Luisa Fernanda is in many ways the last great
romantic zarzuela. First seen at Madrid's Teatro Calderón on 26th
March 1932, it owes something to the earlier masters of zarzuela grande
and género chico, more to the example of Vives' recent Doña Francisquita, but its range and scale
of emotion surpasses any of Torroba's models. Musically Luisa Fernanda
embodies its composer's ideals of El casticismo - an attempt to foster the
tradition of pure, popular nationalism, of which Rodrigo's Concierto
de Aranjuez was to be the most famous example. Torroba's music certainly
offers colourful Spanish charm, as well as fair helpings of graceful Viennese
musical comedy and Italian operatic verismo. His musical personality may
be elusive, but Torroba's melodies are consistently memorable and his
theatrical instinct never falters.

Romero and Shaw
together produced the librettos for many of the most importantzarzuelas
written between the First World War and the Spanish Civil War. Aside from
several important collaborations with Vives - most notably Doña Francisquita - their work for
Serrano, Guridi and
Guerrero brought out the best in these
composers. Later they were to provide the libretto for Sorozábal's La tabernera del
puerto, as well as Torroba's own hugely successful La chulapona. In
Luisa Fernanda, their characters move easily between elegant comedy of
manners and revolutionary politics; between the sophistication of Madrid and
the simplicity of the Spanish countryside; between romantic high spirits and
near-tragic melancholy. Torroba's masterpiece owes much of its success - over
10,000 performances at the last count and still rising - to their adept
handling of the period setting, and not least to their spirited dialogue, and
the passionate speeches of Nogales and Aníbal in praise of liberty.

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