Calle Carlos y Guillermo Fernández Shaw

The name brings together father and son, not two brothers. Carlos Fernández Shaw was born in Cádiz in 1865 and came to Madrid as a poet, but left refined verse to write popular theater with music by Ruperto Chapí. That collaboration produced sainetes still performed today: La revoltosa, Las bravías, La chavala. He also wrote the libretto for La vida breve, Manuel de Falla’s opera, which he never saw premiered. His son Guillermo, born in Madrid in 1893, followed the same trade alongside Federico Romero and left titles that still make up the zarzuela repertoire: Doña Francisquita, Luisa Fernanda, La tabernera del puerto, La rosa del azafrán. Of Carlos there remains a line spoken before his family: that his grandchildren would collect royalties from La vida breve performed all over the world.