Zarzuela! Baritone

Songs from the Zarzuela for Baritone with piano accompaniment including notes on the dramatic context of each song and English literal translations by Christopher Webber. This unique collection presents celebrated songs from Zarzula the popular Spanish tradition of music theatre which draws on elements of opera popular song dance and spoken drama. As well as providing an excellent selection of high quality vocal music the ever-increasing popularity of Zarzuela means that this collection of songs will be welcomed by a wide range of experienced singers students amateur musicians and audiences everywhere.

Spanish conductor and composer Tomás Bretón (1850 1923) became conductor of the Madrid Opera and spent his professional life fighting for the cause of sophisticated Spanish music nationalism. Bretón composed the lively evocative zarzuela La Verbena de la Paloma in just nineteen days and it has remained popular with Spanish audiences since its premiere in 1894 for its humour its music and the characters that recall nineteenth century Madrid.La Verbena de la Paloma is scored for two to three Soprano roles one to two contrAltos one to two Tenors and five to six baritones as well as an actor-singer and actress-singer. The libretto is in Spanish withouttranslation.