Barbieri, Francisco Asenjo

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Barbieri, Francisco Asenjo

Barbieri, Francisco Asenjo, Spanish composer; b. Madrid, Aug. 3, 1823; d. there, Feb. 19, 1894. He studied clarinet, voice, and composition at the Madrid Cons., then engaged in multifarious activities as a café pianist, music copyist, and choral conductor. He found his true vocation in writing zarzuelas, and composed 78 of them. The following, all produced in Madrid, were particularly successful: Gloria y peluca (March 9, 1850), Jugar con fuego (Oct. 6, 1851), Los diamantes de la corona (Sept. 15, 1854), Pan y Toros (Dec. 22, 1864), and El Barberillo de Lavapiés (Dec. 18, 1874). He also ed. a valuable collection, Cancionero musical de los siglos XV y XVI, and publ. a number of essays on Spanish music.

Bibliography

A. Martinez Olmedilla, El maestro B. y su tiempo (Madrid, 1941).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

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