A sainete (farce or titbit) was a popular Spanish comic opera piece, a one-act dramatic vignette, with music. It was often placed at the end of entertainments, or between other types of performance. It was

vernacular A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...

in style, and used scenes of low life. Active from the 18th to 20th centuries, it superseded the

entremés Entremés, is a short, comic theatrical performance of one act, usually played during the interlude of a performance of a long dramatic work, in the 16th and 17th centuries in Spain. Later it became the sainete. Dictionary of the Literature of the ...

. Among its most prolific composers were

Ramón de la Cruz Ramón de la Cruz (28 March 1731 – 5 March 1794) was a Spanish neoclassical dramatist. Born in Madrid, he was a clerk in the ministry of finance. He is the author of three hundred ''sainete A sainete (farce or titbit) was a popular Spanish c ...

and

Antonio Soler Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular male ...

. The genre, known as the ' was also found in

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

, with composers such as

Josep Ribas Josep Ribas (1882–1934) was a Catalan composer. He is best remembered today for the Catalan-language sainet A sainete (farce or titbit) was a popular Spanish comic opera piece, a one-act dramatic vignette, with music. It was often placed at the ...

contributing Catalan-language . Sainetes began to be developed into

zarzuelas () 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 ...

in Cuba around 1850.Carpentier, Alejo 2001

945 Year 945 ( CMXLV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * January 27 – The co-emperors Stephen and Constantine are overthrown barely ...

''Music in Cuba''. Minneapolis MN. p232

References

Musical theatre Theatrical genres History of theatre {{theatre-hist-stub

See also

References