Франсиско Асенхо Барбиери

Jugar con fuego, staged in Madrid in 1851, was the first zarzuela in three acts rather than two, and it set the pattern for the zarzuela grande; Barbieri went on to write seventy-seven stage works, of which Pan y toros (1864) and El barberillo de Lavapiés (1874) are the ones still played. He was born in Madrid on 3 August 1823, lost his father in the Carlist wars, took his mother Petra Barbieri's surname, and entered the Royal Conservatory in 1837 to study piano, singing, clarinet and composition. He made his living as copyist, café pianist and clarinettist before becoming chorus master at the Teatro del Circo in 1851, and from 1868 taught harmony and music history at the Conservatory. He was also a scholar: his edition of the Cancionero de Palacio, 550 songs from the Spanish Renaissance court, opened that repertoire to the nationalist movement that followed. He died in Madrid on 19 February 1894. He had a hand in establishing Madrid's Teatro de la Zarzuela and in promoting orchestral concerts in the city, and he wrote about music as well as collecting its sources. His library and research papers passed to the National Library of Spain.