The Zarzuela is a musical genre that only exists
in Spain. It is a form of
Spanish opera, having spoken
dialogue and usually a comic
subject. The name derives from the name of a Royal hunting lodge, the Palacio
de la 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: El Laurel de Apolo. It
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.
There were two forms
of zarzuela: the Baroque (1630-1750), which is the oldest style, and Romantic
zarzuela.
Sometimes is called Género Chico, being as it is the small
sort, a type of zarzuela rather small, in an act, other than the big Zarzuela,
in two or three acts. Its basic structure remained intact: dialogue scenes,
songs, choruses and comic scenes, usually played by actor-singers.
The main composers were:
Sebastián Durón (Guadalajara, 1660 -
1716). He was, with Antonio de Literes,
the greatest Spanish composer of stage music of his time. Some of his zarzuelas were Salir el amor del
mundo, Selva
encantada de amor and Veneno
es de amor la envidia.
Antonio de Literes (Mallorca, 1673 –1747), was also one of the main
authors of baroque zarzuela. He
is recognized as one of the most skilled musicians of the Royal Chapel. Some of
his most famous zarzuelas are Júpiter y Dánae and Acis y Galatea: Here
is an excerpt:
José de Nebra Calatayud, (1702
– 1768) was a Spanish musician and
composer of villancicos and other musical forms, such like the
zarzuela. In 1724 he was
appointed second organist of the Chapel
Royal. After the fire of the Royal Palace of Madrid in 1734 was dedicated,
along with Antonio de Literes, to recompose works.
Some of his zarzuelas
were Viento es
la dicha de amor and Donde hay violencia no hay culpa. Here we can listen to Los
halagos se mezclan, a
‘seguidillas’ from the zarzuela Donde hay
violencia no hay culpa (1744).
There were other
important composers that cultivated different musical forms.
One example is José Marín (1618-1699). He was a singer and composer that sang as tenor in the Capilla Real de la
Encarnacion, for
Felipe IV.
He cultivated musical
forms such as:
- The seguidillas, a type of Spanish songs accompanied by dance of the regions of Castilian origin.
- The romance, a Spanish Renaissance musical genre, based on popular origin poetic romances of popular origin
are polyphonic with vocal accompaniment and deep thematic.
- Human tone, a musical composition with a profane character,
religious thematic and contraposition of tones. This is an example, entitled Ojos, pues me desdeñáis.
- Villancicos, a musical and poetic
form with chorus, of popular origin.
-Letrilla, originally a brief poetic composition, divided in simetric strophes in
which the end is repeated, from the XVI century. It was cultivated by important
literary authors, such as Francesco de Quevedo. Here’s an example of a very
famous one.
A
powerful horseman
is Mr. Money.
Mother, because of gold I make a fool of myself,
It is my lover and my beloved
because it is purest love.
it walks a path of yellow.
Whether complicated or simple
It does all that I want
A powerful horseman
is Mr. Money.
Lope de
Vega and the Zarzuela
Lope de Vega (1562 - 1635) was one of the first authors who contributed to this
new style of musical theater that was the zarzuela. Lope de Vega wrote a play titled La selva sin
amor, a comedy with orchestra. Along with Cervantes, he was one of
the best Spanish writers of all times. According
to the author was "nothing new in Spain. In regards to zarzuela, he said
that "The instruments occupied
the first part of the theater, unseen, whose harmony singing verses figures,
making it the music composition admirations, complaints, anger and other
affections... “.
