Vicente Martin Y Soler

The early years of Martin y Soler were spent in Valencia where he learned music at the Iglesia Mayor as a choirboy. His father was a tenor in the church in Valencia. Though the date is unknown, Vicente moved to Madrid; his first opera, "La Madrilena, o Tutor burlado," premiered in 1776. By 1780 he held office with the future king of Spain, Charles VI. With his first opera successfully staged Martin y Soler had a continued early success with his operas in Naples, Turin, Lucca, Venice, Florence, and Parma. By 1785 he had moved to Vienna where he enjoyed the patronage of Joseph II and composed his most succesful opera "Una cosa rara." Catherine II commissioned Martin y Soler to compose a Russian opera and, accordingly, he went to St Petersburg. By 1790 he had received a contract to compose operas in Italian and Russian and to teach singing for the royal theatre. In 1794 he settled in London only to travel once again to St Petersburg to teaching in the royal theatre; by 1800 he was the inspector of the Italian court theatre under the reign of Paul I. Numerous songs from his operas were adapted in a number of languages including French, German, Spanish, English, Dutch, Hungarian, Polish and Russian. Most of his music characteristically was lyric and lilting with hints of tender emotion and sensitivity. Martin y Soler also attempted to incorporate aspects of folk music into the body of his operas. Students under his tutelage included Sundonova, Shaporov, Kamushov and Vorobyev.
© Keith Johnson /TiVo