Moments of Enchantment; 149; Zarzuelas

Moments of Enchantment brought to you by the New Mexico Office of Cultural Affairs and 770 K-O-B Radio. Spain the late 17th century. King Philip IV was enjoying a lively new combination of opera, theater, and dance in the Royal Gardens. Today, this 200-year-old musical collage known as Zazuela is enjoying a rebirth in New Mexico more in a moment. Zazuela, an innovative blend of opera, theater, and dance, had developed into a uniquely Spanish art form by the late 1800s when a young spaniard named Manuel Areo came to America. Areo had decided to stage Zazuela's in an opera house in the unlikely mining boom town of Jerome Arizona. But Areo's wife died, the mines gave out, and talkies came into vogue. So Areo left Arizona for Hollywood, leaving trunks of Spanish Zazuela music in a Jerome boarding house.

Decades later, the trunks were thrown into a junk heap, where they were discovered by a sculptor looking for scrap metal. The artist who had connections in New Mexico took the treasure to the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. When the music was finally catalogued by an enterprising music student, its full richness was rediscovered, and the idea of using the material to recreate Zazuela in New Mexico was born. Today, New Mexico is home to a number of Zazuela companies using the music left behind by Manuel Areo. His trunks contained the scores to more than 100 Zazuela's, enough to keep performers busy and audiences enchanted for years to come. To learn more about the Zazuela's, visit the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe. Moments of Enchantment, brought to you by the New Mexico Office of Cultural Affairs. For Moments of Enchantment, I'm David Griffin.