Lola Montes (September 24, 1898 – January 18, 1983) was a Spanish singer whose real name was Mercedes Fernández. She began in the artistic world as a dancer at the

Teatro Real The Teatro Real (Royal Theatre) is an opera house in Madrid, Spain. Located at the Plaza de Oriente, opposite the Royal Palace of Madrid, Royal Palace, and known colloquially as ''El Real'', it is considered the top institution of the performing a ...

in Madrid. Later, she performed as a singer in different

Zarzuela () is a Spanish lyric-dramatic genre that alternates between spoken and sung scenes, the latter incorporating operatic and popular songs, as well as dance. The etymology of the name is uncertain, but some propose it may derive from the name of ...

performances and still later, she was an interpreter of cuplés. On July 20, 1921, she premiered the cuplé at the Teatro Vital in

Málaga Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most pop ...

, with lyrics by Fidel Prado Duque and music by Juan Costa Casals, obtaining enormous success. Shortly after, she performed it in

Melilla Melilla ( , ; ; rif, Mřič ; ar, مليلية ) is an autonomous city of Spain located in north Africa. It lies on the eastern side of the Cape Three Forks, bordering Morocco and facing the Mediterranean Sea. It has an area of . It was par ...

and the song, after being adapted, became the official hymn of the

Spanish Legion For centuries, Spain recruited foreign soldiers to its army, forming the Foreign Regiments () - such as the Regiment of Hibernia (formed in 1709 from Irishmen who fled their own country in the wake of the Flight of the Earls and the penal ...

. Throughout her professional career, Montes performed in numerous theaters in Spain, including the Teatro de la Teatro de la Zarzuela, Teatro Apolo in

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

, Gran Casino in

San Sebastián San Sebastian, officially known as Donostia–San Sebastián (names in both local languages: ''Donostia'' () and ''San Sebastián'' ()) is a city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality located in the Basque Country (autonomous community), B ...

, Teatro Eldorado in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, Salón Imperial in

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

, and Teatro Circo in

Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...

. Some of the best-known cuplés that she performed are: , , and , all of them with music and lyrics by

Juan Martínez Abades Juan Martínez Abades (7 March 1862 – 19 January 1920) was a Spanish painter in the Naturalist style, who specialized in seascapes and other maritime scenes from the Cornisa Cantábrica. He was also a talented songwriter and semi-profes ...

. In 1920, she undertook a tour of

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

, which included Cuba, Costa Rica, Panama, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, and Argentina, obtaining great success in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

. She retired in 1925.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Montes, Lola 1898 births 1983 deaths 20th-century Spanish women singers Singers from Madrid Cupletistas