Francisco Alonso

He showed more maturity in his orchestration in Las Corsarias, premiered at the Teatro Martín in 1919, that included the pasodoble La Banderita which became extremely popular in Spain, was sung by soldiers who were off to the Rif War of Africa, so much so that even the king Alfonso XIII was heard singing it while shaving.The more than twenty thousand performances of the work since its premiere by the company of Salvador Videgain made the maestro one of the great composers of the time, even achieving a decoration for the flag.At this time Alonso took inspiration from folk music of the various regions of Spain as in Curro el de Lora with its Andalusian atmosphere to a libretto by es:Luis Fernandez Ardavín, released in 1925, but which met with little success despite its excellent score.But his greatest success in the field of the revue came in 1931 with Las Leandras premiered at the Teatro Pavón and written especially for the star Celia Gámez who scored an enormous hit with Pasodoble de los Nardos and the chotis El Pichi.After the war the love of zarzuela fell into a deep decline and although Alonso premiered Manuelita Rosas, and La Zapaterita focussing on operetta and musical comedy with which he had some success as Doña Mariquita de mi Corazón (1942), Luna de Miel en El Cairo (1943), Aquella Noche Azul and Tres Días Para Quererte, (both 1945).While convalescing from an operation for retinal detachment he premiered 24 Horas Mintiendo a comedy written by es:Francisco Ramos de Castro.