Франсиско Алонсо

For the better part of four decades Francisco Alonso wrote for Madrid's popular theatres. Born in Granada in 1887, he conducted local ensembles and produced sacred and instrumental pieces before moving to the capital in 1911. La calesera, La parranda, Las leandras and Me llaman la presumida are among his stage works, with numbers including the Canto a Murcia, Los nardos, the pasodoble La banderita. He wrote for the cinema too, and worked in the professional organisation of Spanish composers. He died in 1948. His teachers in Granada were Antonio Segura and the cathedral chapel master Celestino Villa, and El Pichi is another of his songs. In 1947 he was elected president of the Spanish authors' society SGAE.