In Venezuela, since the opening of the Teatro Caracas and, earlier, the Teatro Maderero (then called Teatro de la Zarzuela), there has been a great lyrical tradition ranging from serious opera to operetta, zarzuela, and Spanish musical reviews.
In Venezuela, since the opening of the Teatro Caracas and, earlier, the Teatro Maderero (then called Teatro de la Zarzuela), there has been a great lyrical tradition ranging from serious opera to operetta, zarzuela, and Spanish musical reviews.
The first Venezuelan opera was El maestro Rufo Zapatero an opera buffa composed in 1848 by José María Osorio. [1] Virginia by José Ángel Montero (sometimes incorrectly called the first Venezuelan opera) debuted in 1877, under the auspices of Antonio Guzmán Blanco. Another major early Venezuelan opera composer was Reynaldo Hahn, who was greatly influenced by his teacher Jules Massenet. He greatly expanded the genre of French operetta, of which Ciboulette was his most famous work; he also composed operas as Le Merchand de Venise. [2]
Before the foregoing had occurred, José María Osorio had composed early zarzuelas. The first Venezuelan zarzuela to debut, however, was José Ángel Montero's Los alemanes en Italia, in the 1860s. Montero also debuted the zarzuelas El Cumpleaños de Leonor, El Charlatán Mudo, La Modista, and many others. Another major zarzuela composer was Pedro Elías Gutiérrez, who used Venezuelan rhythms. His most important work was perhaps Alma Llanera, with lyrics by Rafael Bolívar Coronado.
In the 20th century, Caracas had a rich cultural tradition. Teatro Maderero, Teatro Caracas, and the more modern Teatro Nacional and Teatro Municipal competed for the public's attention. The Teatro Maderero and Teatro Caracas, after the construction of the latter two, played a secondary role and were nearly always used for popular musical acts, such as reviews and fandango. The Teatro Nacional was the theater for the country's finest zarzuela, while the Municipal typically staged Italian, German and French works, which were more serious. Today Venezuelan operas are typically held in the Teatro Teresa Carreño.
Contemporary Venezuelan opera composers include María Luisa Escobar, whose works include Kanaime, Orquídeas Azules, and Princesa Girasol. Other important composers are Hector Pellegatti (author of the verismo opera El Negro Miguel with lyrics by Pedro Blanco Vilariño), [3] Alexis Rago (author of El Páramo, Miranda, and Froilán el Infausto), [4] Eric Colon (author of El Caballero de Ledesma), Federico Ruíz (author of the famous opera buffa Los martirios de Colón , with a libretto by Aquiles Nazoa). [5]
Other recent premieres include the opera Gertrudis by Gerardo Gerulewicz, with a libretto by Xiomara Moreno , which premiered in concert and in full stage production in Caracas, Venezuela.
Venezuelan-American composer Sylvia Constantinidis who has written music and libretto for several lyrical works: two dramatic contemporary operas, Araminta and Afrodita; one experimental short opera, Aurora; and three children operas, Lincoln, Ponce de Leon, and The First ThanksGiving. Some scenes from Araminta were premiered in concert in England 2017. Afrodita was premiered in concert in England 2015 and in Miami, USA, also in 2015. Aurora, the experimental short opera, was premiered in England in 2011. The three children operas: Lincoln, Ponce de Leon, and The First ThanksGiving, were all premiered in Florida, USA, in 2001, 2002, and 2003. For these three children operas Constantinidis received the Educator of Note Award 2003 by the Ethel and W. George Kennedy Family Foundation, and the Young Patronesses of the Opera, the Florida Grand Opera. [6] In 2024 Ángel Hernández Lovera premiered the ópera Alice conducted by Elisa Vega.
