There are also many types of zarzuela in between the two named genres, with a variety of musical and dramatic flavours.

Whilst Barbieri produced the greatest zarzuela grande in El barberillo de Lavapiés, the classic exponent of the género chico was his pupil Federico Chueca, whose La gran vía ( composed with Joaquín Valverde Durán ) was a cult success both in Spain and throughout Europe.

The best works of his later period are a zarzuela titled El grumete ( 1853 ), La venganza catalana ( 1864 ) and Juan Lorenzo ( 1865 ).

Gigantes y cabezudos is also the title of a zarzuela, or light opera, set during the festival of El Pilar in Saragossa.

Pedro Calderón de la Barca was the first playwright to adopt the term zarzuela for his work entitled El golfo de las sirenas (" The Gulf of the Sirens ", 1657 ).

* Recital: Ay-Ay-Ay – Agustín Lara Granada ( song ); Osmán Pérez Freire Ay, Ay, Ay, María Teresa Lara Valencia ( song ); Manuel Ponce Estrellita ; Miguel Sandoval ( composer ) Sin tu amor ; María Teresa Lara Toledo ( song ) José Padilla Princesita ; José Serrano El Trust de los Tenorios from the zarzuela ; María Grever Te Quiero, Dijiste ; Fermín María Álvarez La Partida ; Joseph M. Lacalle Amapola (" poppy flower "); Agustín Lara Sevilla.

A zarzuela entitled Guerra a Muerte, for which Emilio Arrieta composed the music, belongs to 1855, and to the same collaboration is due El Agente de Matrimonios.

The older style zarzuela fell out of fashion, but popular Spanish tradition continued to manifest itself in shorter works, such as the single-scene tonadilla ( or intermezzo ) of which the finest literary exponent was Ramón de la Cruz.

Musicians such as Antonio Rodríguez de Hita were proficient in the shorter style of works, though he also wrote a full-scale zarzuela with de la Cruz entitled Las segadoras de Vallecas ( The Reapers of Vallecas, 1768 ).

Spanish radio and television have dedicated time to zarzuela, not least in a popular series of programs produced by TVE and entitled Antología de la zarzuela (" Zarzuela Anthology ").

Vives became one of the most important zarzuela composers, with such masterpieces as Doňa Francisquita, La villana ( both based on plays by Lope de Vega ) and the through-written opera in zarzuela style Maruxa.

Many well-known singers, including Victoria de los Angeles and Montserrat Caballé, have recorded albums of zarzuela songs and arias.

In March 2009, EuroArts released Amor, Vida de Mi Vida, a recording on Blu-ray disc of an August 2007 zarzuela concert by Plácido Domingo and Ana María Martínez, with the Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg conducted by Jesús López-Cobos.

Spain has also played an important role within the history of western classical music, particularly in its early phase from the 15th to the 17th centuries ; ranging from a composer like Tomás Luis de Victoria, the zarzuela of Spanish opera, the ballet of Manuel de Falla, to the classical guitar music of Pepe Romero.

* Foundation of the Teatro de la zarzuela by Francisco Asenjo Barbieri.

He was called " Fleur de Thè " because of a zarzuela by Álvaro Obregón-a general who was popular and wanted power for himself-opposed this, and launched the Plan of Agua Prieta.

In spite of this, in 1873 a new theater, the Apolo, was opened for zarzuela grande, which shared the failures of the Teatro de la Zarzuela, until it was forced to change its program to género chico.

Born in Lima, Peru, where he studied under Rosa Mercedes Ayarza de Morales, he made his debut in Federico Moreno Torroba's zarzuela Luisa Fernanda.

One of the most famous zarzuela ( Spanish operetta ) pieces in the género chico (" smaller genre ") is La Verbena de la Paloma (" The Fair of the Dove ") set at a verbena on the night of the Virgin of the Paloma, August 14 ; it was also made into a 1963 movie.

Especially noteworthy are his performances of Felix Mendelssohn's Elijah, the Mozart Requiem, Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, Georges Bizet's Carmen, and-from his native Spanish repertoire-the complete works of Manuel de Falla, as well a classic series of complete zarzuela recordings.

The best of the works is an Easter play Auto de la Pasión, while his Dialogo para cantar is an early example of the zarzuela.

The zarzuela genre was innovative in giving a dramatic function to the musical numbers, which were integrated into the argument of the work.

From about 1900, the term género ínfimo (" degraded " or " low genre ") was coined to describe an emerging form of entertainment allied to the revista (" revue "): these were musical works similar to the género chico zarzuela but lighter and bolder in their social criticism, with scenes portraying sexual themes and many verbal double entendres.

The atmosphere, the plots, and the music were quite different from the model that triumphed in Madrid ; the Catalan zarzuela was looking to attract a different public, the bourgeois classes.

Catalan zarzuela was turned little by little into what is called, in Catalan, teatre líric català (" Catalan lyric theater "), with a personality of its own, and with modernista lyricists and composers.

In the Philippines, the zarzuela ( or sarsuwela ) was supported financially by Imelda Marcos.

Francisco Asenjo Barbieri was a key figure in the development of the romantic zarzuela ; whilst later composers such as Ruperto Chapí, Federico Chueca and Tomás Bretón brought the genre to its late 19th-century apogee.

He was the composer of the most well-known Cuban zarzuela, Cecilia Valdés, based on the famous 19th century novel about a Cuban mulata.

The present, entirely unrelated company of the same name, resident at the Kennedy Center, was known simply as the Washington Opera until 2000 ; a thoroughly professional organization under the direction of Placido Domingo, it has, among other achievements, been a rare advocate for zarzuela in the United States.

In some art music boleros, the root lies not in the bolero but in the habanera, a Cuban precursor of the tango, which was a favourite dance rhythm in the mid-19th century, and occurs often in French opera and Spanish zarzuela of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Another common model for these works was comparison of two places: De Madrid a París ( Chueca y Velarde, " From Madrid to Paris ") or De Getafe al paraíso (" From Getafe to Paradise ", a two-act zarzuela by Barbieri, Getafe is a town close to Madrid ), Cádiz ( Valverde ).

According to Filipinas, an authority on the Waray zarzuela, the earliest zarzuela production involved that of Norberto Romualdez ' An Pagtabang ni San Miguel, which was staged in Tolosa, Leyte in 1899.

The palace theatre was the birthplace of the Spanish operetta style, zarzuela.

Many zarzuela productions are now to be seen on DVD and Blu-ray disc.

The biography page focusses on his zarzuela libretti

Starting off with imported Spanish content ( List of zarzuela composers ), it developed into a running commentary on Cuba's social and political events and problems.

She recorded numbers from the zarzuela Cadíz in 1898 on unnumbered Bettini cylinders.

The zarzuela focuses on the stereotypical character of the Aragonese, strong and stubborn.

But the most important venue associated with the género chico is the Teatro Apolo or " Apollo Theatre ", opened in 1873, which, following the crisis in zarzuela grande, began to put on género chico, to overwhelming popular success.

Marcelino Mena Crisologo helped popularize the zarzuela based on the culture and tradition of the Ilokanos particularly those in Vigan, Ilocos Sur.

A zarzuela, staged by both professors and students, is the centerpiece of University Week from February 14 – 20.