Page "Zarzuela" Paragraph 11

After the Glorious Revolution of 1868, the country entered a deep crisis ( especially economically ), which was reflected in theatre.

The public could not afford high-priced theatre tickets for grandiose productions, which led to the rise of the Teatros Variedades (" variety theatres ") in Madrid, with cheap tickets for one-act plays ( sainetes ).

This " theatre of an hour " had great success and zarzuela composers took to the new formula with alacrity.

Single-act zarzuelas were classified as género chico (" little genre ") whilst the longer zarzuelas of three acts, lasting up to four hours, were called género grande (" grand genre ").

Zarzuela grande battled on at the Teatro de la Zarzuela de Madrid, founded by Barbieri and his friends in the 1850s.

A newer theatre, the Apolo, opened in 1873.

At first it attempted to present the género grande, but it soon yielded to the taste and economics of the time, and became the " temple " of the more populist género chico in the late 1870s.