Antonio Videgain

Antonio Videgain
Born Antonio Videgain García
March 10, 1869
Jerez, Andalucia, Spain.
Died February 9, 1944 (aged 74)
Occupation musician, composer, director, producer, businessman
Years active 1889–1944
Spouse(s) Virginia Reparaz (1867–50)
Children Antonio Videgain Reparaz

Antonio Videgain García (March 10, 1869, Jerez Cadiz – February 9, 1944, Argentina) was a Spanish conductor and composer, who dedicated his career to writing zarzuelas, such as A vuela Pluma and El vals coqueto.

Biography

Although the details of his early years are not entirely certain, Videgain was born in Jerez and spent his childhood and adolescence in Madrid.He began music lessons with his father and continued his education with Ruperto Chapí. By the age of 12, he was already playing among the first violins of the Teatro Principal orchestra in Cádiz. thirteen years later, he became the director of an operette (musical) and zarzuela company, making his debut in Gibraltar with a production of Jerónimo Giménez.

A scholarship permitted Videgain to enrol at the Conservatoire He received the first prize for harmony and counterpoint. After graduation, he traveled to Argentina and then returned to Spain, settling in Madrid. In 1892 he was born of Antonio Videgain Reparaz his son, famous singer of zarzuela in Argentina, Uruguay and Chile and sang in EEUU. In 1899, he was named director of Teatro Romea de Murcia, and shortly afterwards, of the Teatro de la Zarzuela.

Ruperto Chapí commissioned him to write the openings to his zarzuelas but their lost. As a conductor of the Sociedad de Conciertos de Cadiz, Videgain helped cultivate the tastes of audiences in Cadiz for symphonic music. According to "those who have seem him conduct and have transmitted to us the memory of his performances of great strength and great enthusiasm. he obtained with imperceptible gestures what he wanted from the orchestra." Videgain also collaborated with the leading authors of sainetes (a comic genre found in Spanish theatre), including Salvador Videgain Gómez, Antonio Reparaz, the brothers Joaquin Arqués, and Rafael Calleja, also writers to obtain the libretti for his zarzuelas. He co-wrote the music of a number of his works with others conductor, who hailed him the "musician of impossible" because of his sense of rhythm and easy melodies.

Works

In 1895, wrote A vuela Pluma, and in 1998 El vals coqueto, based on a text by E.de María director of The Fogón Buenos Aires. Following the success of this piece, he set to music another sainete with the same characters, which became one of his most famous works: Buscando compañia, or Películas nacionales. This work are around the world and visit ciys of Spain as Alicante,Salamanca,Avila y Málaga.But He was lost his wife Virginia Reparaz, daughter great master of opera, Antonio Reparaz. He travel Argentina in 1890s with zarzuelas is in Argentina He winner famous and arrive again Spain until 1916,again arrive América where he died. The most famous titles He conducted are Molinos de Viento,La alegría del batallón,La mazorca roja,La reja de la dolores,La tempranica',Doloretes,La revoltosa,El amigo melquiades,El pollo tejada and other more...

The Finish

The famous parents Antonia García de Videgain and Salvador Videgain Gómez and his brother Salvador Videgain are more important us him but his music was his moment.Beyond dramatic works for the stage, Videgain also wrote one cadenzas to Beethoven's Violin Concerto.

Towards the end of his life, Videgain lived in a precarious economic situation for warworld which was refusal to grant him a professorship in chapell music. He died in poverty on February 9, 1944, in Uruguay or Chile.

Notes and references