French Perception of Spanish zarzuela in Raoul ­Laparra’s ­L’Illustre Fregona (1931)

In 1931, Raoul Laparra composed L’Illustre Fregona inspired by one of Cervantes’s Novelas ejemplares. By referring to zarzuela, he employs the language of this typical Spanish genre, but accommodates it to French public expectations, and also to those of Paris Opera manager Jacques Rouché. Regarded by Laparra as a Gesamtkunstwerk, this work is studied from the point of view of Franco-Spanish cultural transfer.