The sopranos Fedora Alemán, Cecilia Nuñez, Flor García, Aurra Cipriani, Reyna Calanche, Leila Mastrocola, Hilda Breer , Beatriz Michelena, Carmen Hurtado, Inés Salazar , Margot Pares-Reyna, Rosita del Castillo, Rosa Savoini, Alba Simara, Sara Catarine , Thays Vergara and Lola Linares, mezzosopranos Morella Muñoz, Nancy Fabiola Herrera, Teresa Carreño, Mariela Valladares, and Aida Navarro, contralto Isabel Palacios , the tenors Fernando Michelena, Alfredo Sadel, Carlos Almenar Otero , Aquiles Machado , Nico Castel, Rubén Domínguez, Ruben Malnez, Idwer Alvarez, Manuel Pérez, David Hidalgo, Eduardo Melgar, Edgar Bastidas, Sergio Duran, Julio Felce, Gregory Pino, Víctor López, Ugo Corsetti, Francisco Morales and Blas Martínez, baritones Ramón Iriarte, Francisco Salazar, William Alvarado, Sergio Daniele, Gaspar Colón Moleiro and Cayito Aponte, Jorge Páez and bass Daniel Bendahan, Claudio Muskus, Pedro Liendo, Julio César Mármol , Samuel Jones, Yunis Sujur and Carlos Maury.
Gustavo Dudamel, Reynaldo Hahn, Gonzalo Castellanos Yumar, Carlos Mendoza, Eric Colon, Alexis Rago, Atanasio Bello Montero, Ángel Sauce, Eduardo Rahn, Havid Sanchez, Primo Casale, Angelo Pagliucca, Isabel Palacios, Elisa Vega, Alfredo Rugeles , Eduardo Marturet, Carlos Riazuelo , Cesar Ivan Lara, Rafael Payare, Rodolfo Saglimbeni, Teresa Carreño, Diego Matheuz , Felipe Izcaray .
Several styles of the traditional music of Venezuela, such as salsa and merengue, are common to its Caribbean neighbors. Perhaps the most typical Venezuelan music is joropo, a rural form which originated in the llanos, or plains.
Reynaldo Hahn de Echenagucia was a Venezuelan-born French composer, conductor, music critic, and singer. He is best known for his songs – mélodies – of which he wrote more than 100.
Virginia (1873) is an opera in four acts with music by Venezuelan composer José Ángel Montero and libretto, in Italian, by Domenico Bancalari. It is believed to be the first opera ever composed in Venezuela, and was first performed in the Teatro Caracas on April 26, 1873. The plot of the opera deals with despotic power and social injustice.
José Ángel Montero was a Venezuelan opera composer, a contemporary of the Brazilian Carlos Gomes. As maestro di capilla at the cathedral of Caracas he wrote religious music; he also composed a number of zarzuelas and, in 1873, the opera Virginia, to an Italian-language libretto.
The Teresa Carreño Cultural Complex, also known as Teresa Carreño Theatre, is the most important theatre of Caracas and Venezuela, where performances include symphonic and popular concerts, opera, ballet and plays. It is the second largest theater in South America after the Néstor Kirchner Cultural Centre at Buenos Aires.
Francisco Kraus Trujillo was a Spanish baritone.
Ramón Iriarte is a Venezuelan-born Canadian baritone opera singer.
The history of opera in Latin America dates back to at least the early 18th century. Newspaper articles suggest that, around the time that Italian opera was introduced to Latin America, it was received with some disdain due to the language barrier. However, translations in the librettos of certain operas suggest that there was greater interest from Latin Americans than the news had credited. Opera arrived in Latin America as a consequence of European colonization. On October 19, 1701, La púrpura de la rosa premiered in Lima in the Viceroyalty of Peru, the first opera known to be composed and performed in the Americas. It is an opera in one act by Spanish composer Tomás de Torrejón y Velasco with a libretto by Pedro Calderón de la Barca, and is the only surviving opera by Torrejón y Velasco. It tells the myth of the love of Venus and Adonis, which provoked Mars's jealousy and his desire for vengeance. Although the libretto follows the Greek myth, the tragic love story is seen as a resemblance of the alliance that was formed from a political marriage between the Spanish and French monarchies. Opera performances were performed also in the country of Mexico. It is within that nation that the first indigenous opera composers of Latin America emerged, with Manuel de Zumaya being considered the first and most important early opera composer. Outside of Perú and Mexico, opera was slower to gain a foothold, and it wasn't until the early to mid-19th century that other nations in Latin America began producing their own opera composers. Many of these 19th-century operas focus on the historical conflict between Europeans and indigenous peoples and were influenced by zarzuela, a form of Spanish opera. Mexican zarzuelas, as well as revistas, soon arose from Spanish influence and gained popularity.
