Guerrero, Antonio (EN)

Guerrero Antonio, *ca. 1700 Seville, †1776 Madrid, Spanish composer and guitarist. He was the best-known member of a family of actors and musicians active in Madrid theatres during the 18th century. His sister, Rosalia Guerrero (†1767), was a singer; his brothers, Vincente (†1758), a musician at the Teatro del Príncipe, and Manuel (†1743), an actor, theatre company director, and playwright; his daughters Antonia, Alfonsa, and Manuela were actresses, while Manuela was also a singer. Antonio Guerrero was self-taught as a musician. For a number of years, he served as principal musician of the Teatro del Príncipe (1757–62) and later of the Teatro de la Cruz (from 1762). In 1769 he withdrew from active musical life.

Guerrero gained popularity as a composer of bailes de bajo, vocal-instrumental interludes performed between the acts of plays, and autos sacramentales, religious theatrical spectacles (including La viña del Señor). He composed music for comedies based on plays by P. Calderón, including El lucero de Castilla, as well as loas (prologues), entremeses (intermezzi), and sainetes (epilogues), for most of which he also wrote the librettos. Music historians emphasize Guerrero’s importance for the development of Spanish comic opera, since elements of dramatic action appeared in his tonadillas. Guerrero’s earliest tonadillas (e.g. Comedia del arca de Noé) still resembled the baile de bajo. Beginning with La huerta de Casani (1752), however, they assumed their characteristic form (introduction, coplas, and a final sung dance or seguidilla). Guerrero gave them a satirical character and a distinctly Spanish colour through the depiction of local customs and the use of popular songs and folk melodic turns. The stage performances involved one to four characters accompanied by a small instrumental ensemble (violin, oboe, trumpet, and basso continuo). Guerrero’s successors in this genre included L. Misón, P. Esteve, and B. Laserna.