El barberillo de Lavapiés

El barberillo de Lavapiés is a zarzuela in three acts (Op.56) by Francisco Asenjo Barbieri. The libretto, in Spanish, is by Luis Mariano de Larra. The first performance took place at the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid on 18 December 1874, and it became one of the most well-known zarzuelas. Translated as The Little Barber of Lavapiés, the title refers to the occupation of one of the main characters and the humble and neglected area of the Spanish capital called Lavapiés where it is set.

Barbieri had already found success in the zarzuela genre with the pieces Jugar con fuego (Playing with fire) in 1851 and Pan y toros (Bread and bulls) in 1864 and would eventually compose around 70 zarzuelas. Numbers in El barberillo de Lavapiés such as the song for Paloma "Como nací en la calle de la Paloma", Lamparilla's patter songs as well as the jota and seguidilla became familiar in Spanish musical culture. De Larra's libretto is considered to be successful and well-constructed, echoing Scribe in some respects.

The work was particularly admired by Manuel de Falla, who described Pan y toros and El barberillo de Lavapiés as Barbieri's most outstanding theatrical works "which reflect the rhythmic-melodic character of Spanish song and dance at the end of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth", and which "undoubtedly exerted an influence on Spanish composers, shaping certain unmistakable features we find in our music from about the middle of the last century until Albéniz and Granados". In his book on operetta Traubner claims that the score is the greatest 19th century zarzuela, possessing a "joyous" score with no dull moments, and while with a Spanish accent, echoes of opéra comique or opera buffa.

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