FULL El año pasado por agua (Chueca, Valverde) Madrid 2024

Information on the Performance

• Work Title: El año pasado por agua   
• Composer: Chueca Federico, Valverde Joaquin  
• Libretto: RICARDO DE LA VEGA    Libretto Text, Libretto Index
• Venue & Opera Company: Teatro de la Zarzuela, Madrid, Spain  
• Recorded: March 1, 2024
• Type: Staged Opera Live
• Singers: Claudia Bravo, Anna Castells, Andro Crespo, Albert Díaz, Cielo Ferrández, Raquel Martín, Soraya Méncid, Aarón Montes, Pepe Nufrio, Sylvia Parejo, Nuria Pérez. David Pérez Bayona, Raquel Del Pino, Laura Pont, Adrián Quiñones, Marcelo Solís, Sigor Schwaderer, Nacho Zorrilla
• Conductor: Lara Diloy  
• Orchestra: Instrumental Ensemble  
• Choreographer: Cristina Arias  
• Stage Director: Marta Eguilior  
• Stage Designer: Marta Eguilior  
• Costume Designer: Betitxe Saitua  
• Lighting Designer: Alfonso Malanda  

Information about the Recording

• Published by: Teatro de la Zarzuela  
• Date Published: 2024  
• Format: Streaming
• Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
• Subtitles: yessubs, essubs, gensubs  

• ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE

  El año pasado por agua or Last year by water is a revue in one act and four pictures, with music by Federico Chueca and Joaquín Valverde , to a libretto by Ricardo de la Vega . It premiered on March 1, 1889 at the Teatro Apolo in Madrid .

  The year 1888 had been so rainy in Madrid that it gave rise to this “magazine”, a sparkling continuation of the successful magazine La Gran Vía . Many jokes refer to the negligence of municipal authorities and are still funny, others are already outdated; This work survives thanks to Chueca’s score, with its repertoire of dances, both regional and international. The well-known “umbrella mazurka” stands out.

  Table 1
  There is a brief orchestral introduction. When the curtain rises, a street in Madrid is seen. It’s raining. The people of Madrid sing the C. “Let it rain, let it rain”, based on the well-known children’s song .

  Julio Ruiz , a famous singing actor, enters the scene , representing himself. He is chasing a dressmaker, whom he convinces to share an umbrella and go to eat together, and whatever comes next ( D. “Do me the favor of hearing two words from me.” It is the famous “umbrella mazurka”, which will soon It became the most popular piece in the magazine.

  An actor enters, representing the New Year of 1889, and speaks with Mariano, a municipal guard. They talk about how rainy the previous year was, and Mariano says that 1888 was truly “Last Year for Water.”

  Table 2
  In a flooded neighborhood, people are pumping water out of their homes. When they see the new year 1889, they greet it happily, as they trust that it will be a drier year than the previous one and that the municipal authorities will handle it better. Neptune , the well-known Madrid sculpture , appears in an impressive car. He has escaped from his source and is dressed fashionably, in a tailcoat . He sings his well-known waltz “Of the seas they call me king”, in which he praises his newfound freedom in the flooded streets of Madrid. The public tells him that there are certain dangerous fish in Madrid that would scare even the king of the seas.

  Neptune, Mariano and the year 1889 meet. Start a conversation with satirical references to current social and political satire. In the end, Neptune agrees to solve the citizens’ problems at a ball that he will give that night for the ministers of the Crown. A group arrives from the bullring and sings a cheerful parade praising the different neighborhoods of the city ( C .: “Here comes the flower of Wonders!”). El Madrileño and La Menegilda appear, characters who come from La Gran Vía . In the sensual Havana “Hey, Gentleman” La Menegilda tells how the city’s neighborhoods have helped her in her dubious career, which she has culminated as the lover of a pale, rich Englishman.

  A gondola appears , carrying the tenor and treble from Ruperto Chapí ‘s The Witch . When they remove their clothes, they appear as allegorical representations of an Immigrant and the Republic. Parodying the aforementioned zarzuela, the couple regrets having to leave.

  The guards and the inquisitor appear; the zorcico is sung : “Oh, apple of my eye!” The Inquisitor laments the threat that Emigration poses to the republic. He exhorts the guards to catch and put the felon in jail in a gloomy chotis : “Woe is me! What a cruel situation!” In the end, the Emigrant and the Republic float away in their gondola, to the despair of the clergyman and the police.

  Table 3 and 4
  A trio of municipal guards at the Liceo Ríus lament their work in the polka “We bring the trunzaus bodies!” Later, a pimp and a pimp from Madrid in love talk about poverty in the city. And in the final scene, a decorative frieze appears praising the successful Barcelona Universal Exhibition of 1888 , and everyone’s greeting to Neptune and the New Year 1889.
  Quoted from Wikipedia

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