Federico Moreno Torroba, Luisa Fernanda (1932)

Let it be known throughout the realm: zarzuela is just Spanish opera with spoken dialogue.  That's it.  It's perfectly reasonable as a subcategory, but it would be silly to pretend it's something somehow outside the larger operatic tradition.  Did you know that there was such a thing as baroque zarzuela starting in the mid-seventeenth century?  According to this, it's traditionally pinpointed as having been born in 1657, which would mean it even predates French opera (whoa!), and does leave open the question of why Spanish is so marginalized in our general understanding of operatic history.

Okay, so it's 1868 and revolution is in the air (there seems to be no presaging of the upcoming Spanish Civil War here).  Luisa is a young woman in love with Javier, a revolutionary colonel, but he's been away for a long time, and their future seems in doubt.  There's also a rich guy, Vidal, who's trying to find himself a wife, meets her, and falls head over heels.  Politically, he's willing to go either way, according to what she wants--to be a monarchist or a revolutionary (there's no real political valence to any of this maneuvering; it's all in service to the romantic drama).  He ends up fighting for the rebels, and is wounded, and Luisa agrees to marry him.  Javier realizes he still loves her; she likewise still loves him, but she's gonna marry Vidal anyway.  But then, realizing the situation, Vidal nobly gives her up to be with Javier.  Then, he is sad.

So what do we think of this?  Well...'sallright.  The music has that Spanish flavor which I can't quite characterize and which I feel vaguely racist even mentioning in those terms.  What's it even MEAN?  Apart from that, it's kind of normal romantic fare.  The ratio of music to speech is high, which I find pleasing.  As you can see from the cover there, we've got ol' Domingo as Vidal; probably a bit too old for it (I can't quite figure out when this was staged), but find, sure, why not.  Nancy Herrera--I'd swear I've seen her before, but I can't recall where--is a fiery Luisa.  I don't know.  What can I say?  It probably sounds like I was underwhelmed by this, but I think it's fairer to say that I was moderately whelmed; it just didn't make my head explode with excitement.