Gaztambide y Garbayo, Joaquín (EN)

Gaztambide y Garbayo, Joaquín Romualdo, *7 February 1822 Tudela (Navarre), †18 March 1870 Madrid, was a Spanish composer and conductor. Orphaned at an early age, he began studying music at the age of eight under P. Rubla and also sang in the boys’ choir of the cathedral in Tudela. In 1834 he studied in Pamplona under J. Guelbenzu (piano) and M. García. From 1842 to 1845 he attended the Madrid Conservatory, where he studied piano with P. Albéniz and composition with R. Carnicer. During this period, he began performing as a pianist in provincial towns with a trio he had founded. In 1845 he became conductor of the choir at the Teatro de Santa Cruz, and in 1846 he traveled to Paris. After returning to Madrid, Gaztambide y Garbayo was appointed conductor of the Teatro Español in 1848. In 1849 he achieved success with his first zarzuela, La mensajera. At the same time, he pursued an active conducting career, initially at the Teatro Real (including a production of Meyerbeer’s Le Prophète), and from 1862 he conducted concerts of the conservatory’s concert society (from 1866 known as the Sociedad de Conciertos), conducting works by contemporary composers, including Wagner. In 1869 Gaztambide y Garbayo organized a large opera company, which toured Cuba and Mexico with great success.

Like F. A. Barbieri and M. Fernández-Caballero, Gaztambide y Garbayo belonged to those Spanish composers of the second half of the 19th century who, at a time when the country’s musical life was completely dominated by Italian opera, advocated national ideas in art, proposing the traditional Spanish stage genre – the zarzuela – as an alternative. His works, in addition to clear references to national traditions, demonstrate a command of contemporary compositional techniques, which distinguishes them favorably from the mass of similar stage productions. Gaztambide y Garbayo’s compositions also enjoyed great popularity, as evidenced by the staging of all 44 of his zarzuelas in Madrid between 1848 and 1868. Among them, the zarzuela Catalina, also known abroad, was especially successful.