Una vieja (''Spanish:'' An Old Lady) is a one-act

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 ...

Joaquín Gaztambide Joaquín Romualdo Gaztambide y Garbayo (Tudela, Navarre, 7 February 1822 – Madrid, 18 March 1870) was one of the most prominent Spanish composers of zarzuela in the mid-nineteenth century. His contribution to the revival of the genre was hig ...

for libretto (in verse) by Francisco Camprodón. It is based on a French

opéra comique ''Opéra comique'' (; plural: ''opéras comiques'') is a genre of French opera that contains spoken dialogue and arias. It emerged from the popular '' opéras comiques en vaudevilles'' of the Fair Theatres of St Germain and St Laurent (and to a l ...

''La vieille'' by

Eugène Scribe Augustin Eugène Scribe (; 24 December 179120 February 1861) was a French dramatist and librettist. He is known for writing "well-made plays" ("pièces bien faites"), a mainstay of popular theatre for over 100 years, and as the librettist of man ...

and

François-Joseph Fétis François-Joseph Fétis (; 25 March 1784 – 26 March 1871) was a Belgian musicologist, composer, teacher, and one of the most influential music critics of the 19th century. His enormous compilation of biographical data in the ''Biographie univers ...

(1826). The zarzuela got its first performance on 11 or 14 December 1860 at the

Teatro de la Zarzuela The Teatro de la Zarzuela is a theatre in Madrid, Spain. The theatre is today mainly devoted to zarzuela (the Spanish traditional musical theatre genre), as well as operetta and recitals. History The theatre was designed by architect Jerónimo ...

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

. It was regularly staged until 1940s and has been revived occasionallyJoaquín Gaztambide
on zarzuela.net in later times.

Roles

Synopsis

The action is placed in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

in 1826, during the

Mexican War of Independence The Mexican War of Independence ( es, Guerra de Independencia de México, links=no, 16 September 1810 – 27 September 1821) was an armed conflict and political process resulting in Mexico's independence from Spain. It was not a single, co ...

(which actually ended already in 1821). A beautiful Mexican girl, Adela, a widow of an old rich patriot, wanted to get back from

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

to Mexico. Disguised as an old woman she attempted to cross the war zone. She was escorted by a Spanish squadron commanded by captain Conrado, with whom she fell in love. When he got wounded and imprisoned, Adela succeeded to take him to her house to look after him. At the moment the play begins, Conrado feels much better, but still keeps staying at the old lady's house. A friend from Spain comes to him, and while waiting for the visitor he recalls his native land and sings of a lost girl (No. 1). The Spaniard turns out to be León, an artist and an old friend of the captain. Soon comes Adela, and Conrado introduces León to her (No. 2). He wants the artist to picture his savior, but Adela declines this idea. León tells her that Conrado is in love with a girl from a portrait, which was drawn once by him from a photo, but they never knew who was the beauty depicted on it. Accompanied by Adela playing the piano, Conrado sings an American song (No. 3), and while responding to him, she changes her voice from old to young and back. Adele's butler Pancho enters with bad news: a decree of the rebellious government orders to send all the captives to Texas. Everybody is confused by such a sudden disaster, and Conrado follows the old lady to her room in order to think out a solution and avoid him being imprisoned. Left alone, León imagines himself singing to the governor (No. 4). Pancho returns and announces Adela's plan: the old lady pretends to marry Conrado. To make this they signed a fake wedding certificate. He goes to a friendly notary, but mixes the plan up and takes the certificate to the mayor, thus making the marriage a true one. León tries to support his friend in this complicate situation (No. 5). The false old lady shows for a moment her real appearance to the captain, who admits with amazement that she is the girl from the portrait he loves. Finally Adela comes out as a young, and the play ends happily with everyone praising love (No. 6).

Musical numbers

*Overture *No. 1. Cavatina. ''Un español que viene à verme aquí'' (Conrado) *No. 2. Trio. ''Noble señora tengo el honor'' (Adela, Conrado, León) *No. 3. Americana. ''Malhayan ¡ay! las brisas'' (Adela, Conrado, León) *No. 4. Arietta (

tango Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries as the result of a combina ...

and ). ''Haré por ponerme triste'' (León) *No. 5. Tragic

seguidilla The seguidilla (; ; plural in both English and Spanish ''seguidillas''; diminutive of ''seguida'', which means "sequence" and is the name of a dance). Accessed May 2008. is an old Castilian folksong and dance form in quick triple time for two peo ...

. ''En luchas desiguales'' (Conrado, León) *No. 6. Rondó final. ''De un nuevo sol la inmensa claridad'' (Adela, Conrado, León, Pancho) The Overture makes use of three tunes from the zarzuela. After a brief

B minor B minor is a minor scale based on B, consisting of the pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A. Its key signature has two sharps. Its relative major is D major and its parallel major is B major. The B natural minor scale is: : Changes neede ...

introduction (''Andantino moderato'') based on the ''Americana'' (No. 3), begins the main part (''Allegro moderato'') in

B major B major (or the key of B) is a major scale based on B. The pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A are all part of the B major scale. Its key signature has five sharps. Its relative minor is G-sharp minor, its parallel minor is B minor, and its ...

, which is actually the fast section of the ''Trio'' (No. 2). It is interrupted by a slower episode (''Menos'' in

D major D major (or the key of D) is a major scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. Its key signature has two sharps. Its relative minor is B minor and its parallel minor is D minor. The D major scale is: : Ch ...

, actually a tune from the ''Rondó final''), but the music soon gets back to the principal theme and proceeds to a coda.

Recordings

There is no recording of the complete zarzuela. Separate musical numbers had been recorded in the first third of the 20th century: No. 1 by tenors (1909),

Antonio Cortis Antonio Cortis (12 August 1891 – 2 April 1952) was a Spanish tenor with an outstanding voice. He was acclaimed by audiences on both sides of the Atlantic for his exciting performances of Italian operatic works, especially those by Giuseppe Ve ...

(1915, reissued on a 1993

Nimbus Records Nimbus Records is a British record company based at Wyastone Leys, Ganarew, Herefordshire. They specialise in classical music recordings and were the first company in the UK to produce compact discs. Description Nimbus was founded in 1972 by t ...

CD), Ignacio Genovés (1922) and (1931). A recording of No. 4 was made by baritone Ernesto Hervás (1909).

References

External links

* * Diego Emilio Fernández Álvarez.
Una vieja
' (lazarzuela.webcindario.com) *Recordings: **Available on YouTube: *
Overture
(Orquesta de la Comunidad de Madrid, ) *
No. 1. Cavatina
(

; Compañía del Gramófono, 1925) *
No. 6. Rondó final
(María José Sánchez, Sebastián Mariné) **Others: *
No. 4. Arieta
( Ernesto Hervás, 1909) at Spanish-language operas 1860 operas Zarzuelas Operas by Joaquín Gaztambide Libretti by Francisco Camprodón Operas set in Mexico Operas based on works by Eugène Scribe {{DEFAULTSORT:Vieja, Una