Zarzuela is a lyric-dramatic art form which alternates between spoken and sung scenes. The latter incorporate both

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

tic arias and choruses and popular songs, as well as dance. The genre originated in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

as a

court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in acco ...

entertainment in the 17th century and is still performed today, primarily in Spain,

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 ...

and the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. The following is a list of composers who have written works in this genre. * Pedro Acerden (Philippines) *

Daniel Alomía Robles Daniel Alomía Robles (3 January 1871 – 17 July 1942) was a Peruvian composer and ethnomusicologist. He is best known for composing the song " El Cóndor Pasa" in 1913 as part of a zarzuela — a musical play that alternates between spoken and ...

January 3, 1871 (

Huánuco Huánuco (; qu, Wanuku) is a city in central Peru. It had a population of 196,627 as of 2017 and in 2015 it had a population of 175,068. It is the capital of the Huánuco Region and the Huánuco District. It is the seat of the diocese of Hu ...

) – 18 June 1942 (

Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of the central coastal part of ...

) *

Francisco Alonso Francisco Alonso López (9 May 1887 – 18 May 1948) was a Spanish composer of popular theatre music and zarzuelas.Vincent J. Cincotta - Zarzuela, the Spanish lyric theatre: a complete reference 2003 "During his 48-year career, Alonso compose ...

May 9, 1887 ( Granada) – May 19, 1948 (

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

) *

Emilio Arrieta Juan Pascual Antonio Arrieta Corera (20 October 1821 – 11 February 1894), also known as Emilio Arrieta, was a Spanish composer. Arrieta was born in Puente la Reina, Navarre. His Italian musical training led him, under the favour of Queen I ...

October 21, 1823 (

Puente la Reina Puente la Reina (Spanish meaning literally the "bridge of the Queen"; eu, Gares) is a town and municipality located in the autonomous community of Navarre, in northern Spain. Puente la Reina lies between Pamplona and Estella on the Way of St. ...

) – February 11, 1894 (Madrid) *

Francisco Asenjo Barbieri Francisco Asenjo Barbieri (3 August 1823 – 19 February 1894) was a well-known composer of the popular Spanish opera form, '' zarzuela.'' His works include: '' El barberillo de Lavapiés'', '' Jugar con fuego'', ''Pan y toros'', ''Don Quijote'', ...

August 3, 1823 (Madrid) – February 19, 1894 (Madrid) *

Tomás Bretón Tomás Bretón y Hernández (29 December 1850 – 2 December 1923) was a Spanish conductor and composer. Biography Tomás Bretón was born in Salamanca. He completed his musical studies at the School of Fine Arts in his hometown, where he ea ...

December 29, 1850 (

Salamanca Salamanca () is a city in western Spain and is the capital of the Province of Salamanca in the autonomous community of Castile and León. The city lies on several rolling hills by the Tormes River. Its Old City was declared a UNESCO World Herit ...

) – December 2, 1923) (Madrid) *

Ramón Carnicer Ramón Carnicer i Batlle (October 24, 1789 – March 17, 1855) was a Spanish composer and opera conductor, today best known for composing the National Anthem of Chile. Biography Carnicer was born in Tàrrega, Spain. He was a pupil of Francesc ...

October 24, 1789 (

Tàrrega Tàrrega is a town and municipality located in the Urgell comarca, Province of Lleida, Catalonia. According to the 2020 census ( Statistical Institute of Catalonia), the town has a population of 17,445. The village has a Mediterranean climate wi ...

) – March 17, 1855 (Madrid) *

José Castel José Castel (1737 in Tudela, Navarre – 1807) was a Spanish composer. José Castel was a church musician in his native Tudela and Aragon before moving to Madrid around 1760. There, in addition to his church duties, he was active as a theatrical ...

1737 (

Tudela, Navarre Tudela is a municipality in Spain, the second largest city of the autonomous community of Navarre and twice a former Latin bishopric. Its population is around 35,000. The city is sited in the Ebro valley. Fast trains running on two-track electrif ...

) – 1807 *

Ruperto Chapí Ruperto Chapí y Lorente (27 March 1851 – 25 March 1909) was a Spanish composer, and co-founder of the Spanish Society of Authors and Publishers. Biography Chapí was born at Villena, the son of a Valencian barber. He trained in his home to ...

March 27, 1851 (

Villena Villena () is a city in Spain, in the Valencian Community. It is located at the northwest part of Alicante, and borders to the west with Castilla-La Mancha and Murcia, to the north with the province of Valencia and to the east and south with the ...

