Madrid has been the main setting for many zarzuelas, comic-lyrical episodes, and musical revues from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
To name a few: Agua, azucarillos y aguardiente and La Gran Vía by F. Chueca, El barberillo de Lavapiés by F. Barbieri, Doña Francisquita by A. Vives, La chulapona and Luisa Fernanda by F. Moreno Torroba, La del manojo de rosas by P. Sorozábal, La revoltosa by R. Chapí, and La verbena de la Paloma by T. Bretón.
Today, on the feast of San Isidro, we want to celebrate our School’s privileged location with a fun revue by Federico Chueca in collaboration with Joaquín Valverde. It is a sequel to his successful “La Gran Vía” and very appropriate for these days: “El año pasado por agua” (The Year it Poured), which narrates the events of 1888 with a sense of humor—a year that was just as rainy in Madrid as this one!
In this habanera, La Menegilda, a feisty and authentic local character, mentions iconic Madrid neighborhoods that have witnessed her virtues and her “chulapa” charm:
Listen here, gentleman:
Take a look at me and analyze
what I’ve got going on here.
Tell me frankly
if there are in the sea, or not,
little fish as fine as I.
In Maravillas I was baptized;
in San Lorenzo I was nursed;
and without any fuss or pretense
in Las Peñuelas I was raised.
Yes. I wasn’t even eleven years old
when I was already causing a stir,
selling fine matches
with no tricks or gimmicks.
Later I was a seamstress
and today I am the queen of Lavapiés,
and I left an English gent stunned
when he saw my eyes.
Oh! Oh! Look at that walk!
Oh! Oh! Look at that foot!
Oh! If I show a little more,
oh! you’ll start feeling faint!
Oh! Oh! And from here too.
Oh! Oh! And from here as well.
Oh! And if I fix my eyes on you,
you’ll be left dazed,
paralyzed and spellbound.
Hey! You’re falling over!
CHUECA, Federico
El año pasado por agua
“Oiga usté, caballero”
Maria Isabel Segarra Carrasco, soprano
Sofía Mara Puime, soprano
Urszula Bardlowska, soprano
Iván Albert Gallo, tenor
Sidney Giovanny Jiménez Moscoso, baritone
Madalit Lamazares, piano
