Amadeo Vives

Dona Francisquita

Zarzuela is a Spanish comic opera employing both spoken dialogue and musical numbers and whose cast includes many stock characters in situations that relate to Iberian society of years gone by. Doña Francisquita is considered one of the very greatest of the form and has continued to enjoy performances in Spanish-speaking countries from its premiere in 1923 to the present. The plot concerns three interlocking love triangles that come to a happy ending in the form of a betrothal of the leading lady, Doña Francisquita, and her love Fernando.

Amadeo Vives was a composer, conductor and teacher of music in Spain in the late 19th and early 20th century. He was a choirmaster of renown and composer of many serious works as well as operettas and zarzuelas, of which Doña Francisquita is considered his masterpiece. He brought to zarzuela a raised standard of harmony, Orchestration and taste and he suffered the frustrations of people of serious ambition whose lighter works are the most beloved and remembered.