Repertoire
Rafael Martínez Valls: Cançó d’amor i de guerra (Love and War Song), zarzuela concert version (1926) 90′ (Arrangement for Symphony Band by Joan Casas)
Artists
Barcelona Symphony Band
Francina: Mireia Dolç
Eloi: Albert Deprius
Avi Castellet: Carles Daza
Catrina: Laura Escudé
Baldiri: Ricard Sabata
Horace: Andreu Miret
Narration: Montserrat Gomis and Ferran Frauca
Cor Ars Nova de Lloret and Coral La Igualtat de Gavà (Joan Casas, chorus conductor)
Polifònica de Puig-Reig (Emmanuel Niubò, chorus conductor)
Salvador Brotons, conductor
Program
PROGRAMWho has not heard the sardana – En el Vallespir, sung by Francina and the children’s choir in the zarzuela Cançó d’amor i de guerra and also performed by singers as wide-ranging as Montserrat Caballé and Salomé? And what about Pirineu, tes blanques comes, the earnest, moving aria by Eloi and the choir of soldiers that became so popular over the course of a century? The zarzuela by Martínez Valls, with a libretto by Lluís Capdevila and Víctor Mora, has become an emblematic work, and some fragments have gone beyond the confines of theatres to become symbols of Catalan music.
The plot of the zarzuela takes place in Roussillon in 1793, and the French Revolution is the backdrop for a love story between Eloi, a blacksmith, and Francina, the daughter of the forge’s owner. The score was originally going to be called Els soldats de l’ideal (The Soldiers of the Ideal), but in 1926, during the Primo de Rivera dictatorship, it was slightly adapted to the version that we are all familiar with; the one that was premiered at the Teatre Victòria, in Barcelona, on 26 April that year.
