José Serrano Simeón (14 October 1873 – 8 March 1941) was a Spanish composer of

zarzuela () is a Spanish lyric-dramatic genre that alternates between spoken and sung scenes, the latter incorporating operatic and popular songs, as well as dance. The etymology of the name is uncertain, but some propose it may derive from the name of ...

s. He was born in Sueca,

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

, Spain. His most famous works include '' La dolorosa'' ("Lady of the Sorrows") and ''La canción del olvido'' ("The Song of Forgetting"). Serrano’s output mainly consists of popular, one-act zarzuelas, many filled with strong, dramatic and emotional situations. He is considered to be the musical heir of

Federico Chueca Pío Estanislao Federico Chueca y Robres (5 May 1846 – 20 June 1908) was a Spanish composer of ''zarzuelas'' and author of ''La gran vía'' along with Joaquín Valverde Durán in 1886. He was one of the most prominent figures of the género c ...

; and the influence of

Giacomo Puccini Giacomo Puccini (Lucca, 22 December 1858Bruxelles, 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long l ...

and Italian ''

verismo In opera, ''verismo'' (, from , meaning "true") was a post-Romantic operatic tradition associated with Italian composers such as Pietro Mascagni, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Umberto Giordano, Francesco Cilea and Giacomo Puccini. ''Verismo'' as an ...

'' is evident in many of his works. Serrano died in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), an ...

aged 67.

References

1873 births 1941 deaths People from Ribera Baixa Composers from the Valencian Community Spanish classical composers Spanish male classical composers Spanish opera composers Male opera composers {{Spain-composer-stub