 1880, majority of the performers and writers were Filipinos, notably Philippine national hero,José Rizal,who was fond of the play.[8][9]Afterwards, local languages, instead of Spanish, were used to perform the complex theatre, with additions from multiple cultures throughout the archipelago.[according to whom?]

When the Philippines was colonized by the Americans in the early 20th century, the humor from themoro-moro playwas added into the Philippine zarzuela, while moving away from the traditional Spanish zarzuela. The theatre afterwards was used by Filipinos to express freedom from discrimination and colonial rule, depicting the Filipino people triumphant against the Spanish and Americans by the end of each play. The revolutionary overtones of the play prompted the American colonialists to arrest various performers and writers of the Philippine zarzuela, to the extent of forcefully shutting down entire zarzuela companies in the Philippines. In the 1920s, due to the introduction of the cinema, the zarzuela became widely popular in the rural areas, disabling the Americans from stopping the plays from spreading. The Philippine zarzuela evolved into a kind of comedy of manners distinct to the Filipino taste. In 2011, the performing art was cited by theNational Commission for Culture and the Artsas one of the intangible cultural heritage of the Philippines under the performing arts category that the government may nominate in theUNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists.In 2012, through a partnership with UNESCO, the Philippine government established the documents needed for the safeguarding of the Philippine zarzuela. UNESCO has cited the Philippine zarzuela as the national theatre and opera of the Philippines.[10]

Recordedzarzuela

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From 1950 onwards,zarzuelaprospered in a series of LP recordings from EMI,Hispavoxand others, with worldwide distribution. A series produced by the Alhambra company of Madrid, the majority conducted by the leading Spanish conductorAtaulfo Argentahad particular success. Many featured singers soon to become world-famous, such asTeresa Berganza,Alfredo KrausandPilar Lorengar;and later,Montserrat CaballéandPlácido 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 asIndalecio CisnerosandRafael Frühbeck de Burgoscontinued in his footsteps. There were also recordings made conducted by the composers themselves, such asPablo SorozábalandFederico Moreno Torroba.Many well-known singers, includingVictoria de los Ángelesand Montserrat Caballé, have recorded albums of zarzuela songs and arias.

Many zarzuela productions are now to be seen onDVDandBlu-raydisc. In March 2009, EuroArts releasedAmor, Vida de Mi Vida,a recording on Blu-ray disc of an August 2007 zarzuela concert by Plácido Domingo andAna María Martínez,with theMozarteum Orchestra of Salzburgconducted byJesús López-Cobos.[11]In April 2009, BBC/Opus Arte released a Blu-ray disc of a July 2006 performance ofFederico Moreno Torroba'sLuisa Fernandawith Plácido Domingo andNancy Herrera,recorded at theTeatro Real de Madridwith Jesús López-Cobos conducting.[12]

In the United States, the Jarvis Conservatory of Napa, California, between 1996 and 2005, mounted several full zarzuela productions, subsequently issued on DVD and online. The series includesLa dolorosa;La Gran Via;Luisa Fernanda;La verbena de la Paloma;La Rosa del Azafrán;La revoltosa;Agua, Azucarillos y Aguardiente;Doña Francisquita;Gigantes y Cabezudos;La alegría de la huerta;La chulapona;Luis Alonso(Giménez, 1896); andEl barberillo de Lavapiés.[13]

Zarzuelacomposers

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Main article:List of zarzuela composers

Spanish zarzuelas selection (including zarzuela-style operas)

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See also

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References

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  1. ^Corominas, Joan (1980).Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana(in Spanish) (3rd ed.). Madrid: Editorial Gredos.Zarzuela, princ. S. XVII: el nombre de esta representación lírico-dramática viene, según algunos, del Real Sitio de la Zarzuela, donde se representaría la primera, pero la historia del vocablo no se ha averiguado bien y en su primera aparición es nombre de una danza.
  2. ^Antonio, Edwin (7 February 2009)."Zarzuela Ilocana in Competition".Treasures of Ilocandia and the World.Archived fromthe originalon 24 June 2010.Retrieved30 June2010.
  3. ^* 'Spain and Zarzuela' inThe Cambridge Companion to Operetta(Cambridge, University Press, 2019 ed. Anastasia Belina and Derek B. Scott)ISBN9781107182165
  4. ^Doppelbauer, Max; Sartingen, Kathrin, eds. (2010).De la zarzuela al cine: Los medios de comunicacion populares y su traduccion de la voz marginal(in Spanish). München: Martin Meidenbauer.ISBN978-3-89975-208-3.
  5. ^Webber, Christopher (2005)."El asombro de Damasco".zarzuela.net(Review). Archived fromthe originalon 20 August 2008.Retrieved15 January2005.
  6. ^Torres, Rosana (16 December 1987)."Tamayo presenta en la 'Nueva antología' lo más sobresaliente de la zarzuela moderna".El País(in Spanish). Archived fromthe originalon 14 October 2019.Retrieved14 October2019.
  7. ^Clark, Walter Aaron, ed. (2002).From Tejano to Tango: Latin American Popular Music.New York: Routledge. p. 101.
  8. ^"Junto al Pasig by: Jose Rizal".prezi.Retrieved9 July2024.
  9. ^"Vico Sotto backs revival of Rizal zarzuela".Lifestyle.INQ.12 August 2021.Retrieved9 July2024.
  10. ^"Zarzuela – Musical Theatre"(PDF).Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 28 January 2018.Retrieved22 April2018– via ichcap.org.
  11. ^Erickson, Glenn (1 May 2009)."Amor, Vida de Mi Vida: Zarzuelas by Plácido Domingo and Ana María Martínez (Blu-ray)".DVD Talk.Archived fromthe originalon 12 June 2009.Retrieved16 August2009.
  12. ^Kauffman, Jeffrey (27 June 2009)."Luisa Fernanda (Blu-ray)".DVD Talk.Archived fromthe originalon 29 August 2009.Retrieved16 August2009.
  13. ^"Zarzuela Video Catalogue: Productions From the Jarvis Conservatory".Jarvis Conservatory.Archived fromthe originalon 21 November 2021.Retrieved21 November2021.

Further reading

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