RUPERTO CHAPI y (LORENTE)

I like to thank Ramon Pajares Box for the picture.

27th March 1851 --- 25th March 1909

Ruperto Chapi was born in Villena (Spain) on 27 March 1851. He began work as a cornet player in his native town band. At age 16 he left Villena to study in Madrid, where he enrolled the Conservatory of Music. At the same time he was a member of the orchestra of two theatres. In 1871 he composed Abel a zarzuela (an opera with spoken parts) which was requested by Emilio Arrieta, his composition teacher at the time, but which was not premiered until 1873. He secured a post as music director in the Artillery Regiment and was awarded with the first prize at the Conservatory, sharing this honour with Tomás Bretón. Later he was awarded a scholarship to the Rome Fine Arts Academy after composing an opera, Las Naves de Cort, which was a notable success at Madrids Teatro Real.

His stay abroad, dividing his time between Rome, Milan and Paris, lasted almost four years. In this period he composed several operas and the oratorio Los Angeles.

On 11 February 1878 the opera Roger de Flor, sketched during his stay abroad, was staged for the first time at the Teatro Real. On October that same year, after feeling unhappy with the musical atmosphere of Paris, he renounced his scholarship and resigned from his post in the regiment. On 27 April 1879, he premired his orchestral suite Fantasia'eda Morisca, Tomás Bretón as conductor. The same orchestra premired later in this year his Sinfonia and his Polaca de concierto. But he decided to concentrate in the composition of zarzuelas, genre that he would be associated with for the rest of his life.

In the following two years he composed several zarzuelas: M'fasica cl'e1sica, La calandria, Madrid , Las dos hurfanas, La calle de Carretas, but the work which had the greatest effect on his career was La Tempestad, a resounding success at Teatro de la Zarzuela in 1882. From then on, Chapi's reputation created a veritable idolatry among his supporters.

In the following years he premired other works, but it was in 1887 that one of Chapi's masterpieces was created: La bruja based on a legend from a Pyrenees valley. The ensuing years signified the consolidation of Chapi's fame in the terrain of musical theatre.

In 1889, at Arrietas suggestion, participated in a music competition composing Los gnomos de la Alhambra, a symphonic poem that gained notable popularity in Spanish concert societies over the ensuing years. The zarzuelas Las hijas del Zebedeo and El cocodrilo date from the same year. His next great success was El rey que rabi premired in 1891.

In 1892 Chapi's popularity continued to grow with works such as El tambor de granaderos, Las brav'edas and, in 1897, La Revoltosa.
The following years brought the premires of works including Pepe Gallardo, La chavala, Los hijos del batall and, above all, Curro Vargas. In 1899 he founded the Sociedad General de Autores, to protect the rights of composers and authors. In 1902 he was involved as artistic director in the birth of the Teatro L'edrico, but the project never completely took shape. This is the year of El pu'f1ao de rosas, one of his biggest successes.

Chapi's continued to add more works to his already vast output until the end of his life. A collection of four string quartets is now being rediscovered. However, the idea of writing a magnum opus, a kind of grand lyrical testimony, in defence of a Spanish opera, came from afar, and was one of his life-long struggles. This produced Margarita la Tornera, which was premired on 24 February 1909. A few days later, on 25 March, Chapi died of a heart attack, caused by a bout of pneumonia.

I would sincerely like to thank Ramon Pajares Box, for creating and sending me the above text.

Last Updated on 22nd July 2000

And now for the Music

My grateful thanks go to Ramon Pajares Box for this wonderful piece, email Ramon Pajares Box and let him know how much you like the music, or better still pay his webpage a visit.

(772)La Revoltosa (1897), Preludio. Beauitfully Sequenced by Ramon Pajares Box

(773) La Bruja (zarzuela, 1887), Jota, a wonderful sequenced piece by Ramon Pajares Box

This page has been visited --
--

If your interest's match mine or you would like to send in your Classical style compositions in midi file format then please E-mail me at  

classicalmidi (@) gothere . uk . (com) please remove all spaces and brackets to get to my email address, fight against spam.

Back to Classical Midi Main Menu click HERE            

                                             BACK TO MY HOME PAGE Classical musical home page