Amadeus Vives

Born in a small town in Barcelona, he showed a great sensitivity towards music from an early age. From the age of fifteen he wrote pieces for choir and also some orchestral compositions. His relationship with Ricardo Güell will be very important for him to make the leap to the stage. In these years he joined Juventud Escolar, where Cambó, Corominas and Prat de la Riva were militants, and he began to write in the weekly La Veu, where he met Verdaguer and Joan Batlle. In his classes with Pedrell he would be a fellow student of Enrique Granados.

After the death of his father in 1890, Vives devoted himself to the creation of the Orfeó Català with Millet, to whom he dedicated a series of works, including L'emigrant, with text by Verdaguer. In 1895 he married Montserrat Giner. At the same time he dedicates his efforts to the composition of his first opera, Artús, a Breton legend which, premiered in 1897 at the Novedades theater, receives a mixed response. He moved to Madrid, where he prepared Don Lucas del Cigarral, which was to be premiered in Madrid a year later. Vives was immediately introduced into the chaotic world of Madrid zarzuela. A couple of months later, with a libretto by González Prieto, he premiered La Preciosilla at the Romea theater. At the same time, Vives took Don Lucas del Cigarral to Barcelona, where it was enthusiastically received. At that time he takes up again the problem of the national lyric and conceives with Ángel Guimerá the possibility of turning Euda d'Euriach into an opera.

He obtained some successes, such as La balada de la luz (1900), a large-scale work. While the battle between the authors became more bloody, he premiered his opera Euda d'Euriach in Barcelona, which was received with enthusiasm although it did not succeed. Meanwhile, Vives would premiere Doloretes (1901), a piece of mythical resonances, with which the Fiscowich business empire received the final blow in favor of the authors.

Vives' work is increasingly supported by the public and is very well received by the critics. The Teatro de la Zarzuela would be the setting for Bohemios (1904), which would become one of the greatest successes of his life. In December 1904 the successes returned with El húsar de la guardia, which would initiate his relationship with Giménez. In 1905, Vives wrote, alone or with Giménez, more than a dozen titles. The works he carried out with Giménez stand out, such as El arte de ser bonita, Las granadinas, La gatita blanca or La libertad. He also battled in the field of the so-called “ínfimo” genre (cuplés) with creations such as El arte de ser bonita or La gatita blanca, and faced the difficulties of the incipient operetta in the case of La favorita del rey. Vives' work was carried out both at the Apolo and at smaller theaters, such as the Cómico, the Moderno or the Eslava. In 1906, Vives received a proposal from Vicente Lleó to assume the joint direction of the Cómico and Zarzuela theaters. Surrounded by a plethora of collaborators, they set up what was known as the “theatrical trust”, which opened up to new technologies by including film shows. Soon after, the Eslava theater also joined the trust that tried to face the expansion of the varietés salons that had multiplied.

The economic reality becomes impossible, the trust loses too much money and, at the end of the 1907-1908 season. The terrible situation of the theater would go further and before the end of the season it had to close. In 1910 the premiere of the opera Colomba took place at the Teatro Real, with the presence of the Royal Family and the Government. In spite of everything, the title was received with differences of opinion. However, just a few days later one of the greatest successes of Vives' life, Juegos malabares (1910), would see the light of day at the Teatro Apolo. It was not until the end of 1916 that Vives again obtained a great success with El señor Pandolfo at the Teatro Apolo, which was received with enthusiasm. Vives' catalog grew very slowly during these years. In 1920 he will see one of his last triumphs in the field of sainete with Pepe Conde o el mentir de las estrellas (1920). 

The fact of having taken over the company of the Teatro Apolo from the 1923-1924 season onwards was also a determining factor in his activity. That year, Vives faced the direction and financing of the famous coliseum, with the support of Francisco Delgado, a businessman interested in projecting his influence to Buenos Aires, for which it was essential to bring large-scale works. From these demands would be born Doña Francisquita, one of the milestones in the history of zarzuela, in three acts and with a book by Federico Romero and Guillermo Fernández Shaw, premiered on October 17, 1923 with an unspeakable success. Due to health problems, between 1924 and 1927, Vives' catalog did not increase, partly due to the very strong crisis of the lyric genre at that time.

On October 1, 1927 she would present the last event in her artistic life with the premiere of La villana, with a book by Federico Romero and Guillermo Fernández Shaw. His limited health would only allow a few more lyric titles to his credit. Los flamencos (1928) was one of the last events of the final life of the Apolo theater.  In November 1931 he would be elected president of the Sociedad de Autores Españoles.