Bretón y Hernández, Tomás

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Bretón y Hernández, Tomás

Bretón y Hernández, Tomás, Spanish composer; b. Salamanca, Dec. 29, 1850; d. Madrid, Dec. 2, 1923. As a youth he played in restaurants and theaters. He graduated from the Madrid Cons. (1872), then conducted at the Madrid Opera. In 1901 he joined the faculty of the Madrid Cons. A fertile composer, he contributed greatly to the revival of the zarzuela. He was at his best in the one-act comic type (género chico). Among his operas and zarzuelas (all produced in Madrid) are Los amantes de Teruel (1889), Juan Garin (1892), La Dolores (1895), El Domingo de Ramos (1896), La Verbena de la Paloma (1894), Raquel (to his own libretto; Jan. 20, 1900), El caballo del señorito (1901); Farinelli (1903); and Tabaré (1913). He also wrote an oratorio, Apocalipsia (Madrid, 1882), and works for Orch., including Ecenas Andaluzas, Funeral March for Alfonso XII, and a Violin Concerto.

Bibliography

A. Salcedo, T. B.: Su vida y sus obras (Madrid, 1924).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire