José de Nebra

José Melchor Baltasar Gaspar Nebra Blasco (January 6, 1702 – July 11, 1768) was a Spanish composer. His work combines Spanish traditions with the Italian style of his day.

Biography

José de Nebra was born in Calatayud and was taught by his father, José Antonio Nebra Mezquita (1672–1748), organist and master of choirboys at the Cathedral of Cuenca from 1711 until 1729. Two brothers were also musicians: Francisco Javier Nebra Blasco (1705–1741), organist of La Seo in Zaragoza until he moved to Cuenca in 1729, then succeeded by his brother Joaquín Ignacio Nebra Blasco (1709–1782) till his death.[1] He died in Madrid.

More than 170 works by Nebra survive: masses, psalms, litanies, a Stabat Mater, a Salve Regina, cantatas, villancicos, and around thirty keyboard works. But his significance is as the leading late-Baroque composer of Spanish opera and zarzuela.

Works

Sacred works

  • Aromática rosa Americana
  • Miserere
  • Para un triunfo que el orbe
  • Requiem for Queen Barbara of Braganza
  • Rompan los vagos espacios
  • Salve regina
  • Cantata: Entre candidos bellos

Operas

  • Amor aumenta el valor (collective work, 3rd act only), 1728
  • Venus y Adonis, 1729
  • Más gloria es triunfar de sí. Adriano in Syria, 1737
  • No todo indicio es verdad. Alexander in Asia, 1744
  • Antes que zelos y amor, la piedad llama al valor. Achilles in Troy 1747

Zarzuelas

  • Las proezas de Esplandián y el valor deshace encantos, 1729
  • Amor, ventura y valor logran el triunfo mayor, 1739
  • Viento es la dicha de amor, 1743
  • Donde hay violencia no hay culpa, 1744
  • Vendado amor es, no es ciego, 1744 [2]
  • Cautelas contra cautelas y el rapto de Ganimedes, 1745
  • La colonia de Diana, 1745
  • Para obsequio a la deydad, nunca es culto la crueldad. Iphigenia en Tracia (Thrace), 1747 [3]
  • No hay perjurio sin castigo, 1747

Notable performances

The composer's 250th anniversary in 2018 saw the programming of some of his works, for example at Musica Antigua Aranjuez, the early music festival at Aranjuez. A performance of the opera Venus y Adonis has been scheduled for 2019 by the Centro Nacional de Difusión Musical.[4]

Selected recordings

Some of Nebra's zarzuelas, choral works and solo cantatas have been recorded on CD by the Spanish group Al Ayre Español, and other works by Los Músicos de Su Alteza, choral orchestral works by Madrid Barroco

  • 2001 – Miserere. Al Ayre Español. Deutsche Harmonia Mundi.
  • Sonata, op. 1 no. 4 for harpsichord, performed by Janine Johnson
  • Opera – Amor aumenta el valor. Los Músicos de Su Alteza. Alpha, 2010
  • 2005 – La Cantada Española en América. Al Ayre Español. Harmonia Mundi Ibérica 987064
  • Arias de Zarzuelas. Maria Bayo, Al Ayre Español, dir. Eduardo López Banzo. Harmonia Mundi, 2006
  • Cantatas. Esta Dulzura Amable. Al Ayre Español, dir. Eduardo López Banzo. Challenge Classics 2011
  • Vespers – Vispera de Confesores. La Grande Chapelle, dir. Àngel Recasens. Lauda Musica 2006
  • Principio des Maitines de Navidad; Responsorium I, Nocturno 1, Nativitatis Domini. "Madrid 1752, Madrid Barroco, Grover Wilkins 3d, dir Dorian, 2001

References

  1. ↑ (in Spanish)José Nebra, Obras inéditas para tecla, edited by Maria-Salud Alvarez, Tecla Aragonesa III, (Institución Fernando el Católico, Zaragoza, 1995)
  2. ↑ excerpts Maria Bayo, Arias de Zarzuela, Banzo, Naive
  3. ↑ José de Nebra – Excerpts from Zarzuela « Para obsequio a la deydad nunca es culto la crueldad, y Iphigenia en Tracia » Mss 1232 & 281, Bibl. & Archives, Real Monasterio de San Lorenzo del Escorial, Madrid (1747) recording on Banzo, Al Ayre Espanol on Resonanzen 2001 Viva España! ORF "Edition Alte Musik" CD 281
  4. ↑ "Venus y Adonis". Instituto Nacional de las Artes Escénicas y de la Música. Retrieved 2018-06-12.
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