CHAPI, RUPERTO  

Ruperto Chapi received his first music lessons from his father, a barber by trade, who was a music-lover. At the age of sixteen, Chapi entered the Real Conservatory in Spain where he studied composition under Emilio Arrieta and graduated in 1847. That same year, he received a scholarship to study in Rome where he wrote his first operas. He returned to Spain, where he gained great popularity as a zarzuela composer. Chapis best-known work is Margarita la tornera, which he wrote before his death in 1909. Before that, he composed over one-hundred and fifty-five zarzuelas, among which La tempestad (1882), La bruja (1887) and Mujer y rein (1891) are the most popular. Chapi also founded the Spanish Society of Authors in 1893. Today, he is credited as an important part of the zarzuela movement.