Maestro Serrano

Composer of the Obligatory Piece of the Third SectionObligatory Piece:
"La Venta de los Gatos" Intermedio

Born in Sueca on the 14 October 1873 he was, like many zarzuela composers, introduced to band music by his father. At the age of 12 he was playing the guitar and violin, and by the age of 16 he was studying in the Valencia conservatory under Salvador Giner. Here he studied violin, composition and piano - an instrument he found difficult to play and soon abandoned. He then went to Madrid in hope of finding a grant to continue his studies. However, it was very different world from the Valencia he had left behind and he initially failed to prosper. He managed to survive writing songs for other artists at 25 pesetas apiece.
The increasing blindness of Fernández Caballero obliged him to ask for Serrano's help in finishing the composition of 'Gigantes y Cabezudos', and this experience was later described by Serrano in an article he wrote for El Saloncillo magazine.
Serrano received his first big opportunity in 1900 when the famous Álvarez Quintero brothers generously commissioned him to write the score for their new zarzuela 'El Motete'. He became an increasingly popular exponent of the style termed genero chico. Among his most famous works for the theatre are: La Reina Mora (1903) with text by the Álvarez Quintero brothers, Moros and Cristianos (1905), El Perro Chico (1905), El Pollo Tejada (1906) and El Príncipe Carnaval (1919), Alma de Dios (1907), La Alegría del Batallón (1909), El Amigo Melquiades (1914), La Canción del Olvido (1916), Los de Aragón (1927), Los Claveles (1929) and La Dolorosa (1930).
He also wrote the Hymn to Valencia for the regional exposition of 1909. The song's popularity was such that it became accepted as the regional anthem in 1925. Seranno died in Madrid in 1941 - before being able to see two of his works performed, the Golondrina and the 'La venta de los Gatos'.