The Lighter Classics in Music by David Ewen
1809. Little is known of his career beyond the fact that his music
243 words | Chapter 64
instruction took place with private teachers; that in 1851 he was
appointed singing master to the Empress Eugénie in Paris; and that for a
period he lived in Cuba. He died in Vitoria, Spain, on December 6, 1865.
He was a successful composer of Spanish songs. The most famous is “_La
Paloma_,” which is in the habanera rhythm, its melody in the sensual,
sinuous style of a flamenco song. “_El Arreglito_,” also a habanera, was
borrowed by Bizet for his opera _Carmen_ where it re-emerges as the
world-famous “Habanera”; Bizet made only minor changes in the melody
while retaining Yradier’s tonality and accompaniment. A third popular
Yradier song, in a style similar to “_La Paloma_,” is “_Ay Chiquita!_”
Carl Zeller
Carl Zeller was born in St. Peter-in-der-Au, Austria on July 19, 1842.
Music, the study of which he had pursued since boyhood with private
teachers, was an avocation. He earned his living as an official in the
Ministry of Education in Austria. Nevertheless, he managed to write many
operettas, two of which were among the most successful written in
Austria during his time. Among his first works for the stage were
_Joconde_ (1876), _Die Carbonari_ (1880), and _Der Vagabund_ (1886). His
first major success came with _Der Vogelhaendler_ in 1886, still a great
favorite on the Continent. The second of his operetta classics, _Der
Obersteiger_, was introduced in 1894. A later successful, though less
well known, operetta, _Der Kellermeister_, was produced posthumously in
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