Zarzuela: The Spanish Musical Theater Excellence
The Zarzuela: Spanish Musical Theater
The zarzuela is a unique form of Spanish musical theater. It was revived and refined by Barbieri in the 19th century but originated in the early 17th century as a court entertainment. It evolved into mass entertainment by the mid-19th century.
From 1850, with the premiere of Barbieri’s work, Playing with Fire, it became a major genre of the 19th century. In 1856, the Teatro de la Zarzuela was inaugurated, becoming the temple of this new genre to this day.
Throughout the 19th century, thousands of works were produced, though Spanish opera struggled to compete with the powerful Italian opera.
The Tune (La Tonadilla)
A minor theatrical phenomenon, but of great importance: the tune (tonadilla) began to flourish around 1750.
The tune is a short, funny, and satirical lyric scene with Spanish customs. It often concludes with dancing that highlights Spanish character peculiarities. Key features of the tune include:
- Staged between acts of comedies or alone, it was a kind of comic opera in one act, with a strong popular spirit, and was represented in dramas and comedies.
- It featured non-variable characters who developed a simple comic or satirical action.
- These characters were from everyday life: gardeners, bullfighters, poets, musicians, and the themes were love, jealousy, revenge, and so on.
- The musical and dramatic structure of the tune was typically threefold: an introduction, a development section, and a final section that usually ended in a flourish.
- The tune was inspired by Spanish folklore, making it a national music, with melodies and rhythms from Spanish dances such as the seguidilla, fandango, and folio, and using Hispanic instruments.
Notable researchers include Antonio Guerrero, Pablo Esteve, and Manuel Pla.
The Restoration of Zarzuela: The Romantic Zarzuela (1849-1880)
This period marked the great age of the zarzuela, starting in 1849 with the revival of the genre. One contributing factor was the inability to compete with Italian opera, leading Spanish musicians to seek alternatives in the old zarzuela genre.
Influences included Seville musician and tenor Manuel Garcia and others like Soriano Fuertes. These works had the following characteristics:
- Staged in Castilian Spanish in one act.
- Featuring between 5 and 8 musical numbers.
- Alternating spoken and sung dialogue.
The Beginning of Romantic Zarzuela
In 1849, two crucial works premiered: The Goblin Soldiers and Schoolgirls by Rafael Hernando. Their characteristics include:
- Developing a musical language with a popular trend.
- Strong musical characterization.
- Defense of traditional values like nationalism or patriotism.
The zarzuela of the 19th century was a spectacular form of entertainment, distinct from comic opera and romantic drama.
A series of composers and librettists, led by Barbieri, gave life to the genre from 1850 to 1880. They attempted to create a new national theater and a successful national music after Barbieri’s Playing with Fire, which determined the model for the new operetta. Many poets wrote thousands of scripts for it.
Barbieri and his companions set our lyric story, tune, and Spanish folklore. From this point begins the modern zarzuela, whose periods are:
- 1st period: 1849 to 1866.
- Period of the “Genus Bufo”: 1866-1880.
- News Genre: 1880-1905.
- Last period: decline and revitalization with variants such as the género chico, the operetta, and musical comedy, from 1905 to the Civil War of 1936-39.