CANÇO D'AMOR I DE GUERRA de Martínez Valls

Love Song and War, the quintessential Catalan zarzuela, is a work of great symbolic power that combines romantic passion, collective ideals, and identity. Premiered 100 years ago, in the midst of the Primo de Rivera dictatorship, the work incorporates a subtle exaltation of Catalan identity, setting the Vallespir as an evocative backdrop for an ideal of freedom. The protagonist Eloi, a humble blacksmith, struggles simultaneously for his love with Francina and for his ideals, but this love is threatened by a convulsive environment marked by conflict and social tension. Finally, Eloi departs for the war and returns victorious, while Francina has waited faithfully, in a reunion that resolves both the sentimental and collective conflict. With evocations of the Pyrenean landscapes and sardana airs, the score includes memorable pieces that have endured in collective memory, making the work one of the most cherished by the Catalan public. A song to love, freedom, and identity that, a century later, continues to move and connect with the audience.