Luisa's aria (Al pensar en el dueño de mis amores) from the zarzuela Las hijas del Zebedeo

Ruperto Chapí wrote Las hijas del Zebedeo in 1889 to a libretto by José Estremera, a comic zarzuela set among Madrid tradespeople. Chapí composed more than a hundred stage works and was among the founders of the Spanish authors' society that fought the theatre publishers over royalties. Luisa's aria, known as the Carceleras from the Andalusian prison-song rhythm it uses, became one of the most demanding display numbers written for a Spanish soprano and is now sung far more often than the zarzuela is staged. Chapí had trained as an orchestral composer and never treated the form as light work.