ALVAREZ A.

Bio

Antonio Álvarez Alonso (1867-1931) was a pianist and composer and director of Spanish zarzuelas of the nineteenth century. He is remembered for being the author of Sighs of Spain (suspiros de Espana). He was an orphan from a very young age and studied with his brother at the National School of Music in Madrid. He has been called "Cartagena of adoption" for being in Cartagena where he composed his best known works and where he died, but really he was born in Martos . His role as pianovirtuoso was discreet, but he excelled in the composition of musical works; He wrote more than 20 zarzuelas in collaboration with famous lyricists of his time: Antonio Paso Cano, Tomás Rodríguez Alenza, etc.  Among his works include the zarzuelas, several marches and hymns, and several pasacalles and pasodobles being one of the best known Sighs of Spain, composed in Cartagena.