A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Soriano-Fuertes, Mariano

SORIANO-FUERTES, Mariano, a Spanish composer and littérateur, according to Riemann was the son of a musician, and so determined in his pursuit of music that though forced into a cavalry regiment he left it for the musical career. His works were many, and in many spheres; in 1841 he founded a periodical 'Iberia musical y literaria'; in 1843 became teacher in the Conservatoire at Madrid; in 1844 director of the Lyceums at Cordova, Seville, and Cadiz; conductor of the opera at Seville, Cadiz, and (1852) at Barcelona, where he founded the 'Gaceta Musical Barcelonesa' in 1860. During this period he wrote several 'Zarguelas' or operettas; but it is from his literary works that he will derive his chief fame—'Musica Arabo-Espafiola' (1853); 'History of Spanish music from the Phœnicians down to 1850' (4 vols. 1855–59); 'Memoir on the Choral Societies of Spain,' and 'Spain, artistic and industrial in the Exposition of 1867.' Soriano died at Madrid in April 1880.

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