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Vicente
LLeó i Barbastre
Composer of the compulsory piece of the Third Section
Piece: La Corte de Faraón
VICENTE
LLEO I BARBASTRE. Born in Torrente (Valencia) on November 19th
1870, he was admitted as a choir boy to the Habeas Christi
Chapel in Valencia. When he was 15 years old he had already
begun to write religious music and at the age of 17 premiered
his first piece of stage work "De Valencia al Grao".
Later on he moved to Madrid where he performed as an orchestra
conductor and started his career as a businessman at the Eslava
Theatre, while at the same time trying to have an influence
on the politics of the time through the founding of the "La
Noche" newspaper, which would lead him to ruin.
As a composer he became well-known in Madrid through his work
which was halfway between a short zarzuela (a traditional Spanish
operetta) and a musical revue such as "El Mozo Cruo" and "Los
Presupuestos de Villapierde". But it would not be until
1910 when he was finally recognised through his most famous
piece of work "La Corte de Faraon" which was performed
700 times consecutively. Other important zarzuelas written
by this composer, although they are now mostly forgotten, were "Los
tres maridos burlados", "La taza de té", "Apaga
y vámonos", "La capa encantada" with
text written by Jacinto Benavente and "Ave Cesar",
which was only performed after his death. He also stood out
for his adaptations, spreading the operetta "The Count
of Luxemburg" by Lehar, through an arrangement of the
score drawn up by himself. He did the same thing with the ancient
Italian opera "La prova d’una opera seria" by
Giuseppe Mazza, which he translated into Spanish and which
is today known under the name of "El maestro Campanone".
In 1918, after his financial failure with the Eslava Theatre,
he moved to Latin America to try to remake his fortune, where
he worked until 1922. He returned to Madrid in 1922 where he
died in the same year.
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