Concept in Definition ABC

The theater and the music sometimes they are two artistic manifestations that are combined. This is what happens with zarzuela. It's a gender of the typically Spanish performing arts, although in a minority way works have been represented in Latin America.

Its main uniqueness is the combination of a plot plot traditional and a series of songs. As for the word zarzuela, its origin is related to the Palacio de la Zarzuela located in the capital of Spain and the place where the first performances of this genre took place artistic.

In a zarzuela the actors who take part sing, dance and dialogue and this circumstance made this genre was considered a great show, something that reminds us of musicals current.

From the point of view of classification of the genre, the zarzuela is divided into two variants: the one known as the boy genre, in which the representation takes place in a single act and the large genre with more than one act. Regarding the topics discussed, the historical episodes stand out, as well as arguments set in manners situations.

A historical brushstroke

Although the antecedents of the zarzuela are in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, it was from the nineteenth century when it reached its maximum popularity. At that time, the French-style opera in Spain was associated with French culture and there was a feeling of popular rejection of everything that came from the Gallic country, since the French had invaded Spain at the beginning of the 19th century. Thus, zarzuela was born as an opposition to opera and became popular as a genre that expressed the feeling of Spanishness. In the representations, turns and expressions of the street were used and this aspect quickly made the lower classes see the zarzuela as a symbol patriotic.

Some historians affirm that the Spanish zarzuela has similarities with the Italian opera, since both genres were originally oriented to entertain the members of the court. With the passage of time, the zarzuela began to abandon its dimension elitist and in the nineteenth century it became a spectacle open to all social classes.

The songs and verses of the zarzuelas became very popular among the lower classes. However, it was an expensive show due to the large number of actors and the complex staging, so that during periods of economic crisis there were hardly any performances. Some historians consider that the musical genre known as the magazine is the heir to the zarzuela.

Starting in the 1960s, the zarzuela reached television and again this show regained its popularity. Nowadays, and very sporadically, zarzuela works are being performed in theaters as a nod to the past.

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