José de Nebra


José Melchor Baltasar Gaspar Nebra Blasco was a Spanish composer. His work combines Spanish traditions with the Italian style of his day.

Biography

José de Nebra was born in Calatayud and was taught by his father, José Antonio Nebra Mezquita, organist and master of choirboys at the Cathedral of Cuenca from 1711 until 1729. Two brothers were also musicians: Francisco Javier Nebra Blasco, organist of La Seo in Zaragoza until he moved to Cuenca in 1729, then succeeded by his brother Joaquín Ignacio Nebra Blasco till his death. He died in Madrid.
More than 170 works by Nebra survive: masses, psalms, litanies, a Stabat Mater, a Salve Regina, cantatas, villancicos, and around thirty keyboard works. But his significance is as the leading late-Baroque composer of Spanish opera and zarzuela.

Works

Sacred works

The composer's 250th anniversary in 2018 saw the programming of some of his works, for example at Musica Antigua Aranjuez, the early music festival at Aranjuez. A performance of the opera Venus y Adonis has been scheduled for 2019 by the Centro Nacional de Difusión Musical.

Selected recordings

Some of Nebra's zarzuelas, choral works and solo cantatas have been recorded on CD by the Spanish group Al Ayre Español, and other works by Los Músicos de Su Alteza, choral orchestral works by Madrid Barroco