Ricardo Llorca is a Spanish-American Composer based in New York City since 1988. Llorca is a Juilliard School graduate and a faculty member of "The Juilliard School of Music Evening Division" since 1995. In addition, he is a Composer-in-residence for the New York-based contemporary dance company Henning Rübsam's Sensedance " and a composer-in-residence of NYOS since 2008. His work includes operas such as "Las Horas Vacías" and the opera "Tres Sombreros de Copa ". Llorca is also a composer of symphonic, chamber, choral, and music for theater, movies, and television. Some of Ricardo Llorca's sources for his thematic inspiration are taken from his Mediterranean roots, mixed with elements of contemporary music.
Antonio Reparaz was a Spanish composer who gained renown for the success of his many operas.
José María Alvira was a Spanish composer, director of Opera, singing teacher, and pianist.
Pablo Luna Carné was a Spanish composer. His best-known composition is the aria "De España vengo" from the zarzuela El niño judío.
CristóbalOudrid y Segura was a Spanish pianist, conductor, and composer. He is noted for his many contributions to the formation and development of the zarzuela genre in Spain during the second half of the 19th century. He was a gifted musician—but with little technical knowledge, which he bragged about to receive more credit from others with relation to his creations. This habit earned him the scathing criticism of people like Antonio Peña y Goñi who, nevertheless, praised the bright, sensual and cheerful ease with which Oudrid used to bring to life the true meaning of the Spanish song.
Margot is an opera in three acts composed by Joaquín Turina to a Spanish-language libretto by María Martínez Sierra. It premiered at the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid on 10 October 1914. Set in Paris and Seville, the opera's story involves a love triangle between José Manuel, a young Spaniard; Margot, a Parisian courtesan with whom he has an affair; and Amparo, José Manuel's sweetheart in Andalucía.
The Teatro Municipal of Caracas is an opera house in Venezuela. It was inaugurated by President Guzmán Blanco in 1881. The theatre was initially named after the president.
El poeta is a Spanish opera composed by Federico Moreno Torroba. It premiered at the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid, Spain on 19 June 1980, starring Plácido Domingo, Ángeles Gulín, and Carmen Bustamante. The idea of a new opera had originally been suggested to Moreno Torroba by Domingo. El poeta would be the 89-year-old composer's last major work for the stage.
Josefa Embil Echániz better known as Pepita Embil was a Spanish Basque soprano who starred in zarzuela and operetta productions throughout Spain and Latin America. Known as the "Queen of Zarzuela," she is especially remembered for her son, the internationally famous operatic tenor Plácido Domingo, whose early career she helped to nurture. Embil began her professional career singing as a soloist in choirs, including the Basque national choir, Eresoinka, which based itself in France during the Spanish Civil War. While still in her twenties, she appeared in the world premieres of several new zarzuelas. She collaborated with some of the most prominent Spanish composers of the 1940s, including Federico Moreno Torroba, Jacinto Guerrero, and Pablo Sorozábal. In late 1948, she moved to Mexico with her baritone husband, Plácido Domingo Ferrer. In Mexico they ran a successful zarzuela company of their own, which toured throughout the Americas. Over the course of her career, Embil made several recordings, primarily of zarzuela music.
