Zarzuela
Spanish national lyric drama mixing song and speech, in large and small forms
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Zarzuela is the Spanish national lyric drama, alternating song with spoken dialogue; its name comes from the Palacio de la Zarzuela outside seventeenth-century Madrid.
After its nineteenth-century revival it split into two scales: the three-act género grande with orchestra and chorus, and the one-act género chico with a small band, depicting Madrid street life. Barbieri, Chueca and Chapí are representative composers.
It is not Spanish-language opera, nor a mere song-and-dance show: dialogue and national dances such as the seguidilla and jota are the markers. Compared with operetta, it stresses local colour and social custom more strongly.
Sources
- 萨苏埃拉的宫廷起源、大小两种形态与民族舞曲，参 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "Zarzuela"；本文为原创表述
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.