Jose Serrano Simeon

José Calixto Serrano Simeón (Swedish, October 14, 1873-Madrid, March 8, 1941) was a Spanish composer, known for his more than fifty zarzuelas. Author, among others, of the famous zarzuelas La reina mora, La canción del olvido, La dolorosa and Los claveles, he is considered the musical heir of Federico Chueca. Serrano's works tend towards a popular theater, simple but charged with dramatic emotion. The influence of Giacomo Puccini and Italian verismo is evident in many of his works. He composed the hymn for the 1909 Valencian Regional Exhibition, which has been officially adopted as the Hymn of the Valencian Community.

Biography

Plate at home in Sueca.

His father, director of a music band in Sueca —his hometown—, was the one who introduced him to the world of music by giving him his first classes, more like a game. However, the love and interest shown by little José was so great that at the age of five, he already knew music theory and at the age of 12 he played the guitar and the violin.

Natal House.

In 1889, he moved to Valencia to continue his musical studies at the Conservatory with Salvador Giner. He began to study piano, although he soon abandoned this instrument, and continued his studies of violin and composition. In 1892, he moved to Madrid with the intention of obtaining a scholarship with which to continue his studies, a scholarship that he obtained from the Ministry of Development thanks to the recommendation of Emilio Serrano and that would last one year. In Madrid, during this time and in order to survive, he composes songs, at 25 pesetas each, which were used to promote minor artists. During this time he encountered serious difficulties to succeed in Madrid due to the difficulty of finding script writers and theaters to perform. He helped Manuel Fernández Caballero, who suffered from progressive blindness, in the composition of his zarzuela Gigantes y cabezudos , which helped him to make himself known in the theater world. So the Álvarez Quintero brothers, in an attempt to give him a chance, offered him the libretto for El motet. Successfully premiered on April 24, 1900, it was Serrano's first composition and the one with which he became known. Later he would baptize one of his daughters as María del Motete, sponsored by his friend the scientist Bernardino Landete Aragó. In 1909 he composed the Himno a la Exposición, a piece premiered at the Valencian Regional Exhibition, which it would be chosen in 1925 as regional anthem. In 1923, the Valencia Provincial Council commissioned him a commemorative hymn for the Coronation of the Virgen de los Desamparados, patron saint of Valencia. The premiere of this work took place on May 24, 1923 before some &&&&&&&&&&030000.&&&&&030,000 people, constituting a resounding success.

His figure is exalting and is consolidated by the work carried out. He composed works for both the chico genre and the zarzuela grande. Notable among them are: The Moorish Queen (1903) with a text by the Álvarez Quintero Brothers, Moors and Christians (1905); El Perro Chico (1905), El pollo Tejada (1906) and El Príncipe Carnaval (1919) in collaboration with Quinito Valverde; Alma de Dios (1907), Friend Melquíades (1914) —also in collaboration with Quinito Valverde—, The Song of Oblivion (1916) —with texts by Federico Romero Sarachaga and Guillermo Fernández-Shaw—, Los de Aragón (1927), Los claveles (1929) and La Dolorosa (1930).

Monument of José Serrano, located in Valencia, avenue of the Regne de València, work of Octavio Vicent.

The last years of his life were spent in the Valencian town of El Perelló, where he dedicated himself exclusively to fishing. After being diagnosed with esophageal cancer, he moved to Madrid in 1940 to be treated, dying in this city in 1941.

Works

Representation The song of oblivion in the Insular Auditorium of Puerto del Rosario, Fuerteventura on December 9, 2000.

Monument to Master Serrano in his homeland.

Zarzuelas and lyrical works

• The motetete (1900).
• The trumpet of orders (1900).
• The joy of the battalion (1900).
• Don Miguel de Mañarra (1902).
• The olive tree (1902) —Tomás Barrera.
• The red deck (1902).
• The torpedo platoon (1903) —Angel Rubio.
• The horn solo (1903).
• The Moorish Queen (1903).
• Toreria (1904).
• The clover (1904) —Quinito Valverde.
• The stars (1904) —Quinito Valverde.
• And it's not sleep night. (1904) —Quinito Valverde.
• The white house (1904).
• Smuggling (1905) —José Fernández Pacheco—,
• The gate of the Dolores (1905) —Quinito Valverde.
• Love in the sun (1905) —Ruperto Chapí.
• The evil of love (1905).
• Moors and Christians (1905).
• The dog boy (1905) —Quinito Valverde.
• The Infant of the Golden Loops (1906).
• The bad shadow (1906).
• The night of kings (1906).
• The Tejada Chicken (1906) —Quinito Valverde.
• The new band (1906) —Apolinar Brull.
• People would be (1907).
• Namita Nana (1907).
• Soul of God (1907).
• Crazy luck (1907) —Quinito Valverde.
• The palace of the elves (1910) —Amadeo Vives.
• The trust of the Tenorios (1910).
• Barbecue (1911).
• The chariot of the sun (1911).
• The gentuza (1913).
• Prince Carnival (1914) —Quinito Valverde.
• The king of the bank (1914).
• The friend Melquíades (1914) —Quinito Valverde.
• Grieg's sonata (1916).
• The song of oblivion (1916) —Federico Romero Sarachaga and Guillermo Fernández-Shaw Iturralde.
• The lions of Castile (1917).
• If I were king (1917).
• The blindfold(1919).
• Passover (1924).
• The Wizard of the East (1924) —Ernesto Pérez Rosillo.
• Magda the tyranny (1926).
• The Dutch (1927).
• The Aragon (1927)
• The prisoner (1927) —Francisco Balaguer.
• Keyboards (1929).
• The painful (1930).
• The sale of cats (1943).
• Golondrina de Madrid (1944).