) – March 25, 1909 (Madrid) *

Federico Chueca Pío Estanislao Federico Chueca y Robres (5 May 1846 – 20 June 1908) was a Spanish composer of ''zarzuelas'' and author of ''La gran vía'' along with Joaquín Valverde Durán in 1886. He was one of the most prominent figures of the género ...

May 5, 1846 (Madrid) – July 20, 1908 (Madrid) *

Carlo Curti Carlo Curti (May 6, 1859 – 1926), also known as Carlos Curti, was an Italian musician, composer and bandleader. He moved to the United States whose most lasting contribution to American society was popularizing the mandolin in American music b ...

May 6, 1859 (

Gallicchio Gallicchio is a town and ''comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provi ...

) – 1926 (

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

) *

Manuel de Falla Manuel de Falla y Matheu (, 23 November 187614 November 1946) was an Andalusian Spanish composer and pianist. Along with Isaac Albéniz, Francisco Tárrega, and Enrique Granados, he was one of Spain's most important musicians of the first ...

November 23, 1876 (

Cádiz Cádiz (, , ) is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Province of Cádiz, one of eight that make up the autonomous community of Andalusia. Cádiz, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe, ...

) – November 14, 1946 (

Alta Gracia Alta Gracia is a city located in the north-centre of the province of Córdoba, Argentina. Its name means "High Grace". It is built upon the ''Sierras Chicas'', in a region that the Comechingón Indians used to call ''Paravachasca''. It has abou ...

) *

Manuel Fernández Caballero Manuel Fernández Caballero (Murcia, 14 March 1835 – Madrid, 26 February 1906) was a Spanish composer, notably of zarzuelas. His works were seminal works in the young Género chico form of zarzuela. The success of ''Los bandos de villafr ...

March 14, 1835 (Murcia) – February 26, 1906 (Madrid) *

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 hi ...

February 7, 1822 ( Tudela) – March 18, 1870 (Madrid) *

Gerónimo Giménez Gerónimo Giménez y Bellido (10 October 1854 – 19 February 1923) was a Spanish conductor and composer, who dedicated his career to writing zarzuelas, such as ''La tempranica'' and ''La boda de Luis Alonso''. He preferred to spell his first nam ...

October 10, 1854 (

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 ...

) – February 19, 1923 (Madrid) * Jacinto Guerrero August 16, 1895 ( Ajofrín) – September 15, 1951 (Madrid) *

Jesús Guridi Jesús Guridi Bidaola (25 September 1886 – 7 April 1961) was a Spanish Basque composer who was a key player in 20th-century Spanish and Basque music. His style fits into the late Romantic idiom, directly inherited from Wagner, and with a stron ...

September 25, 1886 (

Vitoria-Gasteiz Vitoria-Gasteiz (; ), also alternatively spelled as Vittoria in old English-language sources, is the seat of government and the capital city of the Basque Country and of the province of Álava in northern Spain. It holds the autonomous community' ...

) – April 7, 1961 (Madrid) * Lluís Jordá June 16, 1869 (

Roda de Ter Roda de Ter () is a municipality in the comarca of Osona, province of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, near Vic, on the Ter River above the Sau Reservoir. Population: 5,435 (2004), area: 2.18 km². Its church is dedicated to St. Peter. Main monu ...

) – September 20, 1961 (

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 ...

) *

Ernesto Lecuona Ernesto Lecuona y Casado (; August 7, 1896 – November 29, 1963) was a Cuban composer and pianist, many of whose works have become standards of the Latin, jazz and classical repertoires. His over 600 compositions include songs and zarzuelas as ...

August 6, 1895 (

Guanabacoa Guanabacoa is a colonial township in eastern Havana, Cuba, and one of the 15 municipalities (or boroughs) of the city. It is famous for its historical Santería and is home to the first African Cabildo in Havana. Guanabacoa was briefly the capital ...

) – November 29, 1963 ( Santa Cruz de Tenerife) *

Antonio de Literes Antoni de Literes (18 June 1673 Majorca – 18 January 1747 Madrid), also known as Antonio de Literes or Antoni Literes Carrión) was a Spanish composer of ''zarzuelas''. As with other national forms of baroque opera, Literes's stage wo ...

June 18, 1673 ( Majorca) – January 18, 1747 (Madrid) *

Patricio Mariano Patricio Mariano y Geronimo (17 March 1877 at Santa Cruz, Manila – 28 January 1935) was a Filipino nationalist, revolutionary, pundit, poet, playwright, dramatist, short story writer, novelist, journalist, violinist, and painter. Mariano wa ...

