Tonadillas de Luis Misón

A concert-performance devoted to the tonadillas of Luis Misón, an eighteenth-century Madrid composer, with short pieces conceived to be seen as small musical scenes.

The tonadilla escénica was a short form of musical theatre that flourished in Madrid during the second half of the eighteenth century. It emerged in the orbit of the capital's coliseos (theatres) and brought together singing, spoken word and performance, with vocal numbers and characters that portrayed types and situations from everyday life.

Luis Misón, a flautist, oboist and composer closely linked to Madrid's musical life, is among the authors who shaped this genre. His contemporaries recognised his singular talent for the theatre, and his contribution is considered decisive in establishing the tonadilla as one of the most representative expressions of Spanish musical theatre of its time.

This proposal is presented as a concert-performance, so that the pieces regain their theatrical character. In them, the elegance of eighteenth-century language, the wit of the sung text and a humorous, direct tone, capable of engaging today's audiences, coexist.