| Teatro Albisu | |
 | |
 | |
| Location | Havana, Cuba |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 23°8′13.95″N82°21′28.05″W / 23.1372083°N 82.3577917°W |
| Construction | |
| Opened | December 17, 1870 |
| Demolished | 1916 |
The Albisu Theatre, also known as Teatro Albisu was a Spanish opera house and one of the main stages in Havana, Cuba. [1]
On December 17, 1870, Teatro Albisu opened its doors as a Spanish opera venue. [2] The structure was named after José Albisu, the Spaniard who funded it. [3]
The elegant hall's modest design accommodated 1,600 seats on the lower level and 800 more on the balcony. [3]
In 1882, the theatre had installed an electric lighting system by the Edison Electric Light Company. [4]
The building of Albisu Theatre was purchased for $300,000 by the Asturianos Club of Havana which used the upper part of the edifice as their Centro Asturiano clubhouse. $100,000 was spent on restoring the theatre. [5]
When the original Albisu Theatre building burned down around 1916, it was entirely rebuilt and changed to the Campoamor Theatre. [6]
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 a royal hunting lodge, the Palace of Zarzuela, near Madrid, where that type of entertainment was allegedly first presented to the court. The palace in turn was named after the brambles that grew there.
Tomás Bretón y Hernández was a Spanish conductor and composer.
The Centro Asturiano is a historic site in Ybor City, Tampa, Florida, United States. Designed by Tampa-based architect M. Leo Elliott and located at 1913 Nebraska Avenue, the building served as a social club for immigrants and descendants of immigrants from Asturias, Spain. On July 24, 1974, it was added to the US National Register of Historic Places.
Gran Teatro de La Habana is a theater in Havana, Cuba, home to the Cuban National Ballet. It was designed by the Belgian architect Paul Belau and built by Purdy and Henderson, Engineers in 1914 at the site of the former Teatro Tacón. Its construction was paid for by the Galician immigrants of Havana to serve as a community-social center. Located in the Paseo del Prado, its facilities include theatres, a concert hall, conference rooms, a video screening room, as well as an art gallery, a choral center and several rehearsal halls for dance companies. It hosts the International Ballet Festival of Havana every two years since 1960.
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Rita Aurelia Fulcida Montaner y Facenda, known as Rita Montaner, was a Cuban singer, pianist and actress. In Cuban parlance, she was a vedette, and was well known in Mexico City, Paris, Miami and New York, where she performed, filmed and recorded on numerous occasions. She was one of Cuba's most popular artists between the late 1920s and 1950s, renowned as Rita de Cuba. Though classically trained as a soprano for zarzuelas, her mark was made as a singer of Afro-Cuban salon songs including "The Peanut Vendor" and "Siboney".
Cuban musical theatre has its own distinctive style and history. From the 18th century to modern times, popular theatrical performances included music and often dance as well. Many composers and musicians had their careers launched in the theatres, and many compositions got their first airing on the stage. In addition to staging some European operas and operettas, Cuban composers gradually developed ideas which better suited their creole audience. Characters on stages began to include elements from Cuban life, and the music began to reflect a fusion between African and European contributions.
Juan de Dios Alfonso Armenteros, was a black Cuban band leader, composer and clarinetist. He founded the small orchestra Flor de Cuba, which played at dances and in theatres in the middle 19th century in Havana.
Rodrigo Prats was a Cuban composer, arranger, violinist, pianist and orchestral director.
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Eliseo Grenet Sánchez was a Cuban pianist and a leading composer/arranger of the day. He composed music for stage shows and films, and some famous Cuban dance music. Eliseo was one of three musical brothers, all composers, the others being Emilio and Ernesto (1908–1981). Emilio went on composing even after having a leg bitten off by a shark in 1930; Ernesto was a drummer who became leader of the Tropicana's orchestra.
Ernestina Lecuona y Casado was a Cuban pianist, music educator and composer.
The following is a timeline of the history of Havana, Cuba.
María Conesa, also known as La Gatita Blanca, was a Spanish and Mexican stage, television, film actress and vedette. She was one of the principal stars of the Revue and Vaudeville in México and Latin America in the early 20th century.
Opera has been present in Cuba since the latest part of the 18th century, when the first full-fledged theater, called Coliseo, was built. Since then to present times, the Cuban people have highly enjoyed opera, and many Cuban composers have cultivated the operatic genre, sometimes with great success at an international level.
Teatro Martí is a Neoclassical theater in Havana, Cuba. It was inaugurated on 8 June 1884 as the Teatro Irijoa, named after its founder and owner Ricardo Irijoa, from the Basque Country, Spain. It was originally used for the performance of zarzuelas and vaudevilles, as well as meetings of the Partido Autonomista. In 1899, it was renamed Eden Garden, before changing its name again a year later to Teatro José Martí. In 1901, it held the Convención Constituyente which established the independent Republic of Cuba. At the time, it had a capacity of 1,200 persons.
José Marín Varona was a Cuban composer, conductor, pianist and professor.
Francisco Camprodón y Safont was a Spanish playwright, poet, politician and librettist, originally from Catalonia.