PARES | Spanish Archives

Identification

Type:

Person

Preferred form:

Bretón, Tomás (1850-1923)Other forms

Fechas de existencia:

Salamanca (España) 1850-12-29 - Madrid (España) 1923-12-02

History:

Spanish composer, conductor and teacher.

He was born on December 29 of 1850 in Salamanca and died on December 2 of 1923 in Madrid. Son of Antonio Bretón Hernández and Andrea Hernández Rodríguez. He began his violin and music theory studies at the Escuela de Nobles y Bellas Artes de San Eloy under the tutelage of Ángel Piñuela. In 1865 he moved to Madrid with his family. There, he began working as a violinist at the Teatro de Variedades and later on as a concertmaster and conductor of the Circo Price orchestra. He studied at the Conservatory with Aranguren and Arrieta, finished his studies in 1872, and won the first prize for Composition alongside Ruperto Chapí. In these years he composed "Cuarteto en Sol Mayor" (1866) and "Sinfonía nº 1 en Fa Mayor" (1872). He worked for different zarzuela companies since 1873. He made his first attempt in opera in 1876 with lyrics by Antonio Arnao, with the work "Guzmán el Bueno", that was first performed at the Teatro Apolo and at the Gran Teatro del Liceo de Barcelona. He founded the Unión Artístico-Musical orchestra in 1878 and conducted it until 1882.

In 1880 he married Dolores Matheu, with whom he had four children; Antonio Mario, María, and Abelardo reaching adulthood. Abelardo and Antonio Mario Bretó Matheu followed their father's footsteps with musical careers.

In 1881 he secured the position of merit at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, a city where he moved with his family. There, he studied Renaissance polyphony, composed the oratorio "El Apocalipsis", and he met Francisco Padilla and Cleto Zabala. In 1882 he moved to Vienna and, a year later, he moved to Paris, where he focused on his opera "Los amantes de Teruel". He returned to Madrid and was director of the Concerts Society until 1890. In 1889 he premiered "Los amantes de Teruel", a work that had previously sparked controversy and was a great success. With "La verbena de la Paloma" he made dabbled in the género chico ('little' gerne), a sainete with lyrics by Ricardo de la Vega, which premiered at the Teatro Apolo in 1894; a milestone in his compositional career and in which he brought together a multitude of musical styles. In 1895 he premiered "La Dolores" at the Teatro de la Zarzuela, a realistic opera based on the writing by Feliú and Codina; a work of incomparable success and reach beside his previous compositions. In the following years he continued to compose works for the género chico, great zarzuela, and opera. He was appointed academic of the Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in 1896 and royal curator of the Music Conservatory of Madrid in 1901. He also composed several works for chamber groups, such as "Cuarteto en Re Mayor" (1904) or "Cuatro piezas españolas" (1909), as well as symphonic works, anwsering to the new musical demand at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1917, after the death of his wife, he composed a symphonic poem, "Elegía y añoranzas" as a tribute to her.

Context:

El archivo personal de Tomás Bretón se conserva en la Biblioteca Nacional de España (BNE) y contiene toda su producción musical, libretos, prensa, parte de su biblioteca personal y algunos manuscritos.