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Zarzuela are part of the poupular music culture.

The Spanish Zarzuela is a traditional Spanish musical genre which is frequently compared to the works of Gilbert and Sullivan and the Viennese operettas of Johann Strauss. But that comparison also frequently does not reflect the fact that, instead of a dozen or so such works, literally thousands of zarzuelas were written (nearly a hundred of them are still in the current repertoire).

The origin of the zarzuela dates back to the mid-17th Century. Legend says the name originates from a pavillon overgrown with blackberry bushes (zarzas), in a remote section of Madrid’s El Prado Park. Actors gathered at this pavillon to present their plays and to entertain King Philip IV and his entourage.

In 1657, the King and Queen attended there the first performance of a comedy by the poet Pedro Calderón de la Barca with music composed by Juan de Hidalgo: El Laurel de Apolo (Apollo’s Laurel). The event gave birth to the music from that would later be called la zarzuela. This vibrant and often picaresque music tradition surged to popularity in the second half of the 19th Century.

Comparable popular musical developments occured in other countries and languages. German and French operettas, the Italian opera buffa and later on, American musicals. Though the essence of the zarzuela remains unchanged today, it’s style has been repeatedly modified through the centuries.

The Zarzuela story line was and is inspired by lower-class or bourgeois life (with which the huge popular audiences could and can identify). While the works focus on romantic, political and even tragic themes, they are all imbued with an ample sprinkling of popular Spanish humor.

Among the greatest zarzuela composers are Chapí, who achieved the extraordinary feat of composing more than 160 zarzuelas during a 30-year period.

Bretón, the foremost champion of Spanish opera, whose 1895 work La Dolores is a through-composed opera, not a zarzuela, with whom Chapí shared the first prize for composition at the Madrid Conservatoire.

Guerrero, principally a melodist and a desciple of Conrado de Campo; Soutullo, who wrote his best works in collaboration with Vert; Serrano who achieved his earliest successes at Madrid’s famous Apolo Theater.

Alonso, author of more than 100 zarzuelas; Sorozábal, who was trained both in Spain and Germany; and Moreno Torroba, who distinguished himself not only as a highly educated musician, but as a critic and composer for the guitar, besides writing some of the most memorable zarzuelas of recent times.

Even though the gaiety of the themes and the vitality of the music can appeal to audiences everywhere, the zarzuela is - not yet - well known beyond these regions.

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Note: from Zarzuela News