In the eighteenth century
Italian opera was everywhere,
Spain included, and in such a city as
Barcelona the
composers whose works were heard were much the same as those whose works were heard in (say)
Naples,
Vienna, or
London. But the Spanish had
native popular forms of their own. The
Zarzuela, an immensely popular type of
theatrical performance (generally one
act and
humourous in characters), with a very long history yet still quite alive today, resembles 'English Opera', or perhaps, more closely the old French
Vaudeville, or the German
Singspiel, i.e. it has spoken
dialogue, interspersed with songs,
choruses and dances.
Amongst modern composers of the Zarzuela are Tomás Bretón (1850- 1923) and Ruperto Chapí (1851- 1909).
Pedrell wrote several operas, but they are very little known. Later operas have been composed by Granados and especially, Falla. The much discussed Goyescas of Granados (first production, New York, 1916) is, curiously, a series of piano pieces recast into an opera; it has an intensely national flavour. Falla's Brief Life ('La Vida Breve', 1905) and his short Master Peter's Puppet Show ('Il retablo de Maese Pedro', first performed 1923) are also expressions of national feeling in national idiom; they are much more 'modern' in their technical methods than the work of Granados.