El Gato Montés, pasodoble de Manuel Penella

The Symphonic Band of Algemesí performs the pasodoble "El Gato Montés" in the Concert of Pasdobles Taurinos held on September 22, 2011 at the Teatre Municipal d'Algemesí.

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This pasoboble is part of the three-act opera of the same name, with music and text by Manuel Penella Moreno (1880-1939) and premiered in Valencia on February 23, 1916. That night the success was resounding and Penella was taken to shoulders by fervent followers to their own home while they hummed the melody of the pasodoble of the second act that has since become one of the most popular bullfighting musical sites.

The opera is divided into three acts that take place in the region of Andalusia, and whose plot deals with the rivalry between the bullfighter, Rafael Ruiz, and the bandit Juanillo, the “Gato Montés”, for the love of the gypsy Soleá, that she really loves the bandit, who became an outlaw for defending his honor, but at the same time she feels united to the bullfighter by a bond of gratitude, since he welcomed her into his home when she was roaming the streets.

The pasodoble, according to the opinions of various musicologists, could come from the scenic tonadilla, from the primitive dances of the 18th century, from a specific type of military march or even its origin and evolution could be all of these, that is, it came from the tonadillas and dances of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that with the passage of time were influenced by military marches, and that is probably the most accurate theory.

This bullfighting setting is not only present in the zarzuela genre, but it also came to the opera, one of the great examples being the song of the "Toreador" from the opera "Carmen" by George Bizet, whose last act takes place in the Plaza de la Maestranza in Seville.

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© 2011 Societat Musical d'Algemesí
www.societatmusicalalgemesi.com
Edition: Vicent Girbés Trull