Federico Moreno-Torroba

Federico Moreno Torroba (1891-1982) was an extremely versatile Spanish composer who touched virtually every genre, most notably revitalizing music for the solo guitar, expanding the zarzuela repertoire, and producing full-scale operas. Starting out primarily as an orchestral composer, Moreno Torroba switched in the 1930s to writing lighthearted zarzuelas, of which La marchenera and Luisa Fernanda were his biggest hits. He composed a large amount of guitar music for such artists as Segovia and Los Romeros, and absorbed Spanish folk music into his idiom. His most successful achievements in opera were La Virgen de Mayo and El Poeta.