La Banda A La Festa Major De Sant Andreu by Verdi, Chapí, Puccini, Vives, Rossini, Barbieri, on. 22 nov. 2023, Fra (2023/2023), Dirigent Rafael Agulló, SAT! Sant Andreu Teatre, Barcelona, Spain

The Barcelona Symphonic Band present an interesting study of the parallels between opera and zarzuela. They first compare La traviata by Giuseppe Verdi and La revoltosa by Ruperto Chapí, two love stories that focus in particular on the strength of the leading female characters: Violetta and Mari Pepa. They then bring together La bohème by Giacomo Puccini and Bohemios by Amadeo Vives, both of which are based on Henri Murger’s novel Scenes of Bohemian Life and describe the misadventures of a group of young artists in 1840s Paris. Finally, we have Gioachino Rossini’s The Barber of Seville and El barberillo de Lavapiés (The Little Barber of Lavapiés) by Francisco Asenjo Barbieri. Barbieri’s zarzuela is an entertaining parody of Rossini’s successful opera: a tangled love story and the pronounced differences between the aristocracy and the lower classes are taken from Seville to Lavapiés, the colourful neighbourhood of Madrid.