17 March 1877 (

Santa Cruz, Manila Santa Cruz is a district in the northern part of the City of Manila, Philippines, located on the right bank of the Pasig River near its mouth, bordered by the districts of Tondo, Binondo, Quiapo, and Sampaloc, as well as the areas of Grace ...

) – 28 January 1935 (Manila) * Miguel Marqués May 20, 1843 ( Palma de Mallorca) – February 15, 1918 (Palma de Mallorca) * Rafael Millán September 24, 1893 (

Algeciras Algeciras ( , ) is a municipality of Spain belonging to the province of Cádiz, Andalusia. Located in the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula, near the Strait of Gibraltar, it is the largest city on the Bay of Gibraltar ( es, Bahía de Algeci ...

) – March 8, 1957 (Madrid) *

Federico Moreno Torroba Federico Moreno Torroba (3 March 189112 September 1982) was a Spanish composer, conductor, and theatrical impresario. He is especially remembered for his important contributions to the classical guitar repertoire, becoming one of the leading twe ...

March 3, 1891 (Madrid) – September 12, 1982 (Madrid) *

Cristóbal Oudrid Cristóbal (Carlos Domingo Romualdo y Ricardo) Oudrid y Segura (, 7 February 1825 – 13 March 1877) was a Spanish pianist, conductor, and composer. He is noted for his many contributions to the formation and development of the zarzuela gen ...

February 7, 1825 (

Badajoz Badajoz (; formerly written ''Badajos'' in English) is the capital of the Province of Badajoz in the autonomous community of Extremadura, Spain. It is situated close to the Portuguese border, on the left bank of the river Guadiana. The populatio ...

) – March 13, 1877 (Madrid) * José Padilla May 23, 1889 (Almería) – October 25, 1960 (Madrid) * Rodrigo Prats February 7, 1909 (

Sagua la Grande Sagua la Grande (nicknamed ''La Villa del Undoso'', sometimes shortened in Sagua) is a municipality located on the north coast of the province of Villa Clara in central Cuba, on the Sagua la Grande River. The city is close to Mogotes de Juma ...

) – September 15, 1980 (

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

) * Maria Rodrigo March 20, 1888 (

) – December 8, 1967 ( San Juan) * Gonzalo Roig July 20, 1890 (

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

) – June 13, 1970 (Havana) * Emilio Serrano March 13, 1850 (

) – April 8, 1939 (Madrid) * José Serrano October 14, 1873 ( Sueca) – March 8, 1941 (Madrid) *

Pablo Sorozábal Pablo Sorozábal Mariezcurrena (18 September 1897 – 26 December 1988) was a Spanish composer of zarzuelas, operas, symphonic works, and the popular ''romanza'', " No puede ser". He was born in San Sebastián, in a working-class family. ...

September 18, 1897 ( Donostia-San Sebastián) – December 26, 1988 (Madrid) * Reveriano Soutullo July 11, 1880 (

Pontevedra Pontevedra (, ) is a Spanish city in the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula. It is the capital of both the '' Comarca'' (County) and Province of Pontevedra, and of the Rías Baixas in Galicia. It is also the capital of its own municipality wh ...

) – October 28, 1932 (Madrid) * Joaquín Valverde February 27, 1846 (

) – March 17, 1910 (Madrid) *

Juan Vert Juan Bautista Vert Carbonell (1890, in Carcaixent – 1931, in Madrid) was a Valencian composer of Spanish zarzuelas. He worked in collaboration with Reveriano Soutullo.Historia de la Música Española: Siglo XX -1993 p95 "Reveriano Soutullo (18 ...

April 22, 1890 (

Carcaixent Carcaixent (, Spanish: ''Carcagente'') is a town and municipality in the province of Valencia, eastern Spain, with c. 20,000 inhabitants. Its origins go back to prehistoric Iberian and Roman times, with some remainders in its area. It is loca ...

) – February 16, 1931 (Madrid)

on the Spanish Wikipedia *

Amadeo Vives Amadeu Vives i Roig (; 18 November 1871 – 2 December 1932) was a Spanish musical composer, creator of over a hundred stage works. He is best known for '' Doña Francisquita'', which Christopher Webber has praised for its "easy lyricism, flue ...

November 18, 1871 (

Collbató Collbató () is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of the Baix Llobregat in Catalonia, Spain. It is situated on the southern slopes of Montserrat. The area has been inhabited since at least 4000 BC, as shown by Neolithic remains found in caves a ...

) – December 1, 1932 (Madrid)

Notes

External links

Zarzuela composer biographies on ''Zarzuela!''
{{Opera topics Zarzuela * Zarzuela Zarzuela composers