Calle de Pablo Luna

Pablo Luna Carné’s music was heard across much of Madrid before his name reached this corner of the Colonia de San Cristóbal, in the Castilla district. Born in Alhama de Aragón around 1880, he trained as a violinist and earned his living playing in cafés before devoting himself fully to zarzuela. In 1905 he moved to Madrid and turned to Ruperto Chapí to learn to compose in the genre. A few years later he premiered Molinos de viento, the operetta that made his name, and then came Los cadetes de la reina and El asombro de Damasco, among more than a hundred titles with which he brought the air of Lehár’s Viennese operetta to the Spanish stage. Many of his pieces are still performed in the city’s lyric theatres.