Федерико Чуека

Trained as a pianist and briefly a medical student, Federico Chueca settled on music and became a composer associated with the género chico, the compact one-act zarzuela of Madrid's popular theatres. La Gran Vía, Agua, azucarillos y aguardiente, El bateo and Cádiz — several of them written with Joaquín Valverde — are among his stage works. His theatre draws on song and dance forms, including polkas, waltzes, mazurkas and habaneras. Madrid's daily social and political life is reflected in the works. He was born in 1846 and died in 1908. His studies were made at the Madrid Conservatory, and he earned his living as a café pianist and theatre musician before Francisco Asenjo Barbieri turned him towards the zarzuela; De Madrid a París is another of the stage works.