DESCRIPTION:
CECILIA VALDEZ (COMPLETE OPERETTA) WITH MARTA PEREZ, FRANCISCO NAYA, RUTH FERNANDEZ AND AIDA PUJOL. Orchestra and chorus under the direction of maestro Gonzalo Roig. Recorded in Havana, Cuba in the mid 1950's. LP reissued on FJM label in the 1980's. Direct line reproduction on Pilot vacuum tube stereo/mono equipment (1958) & Garrard weight adjustable automatic turntable RC121 MKII (1959) Magnetic cartridge and stylus by General Electric.Cecilia Valdés

Cecilia Valdés is both a novel by the Cuban Cirilo Villaverde (1812--1894), and a zarzuela (operetta) based on the novel. It is a work of great importance for its quality, and its revelation of the interaction of classes and races in Cuba.

The novel:
The first version of the novel Cecilia Valdés o la Loma del Angel appeared in Havana in 1839; its definitive and larger version, was published in New York in 1882, being re-edited several times. It has never been out of print in Spanish, and there are several English editions (as Cecilia Valdes or Angel Hill). It is widely regarded as the best Cuban novel of the 19th century.
Synopsis
Action (in both the novel and the zarzuela) takes place in colonial Cuba about 1810. The young and beautiful light skinned mulatta, Cecilia Valdés, is the illegitimate daughter of powerful land magnate and slave trader, Candido de Gamboa. Leonardo de Gamboa is his legitimate son. Leonardo falls in love with Cecilia not realizing that she is his own half-sister, and they become lovers. At the same time, hopelessly in love with Cecilia is also another man, the poor black musician, José Dolores Pimienta. His advances Cecilia rejects; and she conceives Leonardo's son.
Love between Leonardo and Cecilia does not last, however. He abandons her and becomes betrothed to a white aristocratic woman, a certain Isabel Ilincheta. Cecilia turns to the faithful Pimienta to plan revenge. On the day of his wedding he is assassinated on the steps of the cathedral by Pimienta who acts on the instigation of Cecilia. He is executed, and she is thrown in an insane asylum.
Cecilia Valdés reveals the intricate problems of race relations in Cuba. There are the elite social circles of Spanish-born and creole whites; the growing number of mulattos, of which Cecilia is one, and the blacks, some slaves, some freed men. The blacks are also divided between those who were born in Africa and those who were born in Cuba, those who worked on the sugar plantation and those who worked in the households of the wealthy in Havana. Cecilia Valdés is a canvas displaying the sexual, social, and racial interaction of the Cubans of the day.
Zarzuela:
The zarzuela is in two acts with music by Gonzalo Roig. The libretto was by Agustin Rodríguez and José Sánchez-Arcilla, based on the novel Cecilia Valdés, o la Loma del Angelby Cirilo Villaverde. The storyline is about a tragedy of manners, love and revenge, in colonial Cuban society of the early 19th century.
Most important performance history
• World premiere: Havana, Cuba 1932
• Madrid Teatro de La Zarzuela, 1956
• Metropolitan Opera premiere: July 17, 1965
• Toronto Operetta Theatre: February 15, 2003.

Critique:
In Villaverde's novel (completed in 1882), the melodramatic plot serves as a background for social life in Cuba, with slavery, injustice, crises and personal tragedies, following colorful presentation in detailed characterization and description, even to the point that plot itself loses its pace at times, long before reaching its climax, as if author had lost interest in his story and wanted to finish it as fast as possible.
In Roig's zarzuela, however, dramatic element is more exposed, more consistent and in swift action, presented as an interesting unrolling story pointing toward inevitable climax, which shows great talent and theatrical experience on the part of the composer, the piece containing mixture of traditional Cuban music, with all its genres, forms and vivid rhythms and dances, interlaced in good balance with predominantly romantic in style music of the Western tradition, particularly in melody and orchestration.
"The zarzuela Cecilia Valdes can be as pleasing to listen to as Verdi, and at times as profound as Meyerbeer or Bellini."