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[1] 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.[2] 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, 1st 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 es Amor, no es ciego, 1744
  • 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
  • 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.[3]

Selected recordings
  • 1996 - Viento es la dicha de amor (zarzuela). Ensemble Baroque de Limoges, dir. Christophe Coin. Naïve
  • 2001 – Miserere. Al Ayre Español. Deutsche Harmonia Mundi
  • Sonata, op. 1 no. 4 for harpsichord, performed by Janine Johnson
  • 2005 – La Cantada Española en América. Al Ayre Español. Harmonia Mundi
  • 2006 - Vispera de Confesores. La Grande Chapelle, dir. Àngel Recasens. Lauda Musica
  • 2006 - Arias de Zarzuelas. María Bayo, Al Ayre Español, dir. Eduardo López Banzo. Harmonia Mundi
  • 2010 – Amor aumenta el valor (opera). Los Músicos de Su Alteza. Alpha
  • 2011 - Cantatas. Esta Dulzura Amable. Al Ayre Español, dir. Eduardo López Banzo. Challenge Classics
  • 2011 - Principio des Maitines de Navidad; Responsorium I, Nocturno 1, Nativitatis Domini. "Madrid 1752, Madrid Barroco, dir. Grover Wilkins. Dorian
  • 2011 - Iphigenia en Tracia (zarzuela). El concierto español, dir. Emilio Moreno. Glossa
  • 2019 - Requiem. La Madrileña - Coro Victoria - Schola Antiqua, dir. José Antonio Montaño. Pan Classics
  • 2020 - Vendado es Amor, no es ciego (zarzuela). Los elementos, dir.Alberto Miguélez Rouco. Glossa

References
  1. Antonio Ezquerro Esteban (2002). "Nuevas datos para el estudio de los musicos Nebra en Aragon". Anuario Musical (in Spanish). 57: 113.
  2. (in Spanish) José Nebra, Obras inéditas para tecla (unpublished works for keyboard) edited by Maria-Salud Alvarez, Tecla Aragonesa III, (Institución Fernando el Católico, Zaragoza, 1995)
  3. "Venus y Adonis". Instituto Nacional de las Artes Escénicas y de la Música. Retrieved 2018-06-12.
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